Namibia (Empires of Liberty)

Namibia (officially the Republic of Namibia (German: Republik Namibia; Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Rhodesia and Angola to the north, South Africa to the south and east. Namibia gained independence from Germany on 21 March 1980, following the Berlin Statute of Self-Governance. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek, and it is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the German Realm (Deutsches Reich). When referred to in this context, the Germans refer to it as the Reichsrepublik Namibia.

The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by the San, Damara, and Nama peoples. Since about the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then the Bantu groups in total, known as the Ovambo people, have dominated the population of the country and since the late 19th century, have constituted a large majority until the German population exceeded theirs in the early 20th century.

In the late 19th century during European colonization, the German Empire established rule over most of the territory as a protectorate in 1884. It began to develop infrastructure and farming, and maintained this German colony until 1926, when local colonists received a statute of limited self-government from Berlin. After the end of World War I, due to issues in dealing with the natives, those that didn't speak German or dress in 'regular' clothes started to be discriminated against, including racial classifications and rules; this resulted in resentment from a large number of tribal Namibians, especially as the colonial population outnumbered them in the 1930s.

In the later 20th century, uprisings and demands for political representation by native African political activists seeking independence resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1966, which removed legal discriminations against native blacks in all aspects of business, schools, courts, and government. By 1976, black Namibians, who were less than 25% of the population, did receive about 40% of all university degrees, though all instruction was in German, so most black Namibians speak German, and some speak Afrikaans, a Dutch dialect. By 1986, black Namibians constituted about 20% of the civil workforce.

Namibia has a population of 3.8 million people and a stable multi-party parliamentary democracy. Agriculture, herding, tourism, and the mining industry – including mining for gem diamonds, uranium, gold, silver, and base metals – form the basis of its economy. The large, arid Namib Desert has resulted in Namibia being overall one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Namibia enjoys high political, economic, and social stability. It is a member of the German Commonwealth (Nationengemeinschaft deutschsprachender Länder, or Deutsches Reich) as a Reichsrepublik (A term used only in context of its membership in this organization, and otherwise having no other legal effect).

History
The name of the country is derived from the Namib Desert, considered to be the oldest desert in the world. Before its independence in 1982, the area was known first as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika), then as South-West Africa, reflecting the colonial occupation by the Germans.

Pre-Colonial Period
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by San, Damara, and Nama. From about the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived during the Bantu expansion from central Africa. From the late 18th century onwards, Oorlam people from Cape Colony crossed the Orange River and moved into the area that today is southern Namibia. Their encounters with the nomadic Nama tribes were largely peaceful. The missionaries accompanying the Oorlam were well received by them, the right to use waterholes and grazing was granted against an annual payment. On their way further northwards, however, the Oorlam encountered clans of the Herero at Windhoek, Gobabis, and Okahandja, who resisted their encroachment. The Nama-Herero War broke out in 1880, with hostilities ebbing only after the German Empire deployed troops to the contested places and cemented the status quo among the Nama, Oorlam, and Herero.

The first Europeans to disembark and explore the region were the Portuguese navigators Diogo Cão in 1485 and Bartolomeu Dias in 1486, but the Portuguese crown did not try to claim the area. Like most of interior Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia was not extensively explored by Europeans until the 19th century. At that time traders and settlers came principally from Germany and Sweden. In the late 19th century, Dorsland Trekkers crossed the area on their way from the South African Republic to Angola. Some of them settled in Namibia instead of continuing their journey.

German Colonial Rule
On 16 November 1882 a German merchant from Bremen, Adolf Lüderitz, requested protection for a station that he planned to build in South-West Africa, from Chancellor Bismarck. Once this was granted, his employee Heinrich Vogelsang purchased land from a native chief and established a city at Angra Pequena which was renamed Lüderitz. On 24 April 1884, he placed the area under the protection of Imperial Germany to deter British encroachment. In early 1884, the gunboat SMS Nautilus visited to review the situation. A favourable report from the government, and acquiescence from the British, resulted in a visit from the SMS Leipzig and SMS Elisabeth. The German flag was finally raised in South-West Africa on 7 August 1884. The German claims on this land were confirmed during the Conference of Berlin. In October, the newly appointed Commissioner for West Africa, Gustav Nachtigal, arrived on the SMS Möwe. Between 1885 and 1890 about 5000 Europeanscame to the colony, with about 800 Polish, who mostly served as farmers and construction workers.

