Timeline Namibia
Return to home
Africa.Com: http://www.africa.com/namibia/
AfricaNet: http://www.africanet.com/africanet/country/namibia/home.htm#History
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/wa.html
Emulate: http://www.emulateme.com/namibia.htm
Lycos: http://travel.lycos.com/Destinations/Africa/Namibia/
Namibia History Trust: http://www.bravenewworld.demon.co.uk/armenia/timeline.htm
Overview: http://www.namibia.addr.com/travel/namibia.htm
Rover: http://www.worldrover.com/country/namibia_main.html
A South-West country of Africa whose majority tribe is the
Ovambo.
The semi-arid country has a population of almost [1.6 mil], 2 million
in
a territory larger than Texas and Louisiana combined. Whites number
less
than 10% but control most of the wealth. The Himba nomadic tribe lived
in the north. The Bushmen of the Kalahari live in Namibia and speak
Ju'hoansi,
a language with clicking inflections.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)(SFC,11/19/97, p.C3)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)
26000BC-16000BC Africa’s oldest
known rock art dated to about this time at a site in Namibia.
(Econ, 5/3/08, p.56)
1884 Southwest Africa (later
Namibia) was made a German protectorate.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.T4)
1904 Jan 12, Anxious Germans
opened fire on Ovaherero at Okahandja. The Herero people of Namibia had
risen in rebellion against German colonial rule. The deadly Deutsche
Schutzruppe “peacekeeping regiment” quelled the tribes. They eventually
annihilated 75% of the Herero and Nama peoples. In 1981 Jon M.
Bridgeman authored “The Revolt of the Hereros.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.E5)
1904 Jun 11, General Lothar von
Trotha arrived in SW Africa from Germany to take over from the colonial
Governor, Theodor Leutwein, the direction of a campaign to quell an
uprising.
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Aug 11, German General Lothar
von Trotha defeated the Hereros tribe near Waterberg, South Africa.
[see Namibia]
(HN, 8/10/98)
1904 Aug 14, The cattle-herding
Hereros, a tribe of Southwest Africa (later Namibia), became the first
genocide victims of the 20th century. Kaiser Wilhelm II had sent
General Lothar von Trotha to put down a Herero uprising along with the
groups of rebellious Khoikhoi. Trotha drove the Hereros into the desert
and then issued a formal "extermination order" (Schrecklichkeit)
authorizing the slaughter of all who refused to surrender. Out of some
80,000 Hereros, 60,000 died in the desert. Of the 15,000 who
surrendered, half of those died in prison camps. Some 9,000 escaped to
neighboring countries. In 2004 a senior German government official
apologized for the genocide during a ceremony in Namibia marking the
100th anniversary of the uprising. In 2005 a German minister
acknowledged violence by German colonial powers and admitted that
following uprisings, the surviving Herero, Nama and Damara were
interned in camps and put to forced labor of such brutality that many
did not survive.
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)(HNPD, 4/14/99)(AP,
8/14/04)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.E5)
1904 Oct 2, General Lothar von
Trotha: “I, the great General of the German soldiers, send this letter
to the Herero people (SW Africa-Namibia). The Herero are no longer
German subjects... The Herero nation must...leave the country. If they
do not leave, I will force them out with the Groot Rohr (cannon). Every
Herero, armed or unarmed...will be shot dead within the German borders.
I will no longer accept women and children, but will force them back to
their people or shoot at them.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Nov 27, A German colonial
army defeated Hottentots at Warmbad in Southwest Africa (later
Namibia).
(HN, 11/27/98)
1904 Dec 9, Von Schlieffen order
von Trotha to pardon all Ovaherero, after tens of thousands had
perished in the desert, except those who were "directly guilty
and the leaders.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Dec 24, German SW Africa
abolished the slavery of young children. [see Namibia]
(MC, 12/24/01)
1915 Jul 9, Germany’s South West
Africa surrendered to Gen. Botha of the Union of South Africa.
(http://home.wanadoo.nl/rhodesia/swatf.htm)
1916 The beginning of 73 years of
occupation [by South Africa].
