Namibia is a country located on the southwestern coast of Africa.
Officially known as the Republic of Namibia, it borders Angola in the north, Zambia in the northeast, Botswana in the east, South Africa in the east and south, and lastly the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Being the country with the second lowest population density in the world, it has a population of about 2.7 million people. As expected of an African country, about 85% of the population is black, 5% of European ancestry and others are referred to as the Coloreds. Half of the population comes from the Ovambo ethnicity while others come from the Damara, Herero and Himba groups. Namibian whites are generally of German, British, Afrikaner and mixed origin. About thirteen languages are spoken in the country of which eight are recognized as national languages with English Language as the official language.
This helps to ease communication among groups and foster national unity. Most Namibians speak two or more indigenous languages as well as a little of the three European languages (English, Afrikaans and German).
Christianity is the most practiced religion with about 80%-90% of the population belonging to the faith. Protestants make up about 75% of the Christians while others belong to Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and other denominations. The remaining populace practice Islam, Judaism or traditional religion. Before Europeans landed in Namibia, the San, Damara and Nama people were the first inhabitants of the deserts of Namibia before the Bantu tribe started moving in from central Africa in the 14th century.
The 18th century witnessed the influx of the Oorlam people from Cape Colony into what is known as Southern Namibia with accompanying missionaries. They were shown hospitality by the Nama tribe and they continued their exploration together; however, they were not so lucky with the Gobabis, OvaHerero and Okahandja who denied them access to their lands. This led to the Nama-Herero War in 1880 which was subdued by German troops and the dispute was settled. Although some Portuguese navigators explored the area between 1485 and 1486, they did not attempt to colonize the area. It wasn’t until the 19th century that Europeans from Germany and Sweden started traversing the area for trade and some settled there. Otto von Bismarck of Germany colonized Namibia in 1884 in order to prevent the British from colonizing the lands, so it was known as German South West Africa at that time.
16 дек 2020