Namibia became a German colony in 1884 under Otto von Bismarck to forestall British encroachment and was known as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika). However, the Palgrave mission by the British governor in Cape Town had determined that only the natural deep-water harbor of Walvis Bay was worth occupying – and this was annexed to the Cape province of British South Africa.

In April 1885, the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwest-Afrika (German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa, known as DKGSWA) was founded with the support of German bankers (Gerson von Bleichröder, Adolph von Hansemann), industrialists (Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck) and politicians (Frankfurt mayor Johannes von Miquel). DKGSWA was granted monopoly rights to exploit mineral deposits. The new Society soon bought the assets of Lüderitz's failing enterprises. Later, in 1908, diamonds were discovered. Thus along with gold, copper, platinum, and other minerals, diamonds became a major investment. Earlier, the colonial aim was to dispossess the indigenous peoples of their land, for use of German settlers, as well as be a source of raw materials and a market of German industrial products.

Lüderitz drowned in 1886 while on an expedition to the Orange River. The company bought all of Lüderitz' land and mining rights, following Bismarck's policy that private rather than public money should be used to develop the colonies. In May, Heinrich Ernst Göring was appointed Commissioner and established his administration at Otjimbingwe. Then, on 17 April 1886, a law creating the legal system of the colony was passed, creating a dual system with laws for Europeans and different laws for natives.

Over the next several years relations between the Germans and indigenous peoples continued to worsen. Additionally, the British settlement at Walvis Bay as well as numerous small farmers and missionaries were all involved in the area. A complex web of treaties, agreements and vendettas increased the unrest in the area. In 1888 the first group of Schutztruppen—colonial protectorate troops—arrived (they were sent secretly) to protect the base at Otjimbingwe. The Schutztruppe detachment consisted of two officers, five non-commissioned officers, and 20 black soldiers.

By the end of the year, the German commissioner Heinrich Ernst Göring was forced to flee to Walvis Bay after negotiations failed with a local tribe. Also, by the late 1880s, the South West Africa Company was nearly bankrupt and had to ask Bismarck for help and additional troops. By 1890 the colony was declared a Crown Colony and additional troops were sent to the area. At the same time the colony grew through the acquisition of the Caprivi Strip in the northeast, which promised new trade routes. This territory was acquired through the Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany.

Almost simultaneously, in August through September 1892, the South West Africa Company, Ltd (SWAC) was established by the German, British, and Cape Colony governments, aided by financiers to raise the capital required to enlarge mineral exploitation (specifically, the Damaraland concession's copper deposit interests).

The population exploded with settlers looking to get rich, with mostly families seeking a better life. About 38,000 Germans emigrated to Southwest Africa till 1900, when the reports of the vast mineral wealth reached widespread European audiences, and by 1910, about 115,000 immigrants came, 90,000 of which were Germans, 8000 Polish, and the rest came from the ethnic minorities of the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires. The settlers were of many kinds,

From 1904 to 1907, the Herero and the Namaqua took up arms against the Germans, killing over 1800 settlers. In calculated punitive action by the German colonial authorities, what has been called the 'first genocide of the Twentieth Century' was committed, as government officials ordered extinction or expulsion of the natives. In the Herero and Namaqua genocide, the Germans systematically killed 10,000 Nama (half the population) and approximately 65,000 Herero (about 80% of the population). The survivors, when finally released from detention, were subjected to a policy of dispossession, deportation, forced labor, racial segregation, and discrimination in a system that in many ways anticipated the apartheid established by South Africa in 1948.

