Journey through the people, cities and ideas that shaped Namibia, from prehistoric communities to the republic of today.
Follow San rock art, Ovambo kingdoms, Herero and Nama communities, German colonial rule, South African administration, SWAPO and independence.
Explore 7 historical periods, rulers and heads of government, and 51 chapters of territorial change.
Kings and chiefs, colonial governors, heads of state, prime ministers and political figures.
A Journey Through the Ages
Namibia: explore San rock art, regional kingdoms and captaincies, German South West Africa, South African rule, the independence struggle and the republic through 296 events across 7 historical periods.
10,000 BCE – 1485
San hunter-gatherers, whose rock art at Apollo 11 and Twyfelfontein is among the oldest in Africa, were joined by Khoekhoe herders and later Bantu-speaking farmers. No states left written records, so territory is drawn only schematically and every date and population figure is approximate.
1486 – 1883
Portuguese sailors touched the coast in 1486 and 1488, and the Oorlam under Jonker Afrikaner, the Herero, the Ovambo kingdoms and the Basters of Rehoboth shaped the interior. Britain annexed Walvis Bay on 12 March 1878 and Lüderitz bought Angra Pequena in 1883.
1884 – 1914
Germany declared a protectorate in 1884, and the colony reached about 835,100 km2 by 1912 with the Caprivi Strip won in 1890. The 1904-08 Herero and Nama genocide killed about 80 percent of the Herero and half the Nama, per Faber-Jonker 2023 as cited on Wikipedia.
1915 – 1965
South African troops took the territory at Khorab on 9 July 1915 and ruled it under a League of Nations mandate from 17 December 1920. Apartheid arrived, with the Old Location removals in 1959 and the Odendaal Commission, appointed in 1962, proposing separate homelands.
1966 – 1989
The UN ended the mandate in 1966 and SWAPO began its armed struggle against South African control, while Pretoria created homelands and an interim government. The Border War, the Cassinga raid of 1978, Resolution 435 and the 1988 accords led to UNTAG and the 1989 vote.
1990 – 2004
Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990 under President Sam Nujoma and regained Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands on 1 March 1994. The Caprivi secession attempt of August 1999 failed, and the ICJ awarded Kasikili/Sedudu Island to Botswana the same year.
2005 – present
Namibia moved from Hifikepunye Pohamba through Hage Geingob to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, sworn in on 21 March 2025, with Elijah Ngurare as Prime Minister in October 2026. The 2023 census counted 3,022,401 people on 825,615 km2, against 2,963,095 modelled by the UN.
From the San and Khoekhoe and the Herero and Ovambo kingdoms to German South West Africa, South African rule, the SWAPO struggle, independence in 1990 and Walvis Bay in 1994, 10,000 BCE – Today
From the San hunter-gatherers, the Khoekhoe herders and the Iron Age farmers of the north to the Portuguese landfalls of 1486-88, the Herero and Ovambo kingdoms, the Oorlam and Nama captaincies, the Baster republic of Rehoboth and the Lozi corridor, the German protectorate of 1884 and the Caprivi Strip, the South African conquest of 1915 and the League mandate, the Odendaal homelands, the UN dispute and the border war, independence on 21 March 1990 and the return of Walvis Bay in 1994. See how the lands of Namibia changed.
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San hunter-gatherers, whose rock art at Apollo 11 and Twyfelfontein is among the oldest in Africa, were joined by Khoekhoe herders and later Bantu-speaking farmers. No states left written records, so territory is drawn only schematically and every date and population figure is approximate.
Portuguese sailors touched the coast in 1486 and 1488, and the Oorlam under Jonker Afrikaner, the Herero, the Ovambo kingdoms and the Basters of Rehoboth shaped the interior. Britain annexed Walvis Bay on 12 March 1878 and Lüderitz bought Angra Pequena in 1883.
Germany declared a protectorate in 1884, and the colony reached about 835,100 km2 by 1912 with the Caprivi Strip won in 1890. The 1904-08 Herero and Nama genocide killed about 80 percent of the Herero and half the Nama, per Faber-Jonker 2023 as cited on Wikipedia.
South African troops took the territory at Khorab on 9 July 1915 and ruled it under a League of Nations mandate from 17 December 1920. Apartheid arrived, with the Old Location removals in 1959 and the Odendaal Commission, appointed in 1962, proposing separate homelands.
