It’s a Namibian Thing VIII

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Here is a map** of where Oranjemund is located. Beneath that is a map of Namibia and where it is located in Africa which places Oranjemund’s locale in proper context within the vast space that is Namibia.

I thought you would like to see where it is (Oranjemund) that I have been writing about. A lot of people may not know the precise location of Namibia in the world’s geography, so here it is.

I also included a Timeline of events that dictated the path to Independence and sovereignty of Namibia by the people from whom colonialisation had previously denied them full partnership and ownership of the natural resources found in Namibia.

NAMIBIAN FLAG & FACTS*

Population: 2,031,000

Capital: Windhoek with population 237,000

Land Area: 824,292 square kilometers (318,261 square miles)

Language(s): Oshivambo, Herero, Nama, English (official), Afrikaans, German.

Religion: Indigenous beliefs, Christian

Currency: Namibian dollar, South African rand

Main exports: Diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium, livestock

Life Expectancy: According to the UN - 49yrs (women) 48 yrs (men)

GNI per capita: US $2,370 (World Bank, 2005)

Literacy Percent: 84%

TIMELINE: Namibia***

A chronology of key events:

1488 - Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias visits.

1886-90 - Present international boundaries established by German treaties with Portugal and Britain. Germany annexes the territory as South West Africa.

1892-1905 - Suppression of uprisings by Herero and Namas. Possibly 60,000, or 80% of the Herero population, are killed, leaving some 15,000 starving refugees.

South African occupation

1915 - South Africa takes over territory during First World War.

1920 - League of Nations grants South Africa mandate to govern South West Africa (SWA).

1946 - United Nations refuses to allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. South Africa refuses to place SWA under UN trusteeship.

1958 - Herman Toivo Ya Toivo and others create the opposition Ovamboland People’s Congress, which becomes the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) in 1960.

Independence campaign: South African troops took on Swapo

1961 - UN General Assembly demands South Africa terminate the mandate and sets SWA’s independence as an objective.

1966 - Swapo launches armed struggle against South African occupation.

1968 - South West Africa officially renamed Namibia by UN General Assembly.

1972 - UN General Assembly recognises Swapo as “sole legitimate representative” of Namibia’s people.

1988 - South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.

1989 - UN-supervised elections for a Namibian Constituent Assembly. Swapo wins.

Independence

1990 March - Namibia becomes independent, with Sam Nujoma as first president.

1994 - South African exclave of Walvis Bay turned over to Namibia.

1994 - Nujoma and Swapo re-elected.

1998 - Hundreds of residents of the Caprivi Strip flee to Botswana, alleging persecution by the Namibian goverment.

1998 August - Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against rebels.

1999 August - Emergency declared in Caprivi Strip following series of attacks by separatists.

1999 December - Nujoma wins third presidential term.

1999 December - World Court rules in favour of Botswana in territorial dispute with Namibia over the tiny Chobe River island of Sedudu - known as Kasikili by Namibians.

2001 November - President Nujoma says he will not stand for a fourth term when his presidency expires in 2004.

Founding President Sam Nujoma served for 15 years

2005: Namibian founding father replaced

2002 August - New prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, says land reform is a priority. President Nujoma says white farmers must embrace the reform programme.

2003 November - Union representing black farmworkers calls off plans to invade 15 white-owned farms after reaching agreement with white farmers’ group. Government says illegal land occupations will not be allowed.

2004 May - Road bridge across Zambezi river between Namibia, Zambia opens amid hopes for boost to regional trade.

2004 August - Germany offers formal apology for colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros, but rules out compensation for victims’ descendants.

2004 November - Hifikepunye Pohamba, President Nujoma’s nominee, wins presidential elections. He is inaugurated in March 2005.

2005 September - Government begins the expropriation of white-owned farms as part of a land-reform programme.

2005 November - Two mass graves are found near a former South African military base in the north. They are thought to date back to the apartheid-era independence struggle.

2006 June - National anti-polio vaccination campaign is launched following the death of at least 12 people from the disease.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings about my childhood days. We are a people who can and like to share. It’s a Namibian thing.

I have been away too long. I will be back. I need to get earthed again.

It’s a Namibian Thing VIII

*** Courtesy of BBC Online.
**Thanks to Mike Alexander at Oranjemund
*Detail courtesy of National Geographic