Namibia was colonized by Germany and South Africa and was named South West Africa before it gained independence in 1990.

Namibia’s history is characterized by the different groups that have migrated to the country throughout the years, creating a cultural melting pot. From the original Bushmen, otherwise known as the San people, to immigrants from the rest of Africa and Europe, Namibia is truly a land of diversity.

The early history of Namibia began with the migration of different groups from Africa. It was the nomadic hunter-gatherer Bushmen or the San people who first came. Eventually, two groups of Bantu people, the Ovambo and the Kavango, settled in the northern region. In the south, it was the Namaqua and the Damara people who made Namibia their home. These two groups are related to the San people, as all three belong under a larger ethno linguistic umbrella known as Khoisan. By the 17th century, the Herero arrived from the northwest and these groups can still be found in the area to this day.

By the 19th century, white Afrikaans-speaking farmers called the Oorlams came in from the south, causing conflict as they chose to settle in the lands of the Namaqua, Herero and Damara people. The Oorlams, with their guns and superior weapons, dominated the others and settled in the area that was to become Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. It was the Baster people, descendants of European men and African women, who last migrated to Namibia before European colonization.

Europeans had been in south and southwest Africa for many years, but because rough terrain dominated the inhospitable Namib Desert, it wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries when formal European occupation began. The Portuguese, Germans, Swedes, and British explored the area, and by 1884, Germany formally declared the territory its colony in order to halt further expansion of the British from the south. The territory was named Sudwestafrika and the deep-water harbor of Walvis Bay was annexed to British South Africa. Southwest Africa remained under German rule, quelling native uprisings and enforcing racial segregation, which became the institution of apartheid.