Namibia Dubai Expo 2020

Namibia has a lot of names, the country is called the Land of the Brave by its people, others call it ‘The Land God made with Anger, while for tourists, its ‘The Land of Contrasts.’

It is indeed a land of contrasts with much of it wedged between two enormous deserts, the Kalahari in the east and the Namib in the west and—its north-eastern extremity—the Zambezi Region penetrating the tropical riverine swamplands and floodplains of Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

The name Namibia originates from Namib Desert and the country’s land covers 82.4 million hectares, that’s three per cent of Africa’s total land area. Namibia is divided into 14 Regions: Zambezi, Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena, Oshana, Omusati, Kunene, Oshikoto, Otjozondjupa, Erongo, Omaheke, Khomas, Hardap and //Karas.

1400s : Portuguese, Dutch and English explorers entered then South West Africa (present-day Namibia).

1700s : American and British sealers were in the country.

1793 : Dutch Authority took control of the port of Walvis Bay as it was a good deep-water harbour.

1797 : When the United Kingdom took control of the Cape Colony in South Africa, they also took over Walvis Bay.

1800s : Missionaries befriend local chiefs and begin to acquire land in exchange for gifts. Arriving explorers and traders supply information of this beautiful land to their rulers who plan military takeover to acquire the wealth and the land.

1866 : Islands off the Southern Namibia coast were declared British territory.

1878 : Britain officially annexes Walvis Bay, which becomes part of the Cape colony in 1884.

1885 : Chancellor of the German Empire, Bismarck, holds a convention in Berlin where European powers divide Africa among themselves. This was called the “Scramble for Africa”. The boundary of Bochuanaland protectorate (Botswana) and German South West Africa was defined, the Caprivi Strip (Zambezi Region) is under the Bochuanaland Administration. Germany declares South West Africa (Namibia) a German protectorate.

1886 : The border between Angola and what would become German South West Africa (today’s Namibia) is negotiated between the German and Portuguese nations.

1904-1908 : The Herero and Nama genocide became the first genocide of the 20th century, waged by the German Empire against the Ovaherero, the Nama, and the San people of German South West Africa. Over 100 000 Namibians died at the hands of German Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha and the German colonial forces.

1915 : During the First World War the South African forces gain control of German South West Africa and following the Treaty of Versailles continue to administer the areas as South West Africa, after German forces in South West Africa (Namibia) surrendered to the Union of South Africa troops, allied to the British.

1920 : The League of Nations grants the Union of South Africa the right to govern South West Africa (Namibia), as an integral part of its territory. The South Africa Union Government begin to divide the people by land allocation and creation of borderlines among the Namibian people. After World War II more land was given as reward to returning Union of South Africa soldiers.

1933 : The boundary of Caprivi (Zambezi Region) is finalized.

1946 : South Africa attempts to incorporate South West Africa as a fifth province. The United Nation Organization, which replaced the League in 1945, rejects this, but South Africa refuses to place South West Africa under the recommended Trusteeship system

1946 -1949 : Traditional leaders inspired by Chief Hosea Kutako, petition the UN for the removal of the South African regime. In November 1949 for the first time, the UN fourth committee hears a petition by Rev. Michael Scott on behalf of the Namibian people.

1950s : All available land in South West Africa is now in the hands of white Afrikaners.

1955 : Mass demonstration in Ovamboland against the contract labor system.

1957 : Andimba Toivo ya Toivo and others organize the Ovamboland People’s Congress re-named the Ovamboland People’s Organization (OPO) the following year, amongst Namibian workers in Cape Town (South Africa) and Namibia. During this year, Dr. Sam Nujoma (Founding President and Father of the Namibia Nation) who was 29, joined politics.

1958 : First petition in form of tape and letter to the UN by Mburumba Kerina, Reverend Michael Scot as sent by Toivo ya Toivo.

1959 : Ovamboland People’s Organization (OPO) is officially formed. OPO launches a national campaign led by Sam Nujoma and ya Toivo, against the contract labor system. The campaign gains massive support amongst contract laborers.

10 Dec 1959 : Political parties SWANU, OPO and the Chief’s Council unite in opposition to the South Africa regime’s attempt to relocate Windhoek’s African population from the old location to a new township (now called Katutura). Katutura is a Herero word for, ‘no place to stay) and inhabitants were divided and settled along ethnic lines. During the removal of the people from the old location, police fired on unarmed demonstrators with live ammunition, killing 13 and wounding 52 South West African nationals. Black political leaders were arrested, compelling Sam Nujoma and many others into exile for fear of their safety.

29 February 1960 : Sam Nujoma escapes into exile.

1 March 1960 : Sam Nujoma in Botswana

19 April 1960 : South West Africa People’s Organization is formed.

26 August 1966 : The first shots were fired in Namibia's war for independence at the battle of Omugulugwombashe in Namibia's central Northern region on the borders of Angola. The United Nations General Assembly had revoked South Africa's mandate to govern South West African (now Namibia) territory and placed it under direct UN administration. South Africa refused to recognize this resolution. South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) at that time prepared for armed resistance and founded its armed wing, the South West African Liberation Army (SWALA) in 1962. Many of its commanders were in exile but SWALA began to infiltrate the north of Namibia to establish training camps. Omugulugwombashe was one such training camp, established in June 1966 by SWALA commander John Ya Otto Nankudhu. The group under Nankudhu had just started to build defensive structures and planned to train about 90 insurgents there.

The area in which the battle took place is forested, on the western fringes of the Cuvelai Basin. On 26 August 1966, eight helicopters landed troops of the South African Defence Force and South African Police to attack the guerrilla fighters at Omugulugwombashe. At the time of attack there were only 17 insurgents in the camp, scores of unarmed women and children were injured and 11 people died.

16 February 1989 : The Implementation of Resolution 435 was finally authorized by the UN Security Council Resolution 632.

31 March 1989 : Swapo announced the UN Ceasefire to PLAN combatants at Lubango, Angola.

21 March 1990 : Namibia gains independence from South Africa.

Namibian History