Everything about Namibia totally explained
Namibia, officially the
Republic of Namibia, is a country in
southern Africa on the
Atlantic coast. It shares borders with
Angola and
Zambia to the north,
Botswana to the east, and
South Africa to the south. It gained independence from South Africa in
1990 and its capital city is
Windhoek (German: Windhuk). Namibia is a member state of the
United Nations (UN), the
Southern African Development Community (SADC), the
African Union (AU), and the
Commonwealth of Nations. It is named after the
Namib Desert.
History
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by
Bushmen,
Damara,
Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD, by immigrating
Bantu who came with the
Bantu expansion. The region wasn't extensively explored by
Europeans until the
19th century, when the land came under
German control as
South West Africa (
Deutsch-Südwestafrika) — apart from
Walvis Bay, which was under
British control.
South Africa occupied the colony during
World War I and administered it as a
League of Nations mandate territory until after
World War II, when it unilaterally annexed the territory, without international recognition.
In
1966 the
South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO)
guerrilla group launched a war of independence, but it wasn't until
1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration of Namibia, in accordance with a
United Nations peace plan for the entire region. Independence came in
1990, and
Walvis Bay was ceded to Namibia in
1994.
Regions and constituencies
Namibia is divided into 13
regions and subdivided into 102 constituencies.
Geography
At, Namibia is the world's thirty-fourth largest country (after
Venezuela). After
Mongolia, Namibia is the least densely populated country in the world .
The Namibian landscape consists generally of five geographical areas, each with characteristic abiotic conditions and vegetation with some variation within and overlap between them: the Central Plateau, the
Namib Desert, the
Escarpment, the
Bushveld, and the
Kalahari Desert. Although the climate is generally extremely dry, there are a few exceptions. The cold, north-flowing
Benguela current accounts for some of the low precipitation.
The Central Plateau runs from north to south, bordered by the
Skeleton Coast to the north west, the
Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the south west, the
Orange River to the south, and the
Kalahari Desert to the east. The Central Plateau is home to the highest point in Namibia at
Königstein elevation . Within the wide, flat Central Plateau is the majority of Namibia’s population and economic activity.
Windhoek, the nation’s capital, is located here, as well as most of the arable land. Although arable land accounts for only 1% of Namibia, nearly half of the population is employed in agriculture.
The abiotic conditions here are similar to those found along the Escarpment, described below; however the topographic complexity is reduced. Summer temperatures in the area can reach 40°C during the summer, and in the winter, frosts are common.
The
Namib Desert is a broad expanse of hyper-arid gravel plains and dunes that stretches along the entire coastline, which varies in width between 100 to many hundreds of kilometres. Areas within the Namib include the
Skeleton Coast and the
Kaokoveld in the north and the extensive Namib Sand Sea along the central coast. The sands that make up the sand sea are a consequence of erosional processes that take place within the
Orange River valley and areas further to the south. As sand-laden waters drop their suspended loads into the
Atlantic, onshore currents deposit them along the shore. The prevailing south west winds then pick up and redeposit the sand in the form of massive dunes in the widespread sand sea. In areas where the supply of sand is reduced because of the inability of the sand to cross riverbeds, the winds also scour the land to form large gravel plains. In many areas within the
Namib Desert, there's little vegetation with the exception of lichens found in the gravel plains, and in dry river beds where plants can access subterranean water.
The Great
Escarpment swiftly rises to over . Average temperatures and temperature ranges increase as you move further inland from the cold
Atlantic waters, while the lingering coastal fogs slowly diminish. Although the area is rocky with poorly developed soils, it's nonetheless significantly more productive than the
Namib Desert. As summer winds are forced over the
Escarpment, moisture is extracted as precipitation. The water, along with rapidly changing topography, is responsible for the creation of microhabitats which offer a wide range of organisms, many of them endemic. Vegetation along the
Escarpment varies in both form and density, with community structure ranging from dense woodlands to more shrubby areas with scattered trees. A number of
Acacia species are found here, as well as grasses and other shrubby vegetation.