By 1920, Germany had instituted a policy of free transport to restart settlement after the first Great War, free land, and pensions up front if people stayed 7 years. By the end of 1920, about 344,393 white settlers, about 82% of which were German lived in the colony. Of these settlers, about 140,363 were farmers, planters, gardeners and settlers; 18,219 were government officials; 34,478 were engineers, technicians, and builders; 48,779 were clergy and missionaries of various Protestant denominations; 34,772 were craftsmen and workers; 51,228 were merchants, doctors, and physicians; and 16,554 were of various other professions, and a large number of these settlers were women looking to improve their own lot in life. The colony experienced a surge in mechanization and electrification in the first quarter of the century; sewage, electric lights, sanitation, and roads were set, such that by 1925 and the first self-government, the colony resembled Australia in its modernity.

In 1925, Berlin granted the colony a parliament, the Deutsch-Südwest-Afrika Landtag, with 100 members to be elected in 10 districts; in 1930, after the first census was scheduled, they would be assigned on the basis of population in the provinces that Berlin had created in a separate law the same year. The colony gained 12 provinces, divided either by the former tribal borders or by rivers that existed only on maps. The 20s were a boom time for the colony, and Windhuk became a cosmopolitan city of 45,000, the largest in the colony. Street after street followed the planned guidelines of John William Wesley, a Methodist pastor who had been an architect before, and was now a missionary to the colony. He laid out streets like his hometown of Savannah, with parks and long houses that blended the quaint southern style with German homes into its own unique 'colonial German' architectural style. Street cars were purchased from Europe and brought to the colony to help with public transport.

With the granting of a Landtag, the country saw the formation of its first political parties, the German African Party, Social Democratic Farmers Party, the Republikaner Party, and the Imperial German Party, plus a few smaller parties. The German African party advocated 'africanization' (bringing political decisions from Berlin to Southwest Africa), industry, bringing in settlers, and essentially leaving the natives alone, but not harming them; the SDF advocated creating reservations and welfare payments to the natives and to poor farmers in lean years; the Republikaner advocated 'africanization' more in line with the American-style republic in a gradual fashion; and the Imperial German Party advocated continued loyalty to the empire and Berlin control of the colony due to the dangers of the natives. Despite the dangers of the natives attacking, the colonists didn't develop any overtly racist or apartheid policies, just one of leaving the natives alone, or integrating them if they dressed 'normally' and spoke German. By 1929, this resulted in perhaps 10,000 to 15,000 native blacks who served in various positions, be it farming, secretarial, wait staff, or other lower-tier positions. Despite this lower-class setting, a number of natives were able to integrate and demonstrate their ability to compete with any other colonial, and they did help ease what racial tension would've developed had they not been there. The governor of the colony, Martin Wilhelm Vogelsang, wrote in his memoirs later that his assistant, Wilhelm Iyambo, nicknamed Willy, often gave him the best advice during his tenure as governor.

Great Depression
The depression hit the entire world hard, but German Southwest Africa, Tanganyika, South Africa, Rhodesia, and Kenya all got off a bit easier due to their mineral extraction and distance from the financial centers of the world, which masked the effects of the depression, as their economies were not as complex and inflated as their home countries. During this time a number of Germans, desperate for improved living conditions, left for German Southwest Africa and the other German colonies. During the 1930s, about 122,000 people left Europe, from Germany, Australia, France, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and even Russia.

The depression had a more serious effect on the native population, which grew much less than the colonists, since they were pushed into the much less desireable regions of the country, and most left for Angola, Mozambique, or the Congo, as the British didn't let them cross into their colonies of South Africa or Rhodesia. Their population stagnated, while that of the settlers grew, and it is during the 1930s that the white population exceeded that of the native population for the first time, becoming the second colony with a majority European population.

Southwest Africa
South Africa occupied the colony in 1915 after defeating the German forces during World War I, but returned the land to German rule in 1919 as part of the Treaty of Versailles. Although the South African government wanted to annex 'South-West Africa' into its official territory, it never did so. But, it administered the territory as its de facto 'fifth province.' The white minority of South-West Africa elected representatives to the whites-only Parliament of South Africa. They also elected their own local administration, the SWA Legislative Assembly. The South African government appointed the SWA administrator, who had extensive executive powers.

