Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, and has been inhabited since prehistoric times by the Khoi, San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. From 1600, the Owambo formed kingdoms, such as Ondonga and Oukwanyama. In 1884, the German Empire established rule over most of the territory, forming a colony known as German South West Africa.
Between 1904โ08, German troops waged a punitive campaign against the Herero and Nama which escalated into the first genocide of the 20th century. German rule ended during the First World War with a 1915 defeat by South African forces. In 2021, German and Namibian diplomats created a "reconciliation agreement" acknowledging atrocities from the German colonial period.
In 1920, the League of Nations mandated administration of the colony to South Africa. The National Party, elected to power in 1948 in South Africa, applied apartheid to what was then known as South West Africa. Uprisings and demands for political representation resulted in the United Nations assuming direct responsibility over the territory in 1966, but South Africa maintained de facto rule until 1973.
That year the UN recognised the South West Africa People's Organisation, SWAPO, as the official representative of the Namibian people. Namibia gained independence from South Africa in March 1990, following the South African Border War. However, Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands remained under South African control until 1994.
Namibia is a parliamentary democracy. Agriculture, tourism and the mining industry โ including mining for diamonds, uranium, gold, silver and base metals โ form the basis of its economy, while the manufacturing sector is comparatively small. Despite significant GDP growth since its independence, poverty and inequality remain significant. 41% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty, and more than 400,000 people live in informal housing. Income disparity is one of the world's highest with a Gini coefficient of 59 in 2015.
With a population of 3.1 million people, Namibia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Since the end of the Cold War, it has attracted notable immigration from Germany, Angola, and Zimbabwe. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations.
History
Etymology
The name of the country is derived from the Namib desert, the oldest desert in the world. The word Namib itself is of Khoi origin and means "vast place". The name was chosen by Mburumba Kerina, who originally proposed "Republic of Namib". Before Namibia became independent in 1990, its territory was known first as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Sรผdwestafrika), and then as South West Africa, reflecting its colonial occupation by Germans and South Africans, respectively.[citation needed]
Pre-colonial period
"The dry lands of Namibia have been inhabited since prehistoric times by the San, Damara, and Nama. For thousands of years, the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa maintained a nomadic life, the Khoikhoi as pastoralists and the San people as hunter-gatherers. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu people began to arrive during the Bantu expansion from central Africa."
From the late 18th century onward, Oorlam people from the Dutch Cape Colony crossed the Orange River and moved into the area that today is southern Namibia. Their encounters with the nomadic Nama tribes were largely peaceful. They received the missionaries accompanying the Oorlam very well, granting them the right to use waterholes and grazing against an annual payment.
On their way further north, however, the Oorlam encountered clans of the OvaHerero at Windhoek, Gobabis, and Okahandja, who resisted their encroachment. The Nama-Herero War broke out in 1880, with hostilities ebbing only after the German Empire deployed troops to the contested places and cemented the status quo among the Nama, Oorlam, and Herero.
In 1878, the Cape of Good Hope, then a British colony, annexed the port of Walvis Bay and the offshore Penguin Islands; these became an integral part of the new Union of South Africa at its creation in 1910.
The first Europeans to disembark and explore the region were the Portuguese navigators Diogo Cรฃo in 1485 and Bartolomeu Dias in 1486, but the Portuguese did not try to claim the area. Like most of the interior of Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia was not extensively explored by Europeans until the 19th century. At that time traders and settlers came principally from Germany and Sweden.
In 1870, Finnish missionaries came to the northern part of Namibia to spread the Lutheran religion among the Owambo and Kavango people. In the late 19th century, Dorsland Trekkers crossed the area on their way from the Transvaal to Angola. Some of them settled in Namibia instead of continuing their journey.
German rule
Namibia became a German colony in 1884 under Otto von Bismarck to forestall perceived British encroachment and was known as German South West Africa (Deutsch-Sรผdwestafrika). The Palgrave Commission by the British governor in Cape Town determined that only the natural deep-water harbour of Walvis Bay was worth occupying and thus annexed it to the Cape province of British South Africa.
In 1897, a rinderpest epidemic caused massive cattle die-offs of an estimated 95% of cattle in southern and central Namibia. In response the German colonisers set up a veterinary cordon fence known as the Red Line. In 1907, this fence then broadly defined the boundaries for the first Police Zone.
From 1904 to 1907, the Herero and the Nama took up arms against ruthless German settlers. In a calculated punitive action by the German settlers, government officials ordered the extinction of the natives in the OvaHerero and Nama genocide. In what has been called the "first genocide of the 20th century", the Germans systematically killed 10,000 Nama (half the population) and approximately 65,000 Herero (about 80% of the population).
Released from detention, the survivors faced a system of forced labor, deportation, and apartheid-like segregation that foreshadowed South Africa's 1948 policy. Most Africans were confined to so-called native territories, which under South African rule after 1949 were turned into "homelands" (Bantustans).
Some historians have speculated that the downfall of the Herero in Namibia was a model for the Nazis in the Holocaust. The memory of what happened under German rule has contributed to shape the ethnic identity in independent Namibia and has kept its significance in today's relations with Germany.
