History of Namibia
History of Namibia |
---|
|
The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.
From 1884,
Legal argument ensued over the course of the next twenty years until, in October 1966, the
Pre-colonial history
As early as 25 000 B.C., the first humans lived in the Huns Mountains in the South of Namibia. The painted stone plates that exist from that time not only prove that these settlements existed, they also belong among the oldest works of art in the world. A fragment of a hominoid jaw, estimated to be thirteen million years old, was found in the Otavi Mountains. Findings of Stone Age weapons and tools are further proof that a long time ago early humans already hunted the wild animals of the region.
In the Brandberg Mountains, there are numerous rock paintings, most of them originating from around 2000 B.C. There is no reliable indication as to which ethnic groups created them. It is dubitable whether the San (Bushmen), who alongside the Damara are the oldest ethnic group in Namibia, were the creators of these paintings.
The Nama only settled in southern Africa and southern Namibia during the first century B.C. In contrast to the San and Damara, they lived on the livestock they bred themselves.
The north – the Ovambo and Kavango
The Ovambo, and the smaller and closely related group Kavango, lived in northern Namibia, southern Angola and, in the case of the Kavango, western Zambia. Being settled people they had an economy based on farming, cattle and fishing, but they also produced metal goods. Both groups belonged to the Bantu nation. They rarely ventured south to the central parts of the country, since the conditions there did not suit their farming way of life, but they extensively traded their knives and agricultural implements.
Bantu Migration – the Herero
During the 17th century the
The Oorlams
In the 19th century white farmers, mostly
Armed with guns, the Oorlams caused instability as more and more came to settle in Namaqualand and eventually conflict arose between them and the Nama. Under the leadership of Jonker Afrikaner, the Oorlams used their superior weapons to take control of the best grazing land. In the 1830s Jonker Afrikaner concluded an agreement with the Nama chief Oaseb whereby the Oorlams would protect the central grasslands of Namibia from the Herero who were then pushing south. In return Jonker Afrikaner was recognised as overlord, received tribute from the Nama, and settled at what today is Windhoek, on the borders of Herero territory. The Afrikaners soon came in conflict with the Herero who entered Damaraland from the south at about the same time as the Afrikaner started to expand farther north from Namaqualand. Both the Herero and the Afrikaner wanted to use the grasslands of Damaraland for their herds. This resulted in warfare between the Herero and the Oorlams as well as between the two of them and the Damara, who were the original inhabitants of the area. The Damara were displaced by the fighting and many were killed.With their horses and guns, the Afrikaners proved to be militarily superior and forced the Herero to give them cattle as tribute.
Baster immigration
The last group of people today considered
European influence and colonization
The first European to set foot on Namibian soil was the Portuguese
The area was vaguely regarded as ") and similar terms over the next few centuries.
In 1793 the Dutch authority in the Cape decided to take control of Walvis Bay, since it was the only good deep-water harbour along the Skeleton Coast. When the United Kingdom took control of the Cape Colony in 1805, they also took over Walvis Bay. But colonial settlement in the area was limited, and neither the Dutch nor the British penetrated far into the country.
One of the first European groups to show interest in Namibia were the
In the 1840s the German
The first territorial claim on a part of Namibia came when Britain occupied Walvis Bay, confirming the settlement of 1797, and permitted the Cape Colony to annex it in 1878. The annexation was an attempt to forestall German ambitions in the area, and it also guaranteed control of the good deepwater harbour on the way to the Cape Colony and other British colonies on Africa's east coast.[7][8]
In 1883, a German trader,
A region, the
German South West Africa
Soon after declaring Lüderitz and a vast area along the Atlantic coast a German protectorate, German troops were deployed as conflicts with the native tribes flared up, most significantly with the Namaqua. Under the leadership of the tribal chief Hendrik Witbooi, the Namaqua put up a fierce resistance to the German occupation. Contemporary media called the conflict "The Hottentot Uprising".