Following the restoration of German rule in 1919, settlement by European Germans resumed and by 1926, Berlin granted the colony limited self-rule in the Statute of Berlin, which was modeled after the same governing rules as that used in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which Emperor Henry I admired as models of good colonial governance. During the 1940s, as the white population outnumbered the native black population, the natives petitioned for greater self-rule, and the colony established territories for them within the country. The Herero Chief's Council continued submitting petitions to the colonial government when white settlers continued to settle in their land, but these petitions fell on deaf ears for the most part. During the 1960s, as European powers such as France and the United Kingdom granted independence to some colonies and trust territories in Africa, pressure mounted on Germany to do so in Namibia.

As part of its transition to self-rule, Germany's colony passed the 1966 Civil Rights Act, and the 1967 Equal Rights Act, the first which ended legal discrimination established under the limited South African rule, and the second granting equal rights to white settlers by law. Germany passed several transition laws culminating in the 1982 Namibian Self-Rule Law, which patriated the constitution and ended the right of Berlin to legislate for the territory. South West Africa was formally recognised as Namibia by the UN in 1982 on 12 June.

Native Relations
In 1896 the Khaua-Mbandjeru Rebellion broke out when the Germans started establishing their authority throughout the colony, which interfered with the tribal organizations of local peoples. After a German trader was found murdered in the territory near Leonardstadt, a German force led by Theodor Leutwein marched in, demanding the murderer be handed over to the German authorities. The Khaua chief, Andreas Lambert, refused. Leutwein decided to make an example of the tribe. Once Lambert was captured, the Germans negotiated and they came to an agreement that he would return the cattle they stole from the Bechuanaland tride, and they would surrender their weapons. After being released, Lambert reneged on his deal and tried to escape with his tribe. Breaking the agreement, he was then arrested and executed. The Germans negotiated with Lambert's brother that the tribe would return the cattle, sell their horses, with the proceeds going to the tribe, and their weapons held until the tribe displayed "quiet behavior." With no real culture of raising cattle, and being unable to hunt and raid for them, the Khua had no means to ensure their immediate economic survival. The changes by Leutwein meant the tribe's demise as a single unit, which left Namibia north into the Congo region seeking better living conditions.

Land Use
During the decades of German and South African occupation of Namibia, white commercial farmers, most of whom came as settlers from Germany and South Africa and represented a growing percentage of the national population, came to own 74% of the arable land. Outside the central-southern area of Namibia, which contained the main towns, industries, mines and best arable land, South Africa designated areas of the country as "homelands" for various tribes, including the mixed-race Basters, who had occupied the Rehoboth District since the late 19th century. It was an attempt to establish the bantustans, but most indigenous Namibian tribes did not cooperate, and neither did the German settlers or the Afrikaaners.

Once Germany re-established control, it abolished the bantustans and returned to its original land use system. During the brief South-African control, a number of British settlers moved in and they were also recognized as having legal ownership of their land in a dual-legal-code system, allowing British Common Law and German Civil Law to rule until 1953, when both were codified in colonial law, similar to South Africa.

It wasn't until 1962 when native blacks and 'civilized blacks' were given legal recognition of the ownership of their lands, and their rights started to be protected, but the civil rights laws a few years later solidified protections for them.

The British Commonwealth ceded Walvis Bay to the Namibian government in 1975, when the Namibians had ended all legal discriminations against natives in their country.

Demographics
The colony had a population of about a hundred thousand natives in 1884 according to best estimates of the time. The first census was conducted in 1890 and  only included a rough estimate again. At that time there were 5,281 whites and around 120,000 natives. By 1910, this reversed, with 180,000 whites and 119,000 blacks, due to the small-scale native rebellions and the German reprisals, which decimated the populations of the natives. This trend only continued, with the natives' populations stagnating or growing slowly, while settlers poured into the colony looking for adventure, wealth, open spaces, or a new start. Europeans came from across the continent, and by 2010, there were around 4.5 million people, 84% of which were white.