The
Bushveld is found in north eastern Namibia along the
Angolan border and in the
Caprivi Strip which is the vestige of a narrow corridor demarcated for the
German Empire to access the
Zambezi River. The area receives a significantly greater amount of precipitation than the rest of the county, averaging around 400 millimetres per year. Temperatures are also cooler and more moderate, with approximate seasonal variations of between and . The area is generally flat and the soils sandy, limiting their ability to retain water. Located adjacent to the
Bushveld in north-central Namibia is one of nature’s most spectacular features: the
Etosha Pan. For most of the year it's a dry, saline wasteland, but during the wet season, it forms a shallow lake covering more than 6000 square kilometres. The area is ecologically important and vital to the huge numbers of birds and animals from the surrounding
savannah that gather in the region as summer drought forces them to the scattered waterholes that ring the pan.
The
Kalahari Desert is perhaps Namibia’s best known geographical feature. Shared with
South Africa and
Botswana, it has a variety of localized environments ranging from hyper-arid sandy desert, to areas that seem to defy the common definition of desert. One of these areas, known as the
Succulent Karoo, is home to over 5,000 species of plants, nearly half of them endemic; fully one third of the world’s succulents are found in the Karoo. The reason behind this high productivity and endemism may be the relatively stable nature of precipitationThe Karoo apparently doesn't experience drought on a regular basis, so even though the area is technically desert, regular winter rains provide enough moisture to support the region’s interesting plant community. Another feature of the
Kalahari, indeed many parts of Namibia, are Inselbergs, isolated mountains that create microclimates and habitat for organisms not adapted to life in the surrounding desert matrix.
Besides the capital city Windhoek in the centre of the country, other important towns are the ports of
Walvis Bay and
Swakopmund, as well as
Oshakati and
Grootfontein.
Economy
Namibia’s economy consists primarily of mining and manufacturing which represent 74% and 11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) respectively. Namibia has a 30-40% unemployment rate and recently passed a 2004 labour act to protect people from job discrimination stemming from pregnancy and HIV/AIDS status. Namibia’s economy is tied closely to
South Africa’s due to their shared history. The Central Plateau serves as a transportation corridor from the more densely populated north to
South Africa, the source of four-fifths of Namibia’s imports. Namibia is the fourth largest exporter of non-fuel minerals in
Africa and the world's fifth largest producer of
uranium. There has been significant investment in uranium mining and Namibia is set to become the largest exporter of uranium by 2015. Rich alluvial
diamond deposits make Namibia a primary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia also produces large quantities of
lead,
zinc,
tin,
silver, and
tungsten. About half of the population depends on
agriculture (largely
subsistence agriculture) for its livelihood, but Namibia must still import some of its food. Although per capita GDP is five times the per capita GDP of Africa's poorest countries, the majority of Namibia's people live in rural areas and exist on a subsistence way of life. Namibia has one of the
highest rates of income inequality in the world, due in part to the fact that there's an urban economy and a more rural cash-less economy. The inequality figures thus take into account people who don't actually rely on the formal economy for their survival. Agreement has been reached on the
privatisation of several more enterprises in coming years, with hopes that this will stimulate much needed foreign investment. However, reinvestment of environmentally derived capital has hobbled Namibian per capita income. One of the fastest growing areas of economic development in Namibia is the growth of
wildlife conservancies. These conservancies are particularly important to the rural generally unemployed population.
Child labour occurs in Namibia, and key stakeholders including government ministries endorsed the Action Programme towards the Elimination of Child Labour in January 2008. For more information, see
this article
Tourism
eco-tourists with the majority visiting to experience the different climates and natural geographical landscapes such as the great eastern desert and plains. There are many lodges and reserves for eco-tourists to travel to and stay over.
The most visited regions include, although are not limited to, the Sossosvlei, Etosha Park and Swakopmund areas.
Politics
The politics of Namibia takes place in a framework of a
presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the
President of Namibia is elected to a five year term and is both the
head of state and the
head of government, and of a
multi-party system.
Executive power is exercised by the government.
Legislative power is vested in both the
government and the
bicameral Parliament, the
National Assembly and the
National Council. The
Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Communal Wildlife Conservancies
Namibia is the only country in the world to specifically address
conservation and protection of
natural resources in its
constitution. Article 95 states, “The State shall actively promote and maintain the welfare of the people by adopting international policies aimed at the following: maintenance of
ecosystems, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity of Namibia, and utilization of living natural resources on a sustainable basis for the benefit of all Namibians, both present and future.” The Ministry of Environment and Tourism with the financial support from organizations such as USAID,
Endangered Wildlife Trust,
WWF, and Canadian Ambassador’s Fund, together form a Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) support structure. The main goal of this project is promote sustainable natural resource management by giving local communities rights to wildlife management and tourism.