The German minister for development aid apologised for the Namibian genocide in 2004. However, the German government distanced itself from this apology. Only in 2021 did the German government acknowledge the genocide and agree to pay โฌ1.1 billion over 30 years in community aid.
South African mandate
During World War I, South African troops under General Louis Botha occupied the territory and deposed the German colonial administration. The end of the war and the Treaty of Versailles resulted in South West Africa remaining a possession of South Africa, at first as a League of Nations mandate, until 1990. The mandate system was formed as a compromise between those who advocated an allied annexation of former German and Ottoman territories and a proposition put forward by those who wished to grant them to an international trusteeship until they could govern themselves.
It permitted the South African government to administer South West Africa until that territory's inhabitants were prepared for political self-determination. South Africa interpreted the mandate as a veiled annexation and made no attempt to prepare South West Africa for future autonomy.
As a result of the Conference on International Organization in 1945, the League of Nations was formally superseded by the United Nations (UN) and former League mandates by a trusteeship system. Article 77 of the United Nations Charter stated that UN trusteeship "shall apply...to territories now held under mandate"; furthermore, it would "be a matter of subsequent agreement as to which territories in the foregoing territories will be brought under the trusteeship system and under what terms".
The UN requested all former League of Nations mandates be surrendered to its Trusteeship Council in anticipation of their independence. South Africa declined to do so and instead requested permission from the UN to formally annex South West Africa, for which it received considerable criticism. When the UN General Assembly rejected this proposal, South Africa dismissed its opinion and began solidifying control of the territory.
The UN General Assembly and Security Council responded by referring the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which held a number of discussions on the legality of South African rule between 1949 and 1966.
South Africa began imposing apartheid, its codified system of racial segregation and discrimination, on South West Africa during the late 1940s. Black South West Africans were subject to pass laws, curfews, and a host of residential regulations that restricted their movement. Development was concentrated in the southern region of the territory adjacent to South Africa, known as the "Police Zone", where most of the major settlements and commercial economic activity were located.
Outside the Police Zone, indigenous peoples were restricted to theoretically self-governing tribal homelands.
During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the accelerated decolonisation of Africa and mounting pressure on the remaining colonial powers to grant their colonies self-determination resulted in the formation of nascent nationalist parties in South West Africa. Movements such as the South West African National Union (SWANU) and the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) advocated for the formal termination of South Africa's mandate and independence for the territory.
In 1966, following the ICJ's controversial ruling that it had no legal standing to consider the question of South African rule, SWAPO launched an armed insurgency that escalated into part of a wider regional conflict known as the South African Border War.
In 1971 Namibian contract workers led a general strike against the contract system and in support of independence. Some of the striking workers would later join SWAPO's PLAN as part of the South African Border War.
Independence
As SWAPO's insurgency intensified, South Africa's case for annexation in the international community continued to decline. The UN declared that South Africa had failed in its obligations to ensure the moral and material well-being of South West Africa's indigenous inhabitants, and had thus disavowed its own mandate. On 12 June 1968, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming that, in accordance with the desires of its people, South West Africa be renamed Namibia.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 269, adopted in August 1969, declared South Africa's continued occupation of Namibia illegal. In recognition of this landmark decision, SWAPO's armed wing was renamed the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).
Namibia became one of several flashpoints for Cold War proxy conflicts in southern Africa during the years of the PLAN insurgency. The insurgents sought out weapons and sent recruits to the Soviet Union for military training. As the PLAN war effort gained momentum, the Soviet Union and other states such as Cuba continued to increase their support, deploying advisers to train the insurgents directly as well as supplying more weapons and ammunition.
SWAPO's leadership, dependent on Soviet, Angolan, and Cuban military aid, positioned the movement firmly within the socialist bloc by 1975. This practical alliance reinforced the external perception of SWAPO as a Soviet proxy, which dominated Cold War rhetoric in South Africa and the United States. For its part, the Soviet Union supported SWAPO partly because it viewed South Africa as a regional Western ally.
Growing war weariness and the reduction of tensions between the superpowers compelled South Africa, Angola, and Cuba to accede to the Tripartite Accord, under pressure from both the Soviet Union and the United States. South Africa accepted Namibian independence in exchange for Cuban military withdrawal from the region and an Angolan commitment to cease all aid to PLAN.
PLAN and South Africa adopted an informal ceasefire in August 1988, and a United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) was formed to monitor the Namibian peace process and supervise the return of refugees. The ceasefire ended after PLAN made a final incursion into the territory, possibly as a result of misunderstanding UNTAG's directives, in March 1989.
A new ceasefire was later imposed with the condition that the insurgents were to be confined to their external bases in Angola until they could be disarmed and demobilised by UNTAG.
By the end of the 11-month transition period, the last South African troops had been withdrawn from Namibia, all political prisoners granted amnesty, racially discriminatory legislation repealed, and 42,000 Namibian refugees returned to their homes. Just over 97% of eligible voters participated in the country's first parliamentary elections held under a universal franchise.
The United Nations plan included oversight by foreign election observers in an effort to ensure a free and fair election. SWAPO won a plurality of seats in the Constituent Assembly with 57% of the popular vote. This gave the party 41 seats, but not a two-thirds majority, which would have enabled it to draft the constitution on its own.
