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Namibia

Map of Namibia

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 (2007 est.): 2,055,080 (growth rate: 0.5%); birth rate: 23.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 47.2/1000; life expectancy: 43.1; density per sq mi: 6

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%

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

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 .

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