The Namaqua's resistance proved to be unsuccessful, however, and in 1894 Witbooi was forced to sign a "protection treaty" with the Germans. The treaty allowed the Namaqua to keep their arms, and Witbooi was released having given his word of honour not to continue with the Hottentot uprising.
In 1894 major Theodor Leutwein was appointed governor of German South West Africa. He tried without great success to apply the principle of "colonialism without bloodshed". The protection treaty did have the effect of stabilising the situation but pockets of rebellion persisted, and were put down by an elite German regiment Schutztruppe, while real peace was never achieved between the colonialists and the natives. The introduction of a veterinary pest-exclusion fence called the Red Line, which separated the north from the rest of the territory, led to more direct colonial rule south of the line and indirect control north of the line, leading to different political and economic outcomes for example between the northern Ovambo people compared to the more centrally located Herero people.
Being the only German colony in Africa considered suitable for white settlement at the time,
The settlers were encouraged by the government to expropriate land from the natives, and forced labour – hard to distinguish from slavery – was used. As a result, relations between the German settlers and the natives deteriorated.
The Herero and Namaqua wars
The ongoing local rebellions escalated in 1904 into the
The outbreak of rebellion was considered to be a result of Theodor Leutwein's softer tactics, and he was replaced by the more notorious General Lothar von Trotha.
In the beginning of the war the Herero, under the leadership of chief Samuel Maharero, had the upper hand. With good knowledge of the terrain they had little problem in defending themselves against the Schutztruppe (initially numbering only 766). Soon the Namaqua people joined the war, again under the leadership of Hendrik Witbooi.
To cope with the situation, Germany sent 14,000 additional troops who soon crushed the rebellion in the
Descendants of Lothar von Trotha apologized to six chiefs of Herero royal houses for the actions of their ancestor on 7 October 2007.
South African rule
In 1915, during World War I, South Africa launched a military campaign and occupied the German colony of South West Africa.
In February 1917,
On 17 December 1920, South Africa undertook administration of South West Africa under the terms of Article 22 of the Covenant of the
Following the League's supersession by the United Nations in 1946, South Africa refused to surrender its earlier mandate to be replaced by a United Nations Trusteeship agreement, requiring closer international monitoring of the territory's administration. Although the South African government wanted to incorporate South West Africa into its territory, it never officially did so, although it was administered as the de facto 'fifth province', with the white minority having representation in the whites-only
During the 1960s, as the European powers granted independence to their colonies and trust territories in Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to do so in Namibia, which was then South West Africa. On the dismissal (1966) by the International Court of Justice of a complaint brought by Ethiopia and Liberia against South Africa's continued presence in the territory, the U.N. General Assembly revoked South Africa's mandate. Under the growing international pressure to legitimize its annexation of Namibia, South Africa established in 1962 the ‘Commission of Enquiry into South West Africa Affairs’, better known as the Odendaal commission, named after Frans Hendrik Odendaal, who headed the commission. Its goal was to introduce South African racist homeland politics in Namibia, while at the same time present the occupation as a progressive and scientific way to develop and support the people in Namibia.[16]
Namibian struggle for independence
In 1966,
In a 1971 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice upheld UN authority over Namibia, determining that the South African presence in Namibia was illegal and that South Africa therefore was obliged to withdraw its administration from Namibia immediately. The Court also advised UN member states to refrain from implying legal recognition or assistance to the South African presence.
