Trace Namibia's complex past, from its ancient inhabitants to colonial rule and the hard-won struggle for independence.
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Namibia's First Artists Painted in Stone
Namibia sits along Africa's southwestern Atlantic coast, a vast terrain of deserts, savannas, and ancient mountain ranges that has quietly shaped human history for…
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Click Languages Echo Across Millennia
The Khoisan language family is one of the oldest on Earth, and its hallmark click consonants — up to five distinct types — are sounds found in no other language group…
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Stone Crosses on a Barren Shore
In 1485, Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão planted a limestone cross on the fog-shrouded coast of what is now Cape Cross, claiming land he had no intention of settling.
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Germany's Desert Colony and Its Cost
In 1884, a German merchant named Adolf Lüderitz purchased a stretch of coastline from a Nama chief through a contract measured in German miles — roughly four times…
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The First Genocide of the Twentieth Century
In October 1904, German General Lothar von Trotha issued the Vernichtungsbefehl — an extermination order — commanding that every Herero man, woman, and child be shot on…
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South Africa's Iron Grip on Namibia
When Germany lost World War One, it lost its colonies too.
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SWAPO and the Long March to Freedom
On August 26, 1966, shots were fired at Omugulugwombashe in the remote north — the first armed clash between SWAPO guerrillas and South African forces.
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