The UN ended the mandate in 1966 and SWAPO began its armed struggle against South African control, while Pretoria created homelands and an interim government. The Border War, the Cassinga raid of 1978, Resolution 435 and the 1988 accords led to UNTAG and the 1989 vote.
Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990 under President Sam Nujoma and regained Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands on 1 March 1994. The Caprivi secession attempt of August 1999 failed, and the ICJ awarded Kasikili/Sedudu Island to Botswana the same year.
Namibia moved from Hifikepunye Pohamba through Hage Geingob to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, sworn in on 21 March 2025, with Elijah Ngurare as Prime Minister in October 2026. The 2023 census counted 3,022,401 people on 825,615 km2, against 2,963,095 modelled by the UN.
Events, rulers, facts and map chapters retain the supplied references and uncertainty notes. The research was compiled on 22 October 2026.
Historical zones and early political extents are approximate. Map notes distinguish territorial claims, political authority and effective control, and explain population estimates. Chapter references retain the supplied sources and qualifications.
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Explore 68 facts from the supplied Namibia research. References and qualifications accompany each fact.
Did you know that Wikipedia reports a 2016 DNA study finding that San ancestors were fully isolated by 100,000 years ago, and the San carry some of the most divergent Y-chromosome lineages known in living humans.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Apollo 11 Cave in southern Namibia was named after the Moon mission, and Wikipedia says carbon dating puts its art, including painted slabs showing a part-human creature, at around 30,000 years before the present.
Did you know that the Twyfelfontein valley has been inhabited for about 6,000 years, and Wikipedia says its oldest rock engravings may be around 10,000 years old, with more than 5,000 depictions now estimated across the site.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that prehistoric paintings around the granite Spitzkoppe, nicknamed the Matterhorn of Namibia, are described by Wikipedia as 2,000 to 4,000 years old, though almost all in one area known as Bushman Paradise have been destroyed.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that in January 1486 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão landed at Cape Cross and raised a stone padrão, the cross that gave the place its name, making him the first European known to visit that stretch of coast.
Did you know that Bartolomeu Dias reached a bay on the coast in 1487, named it Angra Pequena, meaning Small Bay, and raised a stone cross on the southern peninsula, at the bay where the town of Lüderitz now stands.
Did you know that the oldest known wreck on the Skeleton Coast is the Portuguese ship Bom Jesus, which Wikipedia says ran aground in the 1530s near Oranjemund, and a museum there is planned to display items recovered from it.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Jonker Afrikaner, captain of the Orlam, settled the site of today's capital Windhoek in 1840 and built a stone church, and the earliest known written mention of the name is a letter dated 12 August 1844.
Did you know that Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch documented the Welwitschia plant in Angola in 1859, and it is the only living genus in its family, with the Afrikaans name tweeblaarkanniedood, meaning two leaves, cannot die.
Did you know that Wikipedia says British steps to annex Walvis Bay began in 1878 and the Cape Colony completed the annexation in 1884, setting up a coastal enclave that South Africa would later administer until 1994.
Did you know that in 1883 Heinrich Vogelsang bought Angra Pequena and surrounding land for the merchant Adolf Lüderitz from the Nama chief Josef Frederiks II in Bethanie, and the town that grew there later took Lüderitz's name.
Did you know that the German flag was raised at Lüderitz on 7 August 1884, and in 1886, after Adolf Lüderitz failed to return from an expedition, the bay was renamed Lüderitzbucht, later shortened to Lüderitz.
Did you know that under the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, signed in Berlin on 1 July 1890, Germany gave up Zanzibar and received the North Sea island of Heligoland and a ribbon of land that gave German South West Africa access to the Zambezi.
Did you know that the Caprivi Strip is named after the German chancellor Leo von Caprivi, who negotiated its acquisition in 1890, and its width varies from about 32 kilometres to about 105 kilometres.
Did you know that Curt von François refounded Windhoek on 18 October 1890 by laying the foundation stone of the fort now known as the Alte Feste, and Wikipedia says most believe the name comes from the Afrikaans words wind and hoek.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Swakopmund was founded in 1892 by Curt von François as the main harbour of the German colony, and the Namib Desert surrounds the city on three sides, with the cold Atlantic Ocean to its west.
Did you know that in 1893 the commander of the German warship SMS Falke removed the original padrão from Cape Cross, and the original cross is now held in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.
Did you know that the Woermannhaus in Swakopmund, built in 1906 with a prominent Damara tower, is now a public library, and a prison designed by Heinrich Bause in 1909 also survives as part of the town's German colonial architecture.