The summer 1971-72 saw a
In 1975, South Africa sponsored the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference, which sought an "internal settlement" to Namibia. Excluding SWAPO, the conference mainly included bantustan leaders as well as white Namibian political parties.[19]
International pressure
In 1977, the
), SWAPO, UN officials, and the Western Contact Group. It called for the holding of elections in Namibia under UN supervision and control, the cessation of all hostile acts by all parties, and restrictions on the activities of South African and Namibian military, paramilitary, and police.South Africa agreed to cooperate in achieving the implementation of Resolution 435. Nonetheless, in December 1978, in defiance of the UN proposal, it unilaterally held
Negotiations and transition
In the period, four
In May 1988, a US mediation team – headed by
Within a month of the signing of the New York Accords, South African president
The transition got off to a shaky start. Contrary to SWAPO President Sam Nujoma's written assurances to the UN Secretary General to abide by a cease-fire and repatriate only unarmed Namibians, it was alleged that approximately 2,000 armed members of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), SWAPO's military wing, crossed the border from Angola in an apparent attempt to establish a military presence in northern Namibia. UNTAG's Martti Ahtisaari took advice from Margaret Thatcher, who was visiting Southern Africa at the time, and authorized a limited contingent of South African troops to assist the South West African Police in restoring order. A period of intense fighting followed, during which 375 PLAN fighters were killed. At a hastily arranged meeting of the Joint Monitoring Commission in Mount Etjo, a game park outside Otjiwarongo, it was agreed to confine the South African forces to base and return PLAN elements to Angola. While that problem was resolved, minor disturbances in the north continued throughout the transition period.
In October 1989, under orders of the UN Security Council, Pretoria was forced to demobilize some 1,600 members of
The 11-month transition period ended relatively smoothly. Political prisoners were granted amnesty, discriminatory legislation was repealed, South Africa withdrew all its forces from Namibia, and some 42,000 refugees returned safely and voluntarily under the auspices of the Office of the
Independence
By 9 February 1990, the Constituent Assembly had drafted and adopted a constitution. Independence Day on 21 March 1990, was attended by numerous international representatives, including the main players, the UN Secretary-General
On 1 March 1994, the coastal enclave of
Independent Namibia
Since independence Namibia has successfully completed the transition from white minority apartheid rule to a democratic society.
Namibian government has promoted a policy of national reconciliation and issued an amnesty for those who had fought on either side during the liberation war. The civil war in
Re-election of Sam Nujoma
Sam Nujoma won the presidential elections of 1994 with 76.34% of the votes. There was only one other candidate,
In 1998, with one year until the scheduled presidential election when Sam Nujoma would not be allowed to participate in since he had already served the two terms that the constitution allows, SWAPO amended the constitution, allowing three terms instead of two. They were able to do this since SWAPO had a two-thirds majority in both the
Sam Nujoma was reelected as president in 1999, winning the election, that had a 62.1% turnout with 76.82%. Second was Ben Ulenga from the Congress of Democrats (COD), that won 10.49% of the votes.
Ben Ulenga is a former SWAPO member and
Nujoma was succeeded as President of Namibia by Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2005.[26]
Land reform
One of SWAPO's policies, that had been formulated long before the party came into power, was land reform. Namibia's colonial and Apartheid past had resulted in a situation where about 20 percent of the population owned about 75 percent of all the land.
[28]
Land was supposed to be redistributed mostly from the white minority to previously landless communities and ex-combatants. The land reform has been slow, mainly because Namibia's constitution only allows land to be bought from farmers willing to sell. Also, the price of land is very high in Namibia, which further complicates the matter.[
President Sam Nujoma has been vocal in his support of Zimbabwe and its president Robert Mugabe. During the land crisis in Zimbabwe, where the government confiscated white farmers' land by force, fears rose among the white minority and the western world that the same method would be used in Namibia.[30]
Involvement in conflicts in Angola and DRC
In 1999 Namibia signed a mutual defence pact with its northern neighbour Angola.[28] This affected the Angolan Civil War that had been ongoing since Angola's independence in 1975. Both being leftist movements, SWAPO wanted to support the ruling party MPLA in Angola to fight the rebel movement UNITA, whose stronghold was in southern Angola. The defence pact allowed Angolan troops to use Namibian territory when attacking UNITA.