The Namibian Constitution was adopted in February 1990. It incorporated protection for human rights and compensation for state expropriations of private property and established an independent judiciary, legislature, and an executive presidency (the constituent assembly became the national assembly). The country officially became independent on 21 March 1990.
Sam Nujoma was sworn in as the first President of Namibia at a ceremony attended by Nelson Mandela of South Africa (who had been released from prison the previous month) and representatives from 147 countries, including 20 heads of state. In 1994, shortly before the first multiracial elections in South Africa, that country ceded Walvis Bay to Namibia.
After independence
Since independence Namibia has completed the transition from white minority apartheid rule to parliamentary democracy. Multiparty democracy was introduced and has been maintained, with local, regional and national elections held regularly. Several registered political parties are active and represented in the National Assembly, although the SWAPO has won every election since independence.
The transition from the 15-year rule of President Nujoma to his successor Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2005 went smoothly.
Since independence, the Namibian government has promoted a policy of national reconciliation. It issued an amnesty for those who fought on either side during the liberation war. The civil war in Angola spilled over and adversely affected Namibians living in the north of the country. In 1998, Namibia Defence Force (NDF) troops were sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) contingent.
In 1999, the national government quashed a secessionist attempt in the northeastern Caprivi Strip. The Caprivi conflict was initiated by the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), a rebel group led by Mishake Muyongo. It wanted the Caprivi Strip to secede and form its own society.
In 2007, Twyfelfontein was inscribed as a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site, a prehistoric site with one of the largest concentrations of rock engravings on the African continent. In December 2014, Prime Minister Hage Geingob, the candidate of ruling SWAPO, won the presidential elections, taking 87% of the vote. His predecessor, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, also of SWAPO, had served the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution.
In December 2019, President Hage Geingob was re-elected for a second term, taking 56.3% of the vote. On 4 February 2024, President Hage Geingob died and he was immediately succeeded by vice-president Nangolo Mbumba as new President of Namibia who finished the late President's term as it came to an end in March 2025. SWAPO's first female presidential candidate, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, was declared the winner of the 2024 elections with 57% of the vote. On 21 March 2025, she was sworn in as Namibia's new president.
Geography
At 825,615 km2 (318,772 sq mi), Namibia is the world's 34th largest country (after Venezuela). It lies mostly between latitudes 17ยฐ and 29ยฐS (a small area is north of 17ยฐ), and longitudes 11ยฐ and 26ยฐE.
The Namibian landscape consists generally of five geographical areas, each with characteristic abiotic conditions and vegetation, with some variation within and overlap between them: the Central Plateau, the Namib Desert, the Great Escarpment, the Bushveld, and the Kalahari Desert.
Namibia is situated between the Namib and Kalahari Deserts. Namibia has the least rainfall of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. The Namib is a broad expanse of hyper-arid gravel plains and dunes that stretches along Namibia's entire coastline. It varies between 100 and 200 km (60 and 120 mi) in width. Areas within the Namib include the Skeleton Coast and the Kaokoveld in the north and the extensive Namib Sand Sea along the central coast.
The Central Plateau runs from north to south, bordered by the Skeleton Coast (a coastal desert) to the northwest, the Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the southwest, the Orange River to the south, and the Kalahari Desert to the east. The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia at Kรถnigstein elevation 2,573 m (8,440 ft; 1.60 mi).
The Great Escarpment swiftly rises to over 2,000 m (6,600 ft). Average temperatures and temperature ranges increase further inland from the cold Atlantic waters, while the lingering coastal fogs slowly diminish. Although the area is rocky with poorly developed soils, it is significantly more productive than the Namib Desert. As summer winds are forced over the Escarpment, moisture is extracted as precipitation.
The Bushveld is found in north-eastern Namibia along the Angolan border and in the Caprivi Strip. The area receives a significantly greater amount of precipitation than the rest of the country, averaging around 400 mm (16 in) per year. The area is generally flat and the soils sandy, limiting their ability to retain water and support agriculture.
The Kalahari Desert, an arid region that extends into South Africa and Botswana, is one of Namibia's well-known geographical features. The Kalahari, while popularly known as a desert, has a variety of localised environments, including some verdant and technically non-desert areas. The Succulent Karoo is home to over 5,000 species of plants, nearly half of them endemic; approximately 10 percent of the world's succulents are found in the Karoo.
The reason behind this high productivity and endemism may be the relatively stable nature of precipitation.
Namibia's Coastal Desert is one of the oldest deserts in the world. Its sand dunes, created by the strong onshore winds, are the highest in the world. Because of the location of the shoreline, at the point where the Atlantic's cold water reaches Africa's hot climate, often extremely dense fog forms along the coast. Near the coast there are areas where the dune-hummocks are vegetated.
Namibia has rich coastal and marine resources that remain largely unexplored. The Caprivi Strip extends east from the northeastern corner of the country.
Urban settlements
Namibia has 13 cities, governed by municipalities and 26 towns, governed by town councils. The capital Windhoek is by far the largest urban settlement in Namibia.