Did you know that Etosha was declared a game reserve in March 1907 by Governor Friedrich von Lindequist, and its first estimated area of about 99,526 square kilometres was later corrected to roughly 80,000 square kilometres.
Did you know that a railway worker named Zacharias Lewala found a diamond in 1908 and showed it to the inspector August Stauch, and the boom that followed built Kolmanskop, with a hospital, ballroom, casino and ice factory.
Did you know that the German government created the Sperrgebiet, meaning Prohibited Area, in September 1908, and Wikipedia says it covers about 26,000 square kilometres, roughly three percent of Namibia's land.
Did you know that Duwisib Castle was built from 1908 to 1909 for the Saxon artillery officer Hans Heinrich von Wolf, with iron, wood and cement shipped to Lüderitz and hauled 300 kilometres by wagons drawn by 24 oxen.
Did you know that the Tintenpalast, meaning Ink Palace, was built in 1912 and 1913 in Windhoek and still houses both chambers of Namibia's Parliament today.
Did you know that the Felsenkirche, or Rock Church, on Diamond Hill in Lüderitz was consecrated in 1912 in vertical Gothic style and has been a national monument since 1978.
Did you know that the daily German-language newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung was founded in Windhoek in 1916 under the name Der Kriegsbote, and Wikipedia says it still serves German speakers in Namibia today.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that a farmer ploughing his field with an ox in 1920 struck the Hoba meteorite, and it is the largest known intact meteorite as a single piece, with a main mass estimated at more than 60 tonnes.
Did you know that the steamship Dunedin Star struck an underwater obstacle off the Skeleton Coast on 29 November 1942 carrying munitions for the British Eighth Army, and its rescue involved aircraft, boats, a tug and a truck convoy from Windhoek.
Did you know that the government of South West Africa declared the Hoba meteorite a national monument on 15 March 1955, and the meteorite has never been moved from the place where it fell.
Did you know that Wikipedia records that Namibia's national rugby side played its first international on 5 July 1955 as South West Africa, a 9-0 defeat to the British and Irish Lions in Windhoek.
Did you know that the diamond town of Kolmanskop was abandoned in 1956, after decline began in the First World War and a 1928 diamond find to the south drew miners away, and Wikipedia lists its population in 2024 as zero.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the Cape Cross area was proclaimed a protected area in the early 1960s and is now home to one of the largest colonies of Cape fur seals in the world.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Apollo 11 Cave was named by the archaeologist Wolfgang Erich Wendt in reference to the then-recent return to Earth of the Apollo 11 mission, and Wikipedia credits him with the naming.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Rössing uranium mine in the Namib Desert near Arandis started in 1976 and Wikipedia calls it the longest-running and one of the largest open pit uranium mines in the world.
Did you know that German was added as an official language of South West Africa in 1984, but after independence in 1990 English became the sole official language, and German is still used in daily life, media and schools.
Did you know that Namibia became independent from South Africa on 21 March 1990, and its constitution, adopted on 9 February 1990, has 148 articles in 21 chapters and was drafted by a Constituent Assembly.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Namibia is one of few countries in the world to specifically address conservation and protection of natural resources in its constitution, and wildlife conservancies are among its fastest-growing areas of economic development.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Cheetah Conservation Fund, founded in 1990 by Laurie Marker, runs a research centre 44 kilometres east of Otjiwarongo, and Wikipedia calls Namibia's cheetah population the largest and healthiest in the world.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Windhoek Declaration, adopted on 3 May 1991 at a UNESCO seminar in Windhoek, promoted a free, independent and pluralistic African press, and its date later became World Press Freedom Day.
Did you know that Frankie Fredericks became the first Namibian Olympic medallist when he took silver in both the 100 and 200 metres at Barcelona in 1992, and he added two more silvers at Atlanta in 1996.
Did you know that the Bank of Namibia issued the first Namibian dollar banknotes on 15 September 1993, replacing the South African rand at par, and the new currency is still linked to the rand at one to one.
Did you know that Frankie Fredericks won the 200 metres at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, becoming the first Namibian world champion, and ran a 9.86 second 100 metres in Lausanne in 1996.
Did you know that South Africa formally transferred sovereignty of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands to Namibia on 1 March 1994, giving the country the only natural deep-water harbour along its coast.
Did you know that Namibia played at its first Rugby World Cup in 1999 and has since appeared at seven, though Wikipedia records that it has not yet won a match there, with a 17-16 loss to Georgia in 2015 its closest result.