The Angolan civil war resulted in a large number of Angolan refugees coming to Namibia. At its peak in 2001 there were over 30,000 Angolan refugees in Namibia. The calmer situation in Angola has made it possible for many of them to return to their home with the help of
Namibia also intervened in the
The Caprivi conflict
The Caprivi conflict was an armed conflict between the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), a rebel group working for the secession of the Caprivi Strip, and the Namibian government. It started in 1994 and had its peak in the early hours of 2 August 1999 when CLA launched an attack in Katima Mulilo, the provincial capital of the Caprivi Region. Forces of the Namibian government struck back and arrested a number of alleged CLA supporters. The Caprivi conflict has led to the longest[32] and largest[33] trial in the history of Namibia, the Caprivi treason trial.
After Sam Nujoma (2005-present)
In March 2005, Namibia's founding president Sam Nujoma stepped down after 15 years in power. He was succeeded by Hifikepunye Pohamba.[34]
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.[35] In December 2019, President Hage Geingob was re-elected for a second term, taking 56.3% of the vote.[36]
On 4 February 2024, President Hage Geingob died and he was immediately succeeded by vice-president Nangolo Mbumba as new President of Namibia.[37]
See also
- History of Africa
- History of Southern Africa
- Politics of Namibia
- List of presidents of Namibia
- Shark Island Concentration Camp
- Windhoek history and timeline
References
- ISBN 978-99916-0-521-0.
- ^ Reader, John (1998). Africa: A Biography of a Continent.
- ^ "The Rehoboth Basters of Namibia". The Cardboard Box Travel Shop. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2006.
- ^ "Constitution of Rehoboth 1872". Rehobothbasters.org. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2006.
- ^ "Plate LXXXVII. Fig. 2. World.", Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. II (1st ed.), Edinburgh: Colin Macfarquhar, 1771.
- ^ "Bethanie Village in Namibia". The Online Guide to Namibia & Travel Boutique. Windhoek, Namibia: Elena Travel Services Namibia. 2017. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
The Schmelenhaus was built the same year, long considered the oldest structure in Namibia.
- ^ http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/8533/ISS-95.pdf?sequence=1 Archived 15 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "History of Namibia. From Adolf Luederitz to Sam Nujoma". Namibia-travel.net. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2006.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 800.
- ^ Popp, Maximilian; Riedmann, Bernhard (10 November 2022). "Namibia Continues Seeking Justice for Germany's Colonial-Era Genocide". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, Israel W. Charny, "Century of genocide: critical essays and eyewitness accounts", Routledge, 2004, pg. 51 [1]
- ^ Marie-Aude Baronian, Stephan Besser, Yolande Jansen, "Diaspora and memory: figures of displacement in contemporary literature, arts and politics", Rodopi, 2007, pg. 33, [2]
- ^ Dan Kroll, "Securing our water supply: protecting a vulnerable resource", PennWell Corp/University of Michigan Press, pg. 22
- ^ Forced Removal from Old Location Archived 8 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Vantaa.fi
- S2CID 142811673.
- ^ Petronella Sibeene (17 April 2009). "Swapo Party Turns 49". New Era. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
- JSTOR 4185227.
- ^ Address by the Right Honourable Nahas Angula MP, Prime minister of the Republic of Namibia on the occasion of the official inauguration of the SADC Tribunal House Windhoek 18 November 2005 Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine SADC.int
- ^ The New York Times, 22 January 1989 "Botha suffers mild stroke January 18, 1989"
- ^ Profile of Martti Ahtisaari Archived 19 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ United Nations Transition Assistance Group Archived 29 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Chronology of Namibian Independence". Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
- ^ "Country report: Spotlight on Namibia". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "IRIN country profile Namibia". IRIN. Archived from the original on 17 February 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ a b "Elections in Namibia". African Election Database. Archived from the original on 8 February 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ "Benjamin Ulenga: Congress of Democrats". Congress of Democrats. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- ^ a b William, Vincent. "Namibia: Situation Report" (PDF). United Nations High Commission on Refugees. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- S2CID 153889189.
