19th century – 21st century
Southwestern Africa
Namibia is a southwestern African territory whose modern political history was shaped by German colonisation from 1884, South African conquest in 1915, mandated rule from 1921, and eventual independence on 21 March 1990. The country borders South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Zambia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement history extends across thousands of years and includes mobile pastoral communities, hunting and foraging societies, and small northern polities organized around farming, cattle-rearing, fishing, foraging, and hunting.
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The Story
Namibia achieved independence on 21 March 1990 after a prolonged struggle against South African rule. Its colonial sequence began with German occupation in 1884, followed by South African conquest in 1915. From 1921, South Africa governed the territory as a Mandated Territory of the League of Nations; after the Second World War, Namibia was effectively administered as part of South Africa. The transition to independence therefore followed a political history extending across more than a century.
The territory’s human history is much older than its colonial period. For thousands of years, people migrated into and across the region, producing food and goods, trading over long distances, making art, music, and literature, and practising religious beliefs. In the centuries before colonisation, semi-nomadic communities kept cattle, sheep, and goats, while other groups relied on foraging and hunting in the dry central and southern regions.
Namibia’s environmental contrasts strongly influenced settlement. The country includes the Namib Desert in the west and the Kalahari in the east, while rainfall is generally low and unreliable. More fertile northern areas supported relatively dense populations and small polities, often ruled by kings or queens, whose economies combined farming, cattle-rearing, fishing, foraging, and hunting. From the late eighteenth century, and especially from the middle of the nineteenth, residents experienced major political, economic, and cultural changes associated with merchant capitalism and Christianity.
Namibia covers 832,690 square kilometres and shares borders with South Africa, Botswana, and Angola, as well as a northeastern border with Zambia through the Caprivi Strip, added to the territory in 1890. The Atlantic coast includes Walvis Bay, described as the country’s only deep-water port. The port was annexed by Britain in 1878 and returned to Namibia from South African rule in 1994.
The northern floodplain formed a major zone of political organization. The map of the Ovambo floodplain depicts Ovambo polities in the nineteenth century and shows Oukwanyama extending into Namibia, as it did by the early twentieth century. The caption emphasizes that political boundaries changed over time and that some forested areas between polities were later required for settlement.
19th century – 21st century
Southwestern Africa
Namibia is a southwestern African territory whose modern political history was shaped by German colonisation from 1884, South African conquest in 1915, mandated rule from 1921, and eventual independence on 21 March 1990. The country borders South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Zambia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its settlement history extends across thousands of years and includes mobile pastoral communities, hunting and foraging societies, and small northern polities organized around farming, cattle-rearing, fishing, foraging, and hunting.
Continue exploring
The Story
Namibia achieved independence on 21 March 1990 after a prolonged struggle against South African rule. Its colonial sequence began with German occupation in 1884, followed by South African conquest in 1915. From 1921, South Africa governed the territory as a Mandated Territory of the League of Nations; after the Second World War, Namibia was effectively administered as part of South Africa. The transition to independence therefore followed a political history extending across more than a century.
The territory’s human history is much older than its colonial period. For thousands of years, people migrated into and across the region, producing food and goods, trading over long distances, making art, music, and literature, and practising religious beliefs. In the centuries before colonisation, semi-nomadic communities kept cattle, sheep, and goats, while other groups relied on foraging and hunting in the dry central and southern regions.
Namibia’s environmental contrasts strongly influenced settlement. The country includes the Namib Desert in the west and the Kalahari in the east, while rainfall is generally low and unreliable. More fertile northern areas supported relatively dense populations and small polities, often ruled by kings or queens, whose economies combined farming, cattle-rearing, fishing, foraging, and hunting. From the late eighteenth century, and especially from the middle of the nineteenth, residents experienced major political, economic, and cultural changes associated with merchant capitalism and Christianity.
Namibia covers 832,690 square kilometres and shares borders with South Africa, Botswana, and Angola, as well as a northeastern border with Zambia through the Caprivi Strip, added to the territory in 1890. The Atlantic coast includes Walvis Bay, described as the country’s only deep-water port. The port was annexed by Britain in 1878 and returned to Namibia from South African rule in 1994.
The northern floodplain formed a major zone of political organization. The map of the Ovambo floodplain depicts Ovambo polities in the nineteenth century and shows Oukwanyama extending into Namibia, as it did by the early twentieth century. The caption emphasizes that political boundaries changed over time and that some forested areas between polities were later required for settlement.
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