Did you know that in 1999 the International Court of Justice ruled that Kasikili/Sedudu Island in the Chobe River belongs to Botswana, finding that the northern channel must be regarded as the main channel under the 1890 treaty.
Did you know that the Sperrgebiet was designated a national park in June 2004 and is now named Tsau ǁKhaeb National Park, though the public is still banned from entering most of the area.
Did you know that Twyfelfontein was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007, becoming Namibia's first World Heritage Site, and it stayed Namibia's only one until the Namib Sand Sea was listed in 2013.
Did you know that after Namibia proposed a dam at Orokawe in 2011, Himba leaders protested to the UN, the African Union and the Namibian government in 2012, and over 1,000 people gathered in Opuwo in 2013.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that UNESCO inscribed the Namib Sand Sea on the World Heritage List in 2013, with a core area of 3,077,700 hectares and a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares.
Did you know that Christine Mboma won silver in the 200 metres at the Tokyo Olympics on 3 August 2021 at age 18, running 21.81 seconds, and became the first Namibian woman to win an Olympic medal.
Did you know that Wikipedia says offshore oil discoveries made in 2022 by Shell and TotalEnergies were estimated at 11 billion barrels of crude, though the government's target of first production in 2030 had no confirmed final investment decision.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Namibia's 2023 census counted 3,022,401 people, and it has the second-lowest population density of any sovereign country, after Mongolia, according to Wikipedia.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the 2023 census counted 71,201 San in Namibia, about 2.4 percent of the population, which Wikipedia describes as the second-highest proportion of San in any country, after Botswana.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah took office as Namibia's fifth president on 21 March 2025, the country's first female president, after winning 58.7 percent of the vote in the November 2024 election.
Did you know that the Namib is described by Wikipedia as possibly the oldest desert in the world, arid or semi-arid for roughly 55 to 80 million years, with the Atacama as its only rival for age and aridity.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the name Namib comes from Khoekhoegowab and is reported to mean vast place, and Wikipedia says Mburumba Kerina chose the name Namibia for the country, though he first proposed Republic of Namib.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Sossusvlei means dead-end marsh, with sossus from Nama meaning no return, and the dune called Big Daddy stands about 325 metres tall near Deadvlei.
Did you know that the Etosha Pan covers about 4,760 square kilometres, around 23 percent of the park, and its name comes from an Oshindonga phrase meaning Great White Place.
Did you know that the Skeleton Coast is about 500 kilometres long, and the cold Benguela current produces dense ocean fog for much of the year, which many native succulent plants rely on for moisture.
Did you know that the Skeleton Coast name was coined by John Henry Marsh for his 1944 book about the Dunedin Star wreck, though Wikipedia says it was first inspired by whale and seal bones that littered the shore.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Fish River Canyon is about 160 kilometres long, up to 27 kilometres wide and almost 550 metres deep, and Wikipedia calls it the largest canyon in Africa.
Did you know that the Brandberg's highest point, the Königstein, rises 2,573 metres, making it Namibia's highest mountain, and its Tsisab Ravine holds more than 1,000 rock shelters and over 45,000 rock paintings.
Did you know that Himba women coat their skin with otjize, a paste of butterfat and ochre pigment often perfumed with resin, which Wikipedia says cleanses where water is scarce and protects against heat and insects.
Did you know that Herero women wear floor-length gowns called ohorokova, adopted in the late 19th century from German missionaries, with the horn-shaped otjikaiva headdress said to honour the cattle that sustain the Herero.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that the Hoba meteorite is about 84 percent iron and 16 percent nickel, measures roughly 2.7 by 2.7 by 0.9 metres, and is thought to have landed less than 80,000 years ago.
Did you know that a Welwitschia usually has just two permanent leaves that grow continuously from the crown and can reach about 4 metres, and some individuals may be up to about 2,000 years old.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.
Did you know that Namibia's desert elephants are not a separate species, but Wikipedia says they have broader feet and longer legs than other African bush elephants and may walk up to 70 kilometres at night to find water.
Did you know that the Namib fog-basking beetle Stenocara gracilipes collects fog droplets on hydrophilic bumps on its back, and Parker and Lawrence's 2001 Nature paper inspired surfaces designed to harvest water from air.
Did you know that Nama is reported to have 31 consonants including 20 clicks, and Khoekhoe is a national language of Namibia, also called Khoekhoegowab, Nama or Damara.
Research confidence: medium; the supplied research identifies partial support.