- ^ Alden, Chris; Anseeuw, Ward (8 July 2016). "The Gathering Storm? Namibia and the Land Question". 2nd International Conference on Wars and Violent Conflicts in Africa. Archived from the original on 21 June 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ^ "2004 UNHCR Statistical Yearbook – Namibia" (PDF). United Nations High Commission on Refugees. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ Werner Menges (8 August 2007). "Main treason trial set to soldier on in September". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
- ^ Werner Menges (2 November 2005). "Caprivi treason trial up and running again". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
- ^ "Namibia's founding president retires". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Namibian presidential election won by Swapo's Hage Geingob". BBC News. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Namibia's President Hage Geingob wins re-election". BBC News. 1 December 2019. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Hage Geingob death: Namibia's new President Mbumba sworn-in hours after predecessor dies". 4 February 2024.
Further reading
- Botha, Christo. "People and the environment in colonial Namibia." South African Historical Journal 52.1 (2005): 170–190.
- de Souza Correa, Sílvio Marcus. "History, memory, and commemorations: on genocide and colonial past in South West Africa." Revista Brasileira de Historia 2011, 31#61 pp 85–103.
- Gewald, Jan-Bart. Herero heroes: a socio-political history of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923 (Ohio State University Press, 1999).
- Katjavivi, Peter H. A history of resistance in Namibia (London: James Currey, 1988) excerpt.
- Kössler, Reinhart. "Entangled history and politics: Negotiating the past between Namibia and Germany." Journal of contemporary African studies 26.3 (2008): 313–339. online
- Kössler, Reinhart. "Images of History and the Nation: Namibia and Zimbabwe compared." South African Historical Journal 62.1 (2010): 29–53.
- Lyon, William Blakemore. "From Labour Elites to Garveyites: West African Migrant Labour in Namibia, 1892–1925." Journal of Southern African Studies 47.1 (2020): 37–55. online
- Silvester, Jeremy, and Jan-Bart Gewald. eds. Words cannot be found: German colonial rule in Namibia: an Annotated Reprint of the 1918 Blue Book (Brill, 2003).
- Wallace, Marion. History of Namibia: From the Beginning to 1990 (Oxford University Press, 2014). excerpt[dead link]
External links
This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. (November 2022) |
- "Namibia – UNTAG Background". United Nations. Archived from the original on 29 August 2009.
- "Background Note: Namibia". U.S. Department of State.
- "History and economy – Namibia Travel Guide". Bradt Travel Guids.
- The African Activist Archive Project website has material on the struggle for independence and support in the U.S. for that struggle produced by many U.S. organizations including National Namibia Concerns, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America(and predecessor organizations). Other organizations on the Archive with significant material on Namibia include the American Committee on Africa, Episcopal Churchpeople for Southern Africa, and the Washington Office on Africa (available on the Browse page).
- "History of Namibia – A Summary". Namibia-travel.net.
- Besenyo, Molnar: UN peacekeeping in Namibia Archived 17 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Tradecraft Review, Periodical of the Military National Security Service, 2013, 1. Special Issue, 93–109
- "WHKMLA:: History of Namibia". Korean Minjok Leadership Academy.
- "Chronology of Namibian History: From Precolonial Times to Independent Namibia". Dr. Klaus Dierks.
Pre-colonisation history
- "Bushmen". Survival International.
- "Southern African Rock Art". Steve Lonker.
- "The people of Namibia". The Cardboard Box Travel Shop.
- "People and culture – Namibia Travel Guide". Bradt Travel Guids.
Baster history
- "Rehobothbasters.org". Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2006.
- "Basters – Namibia Travel Guide". Bradt Travel Guids.
- "The Rehoboth Basters of Namibia". The Cardboard Box Travel Shop.