Namibia

Facts & Figures

Map of Namibia

President: Hifikepunye Pohamba (2005)

Prime Minister: Nahas Angula (2005)

Total area: 318,694 sq mi (825,418 sq km)

Population (2010 est.): 2,128,471 (growth rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 21.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 45.5/1000; life expectancy: 51.9; density per sq km: 2

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Windhoek, 221,000. Summer capital: Swakopmund, 26,200

Monetary unit: Namibian dollar

More Facts & Figures

Index

Namibia Main Page
South Africa Struggles to Retain Power over Namibia
Installation of Namibian Government

Geography

Namibia is bordered on the north by Angola and Zambia, on the east by Botswana, and on the east and south by South Africa. It is for the most part a portion of the high plateau of southern Africa, with a general elevation of from 3,000 to 4,000 ft.

Government

Republic.

History

The San peoples may have inhabited what is now Namibia more than 2,000 years ago. The Bantu-speaking Herero settled there in the 1600s. The Ovambo, the largest ethnic group today, migrated in the 1800s.

In the late 15th century, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to visit Namibia. Formerly called South-West Africa, the territory became a German colony in 1884. Between 1904 and 1908, German troops massacred tens of thousands of Herero, who had revolted against colonial rule. In 1915, during World War I, Namibian territory was taken over by South African forces. In 1921, it became a mandated territory of the League of Nations, under the administration of South Africa.