Namibia is home to the African bull snake
Sports
The most popular sport in Namibia is
association football (
soccer).
Rugby union and
cricket are also popular. Namibia were participants in the
1999,
2003 and
2007 Rugby World Cups. They also played in the
2003 Cricket World Cup.
Demographics
Black African — mostly of the
Owambo tribe, which forms about half of the population — and concentrated in the north of the country. There are also the
Herero and
Himba tribes who speak the same language. In addition to the
Bantu majority, there are large groups of
Khoisan (for example
Nama and
Bushmen), who are descendants of the original inhabitants of Southern Africa. Khoisan differ significantly in appearance from both
Bantu and
White Africans. Blacks of other Bantu descent are descendants of refugees from
Angola. There are also two smaller groups of people with mixed racial origins, called "
Coloureds" and "
Basters", who together make up 8% (with the Coloureds outnumbering the Basters two to one). Whites of
Portuguese,
Dutch,
German,
British and
French ancestry make up about 5% of the population (about 85,000) — which is the second largest proportion and number in sub-Saharan Africa, after
South Africa. Most of Namibian whites and nearly all those of mixed race are
Afrikaans speakers and share similar origins, culture, religion and genealogy as the white and coloured populations of neighbouring South Africa. A smaller proportion of whites (around 13,000) trace their family origins directly back to
German settlers and maintain
German cultural and educational institutions. Nearly all
Portuguese are miners and settlers from their former colony of
Angola.
Half of all Namibians speak
Oshiwambo as their first language, whereas the most widely understood languages are
Afrikaans and
German. Among the younger generation, the most widely understood language is
English. Both
Afrikaans and
English are used primarily as a second language reserved for public sphere communication, but small first language groups exist throughout the country. While the official language is
English, most of the white population speaks either
Afrikaans or
German, both official languages until
1990 when Namibia became independent.
Portuguese is spoken by blacks and whites from Angola.
Christianity is the major religion, with the
Lutheran Church being the largest then followed by the Roman Catholic. The government of Namibia puts the number of people who practice
Islam in Namibia at about 70,000 or about 3% of the population of Namibia. Most foreign nationals make up the largest group in Namibia's
Muslim community. In north and central Namibia,
malaria is also a pressing problem. The malaria problem seems to be compounded by the epidemic. Research has shown in Namibia, that the risk of contracting malaria is 14.5% greater if a person is also infected with HIV. The risk of death from malaria is also raised by approximately 50% with a concurrent
HIV infection. Given infection rates this large as well as a looming malaria problem, it may be very difficult for the government to deal with both the medical and economic impacts of this epidemic.
Foreign relations
Namibia follows a largely independent
foreign policy, with lingering affiliations with states that aided the independence struggle, including
Libya and
Cuba.
With a small army and a fragile economy, the Namibian Government's principal foreign policy concern is developing strengthened ties within the
Southern African region. A dynamic member of the
Southern African Development Community, Namibia is a vocal advocate for greater regional integration.
Namibia became the 160th member of the
United Nations on
April 23, 1990. On its independence it became the fiftieth member of the
Commonwealth of Nations.
The
Reporters Without Borders' Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007 ranks Namibia as 25th out of 169 countries, as compared with 56th out of 166 in 2003, and 31st out of 139 in 2002.
International disputes
Namibia is involved in several minor international disputes, including:
Military
The constitution of Namibia defined the role of the military as "
defending the territory and national interests." Namibia formed the
National Defence Force (NDF), comprising former enemies in a 23-year bush war: the
People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) and
South West African
Territorial Force (
SWATF). The British formulated the force integration plan and began training the NDF, which consists of five battalions and a small headquarters element. The
United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG)'s
Kenyan infantry battalion remained in Namibia for three months after independence to assist in training the NDF and stabilize the north. According to the
Namibian Defence Ministry, enlistments of both men and women will number no more than 7,500. Defence and security account for approximately 3.7% of government spending.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Namibia'.
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