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Travel to Namibia — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorNamibia
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Republic of Namibia
President: Hifikepunye Pohamba
(2005)
Prime Minister: Nahas Angula
(2005)
Current government officials
Total area: 318,694 sq mi (825,418 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 2,063,927
(growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 22.7/1000; infant mortality rate:
46.4/1000; life expectancy: 43.0; density per sq km: 2
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Windhoek, 221,000. Summer capital:
Swakopmund, 26,200
Monetary unit: Namibian dollar
Languages:
English 7% (official), Afrikaans is common
language of most of the population and of about 60% of the white
population, German 32%; indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero,
Nama
Ethnicity/race:
black 87.5%, white 6%, mixed 6.5%. Note: about
50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the
Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups are Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama
5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5%
Religions:
Christian 80%–90% (Lutheran at least
50%), indigenous beliefs 10%–20%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, March 21
Literacy rate: 84% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $10.72 billion; per capita $5,200. Real growth rate:
4.4%. Inflation: 6.7%. Unemployment: 5.2%. Arable
land: 1%. Agriculture: millet, sorghum, peanuts, grapes;
livestock; fish. Labor force: 660,000; agriculture 47%,
industry 20%, services 33% (1999 est.). Industries:
meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamonds,
lead, zinc, tin, silver, tungsten, uranium, copper). Natural
resources: diamonds, copper, uranium, gold, lead, tin, lithium,
cadmium, zinc, salt, vanadium, natural gas, hydropower, fish; note:
suspected deposits of oil, coal, and iron ore. Exports: $2.87
billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead,
uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul skins. Imports:
$2.82 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): foodstuffs; petroleum products and
fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals. Major trading
partners: South Africa, U.S. (2006).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 138,900 (2005); mobile cellular: 495,000 (2005). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 39, shortwave 4 (2001).
Radios: 232,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations:
2 (2007). Televisions: 60,000 (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 3,717 (2007). Internet users: 80,600
(2005).
Transportation: Railways: total: 2,382
km (2002). Highways: total: 42,237 km; paved: 5,406 km;
unpaved: 36,831 km (2002). Ports and harbors: Luderitz,
Walvis Bay. Airports: 137 (2007).
International disputes: commission
established with Botswana to resolve small residual disputes along
the Caprivi Strip, including the Situngu marshlands along the
Linyanti River; Botswana residents protest Namibia's planned
construction of the Okavango hydroelectric dam on Popa Falls;
managed dispute with South Africa over the location of the boundary
in the Orange River; dormant dispute remains where Botswana,
Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe boundaries converge; Angolan rebels
and refugees still reside in Namibia.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Namibia is bounded 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 migrated
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 domination. 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.
Upon the dissolution of the League of Nations in
1946, South Africa refused to accept United Nations authority and to
replace its mandate with a UN trusteeship. A black Marxist separatist
group, the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), formed in
1960 and began small-scale guerrilla attacks aimed at achieving
independence. In 1966, the UN called for South Africa's withdrawal from
the territory, and officially renamed it Namibia in 1968. South Africa
refused to obey. Under a 1974 Security Council resolution, South Africa
was required to begin the transfer of power or face UN action. Prime
Minister Balthazar J. Vorster rejected UN supervision, claiming that his
government was prepared to negotiate Namibian independence, but not with
SWAPO, which the UN had recognized as the “sole legitimate
representative” of the Namibian people.
South Africa handed over limited powers to a new
multiracial administration in 1985 (the previous government had enforced
South Africa's apartheid laws). Installation of this government ended
South Africa's direct rule, but South Africa retained an effective veto
over the new government's decisions. Finally, in 1988 South Africa agreed
to a plan for independence. SWAPO leader Sam Nujoma was elected president,
and on March 21, 1990, Namibia achieved independence.
Nujoma was reelected in 1994 and again in 1999,
after the constitution was amended to allow him to seek a third term.
Nujoma announced in Nov. 2001 that he would not seek reelection when his
term expired in 2004. In Nov. 2004, Hifikepunye Pohamba of SWAPO was
elected president with 76% of the vote. He took office on March 21,
2005.
In 2004, Germany issued a formal apology for the
massacre of Herero by German colonial troops between 1904 and 1908.
See also Encyclopedia: Namibia
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Namibia
Central Bureau of Statistics http://www.npc.gov.na/cbs/index.htm .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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