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1918 Nov, The British declared the
1915 truce between Germany’s SW Africa and the Union of South Africa
invalid.
(www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/suedwest-english.htm)
1919 The League of Nations
assigned the colony to South Africa to govern as a "Class A" mandate.
(www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/suedwest-english.htm)
1950 Laurence Marshall, a former
president of Raytheon, took his family to the bush land of the Kalahari
Desert in South Africa where they encountered the native Bushmen. The
area later became the border of Namibia and Botswana. In 2006 his
daughter Elizabeth Marshall Thomas authored ”The Old Way: A Story of
the First People.”
(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.M3)
1959 Hifikepunye Pohamba and Sam
Nujoma of Namibia founded the South West Africa People’s Organization
(SWAPO).
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
1966 Oct 27, The UN deprived South
Africa of Namibia.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1967 A 23-year brush war began
with the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rebel movement
demanding independence from South Africa.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
1975 Oct 14, South Africans
secretly launched Operation Savannah when the first of several South
African columns (task force Zulu) crossed into Angola from Namibia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_intervention_in_Angola_(1975-1991))
1979 In Namibia Nick (d.2001) and
Marieta van der Merwe began taking in injured animals on their 100,000
acre cattle farm. They later turned the farm into a trust called the
Harnas Wildlife Foundation (www.harnas.de/en).
(SSFC, 1/7/07, p.G7)
1980 The film "The Gods Must Be
Crazy" was directed by Jamie Uys and starred N!xau (d.2003), a Namibian
bushman of the San people.
(SSFC, 7/6/03, p.A2)
1980 The Harnas Wild Animal
Foundation was begun by Nick and Mariet van der Merwes.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T5)
1982 Nov 20, South Africa backed
down on a plan to install black rule in neighboring Namibia.
(Historynet, 11/20/98)
1988 Mar 22, In Angola the battle
of Cuito Cuanavale changed the region's political landscape,
accelerating the independence of Namibia and the fall of apartheid in
South Africa. While the Cuban and Angolan forces claimed victory, South
Africa claimed it lost only 31 soldiers against 4,785 who fell on the
other side.
(AP, 3/22/08)
1988 Jul, The apartheid regime in
South Africa, having entered into discussions with the ANC, agreed to
elections in Namibia in exchange for the withdrawal of Cuban troops
from Angola.
(AP, 3/22/08)
1989 The South West Africa
People’s Organization (SWAPO) ended its rebellion against South African
rule with the UN supervised elections that elected Sam Nujoma as
President. A new constitution was written.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
1990 Mar 20, Namibia became an
independent nation, marking the end of 75 years of South African rule.
The South African colony gained independence after 25 years of
guerrilla war. Namibians began petitioning the U.N. as early as 1947,
developing political parties, most notably SWAPO (South West Africa
People‘s Organization) to voice opposition to South African rule. Armed
resistance to South African rule began in earnest in the 1970s and
continued into the 1980s, which combined with drought and other
factors, contributed to an overwhelming drain to South Africa‘s
economy. The UN Security Council eventually demanded independence for
Namibia, but transition elections were not agreed to by South Africa
until December 1988 after a military disaster involving Angola. The UN
Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) started work in April 1989 with
elections giving SWAPO 57% of the vote. On March 21 of the following
year, the South African flag was lowered and the Namibian flag raised
in Namibia‘s National Stadium.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)(AP,
3/20/00)(HNQ, 2/13/01)
1990 Sam Nujoma became president
of Namibia.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
1994 In the elections SWAPO won
over 72% of the vote.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
c1995 Pres. Nujoma began to
allocate about $3 million a year to buy land from white farmers for
black resettlement. By 2000 370,500 acres were purchased and 14,000
blacks resettled.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.C3)
1997 Jun 19, In Zimbabwe delegates
to the UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
approved the applications by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to sell an
annual quota of their collective ivory stockpile, but only to Japan.
Trade in ivory was shut down in 1989 due to extensive poaching.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul, Armed police were sent
to break up a meeting between elders of the Himba tribe and their
lawyers. They were discussing a challenge a government proposed dam
proposal.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C3)
1997 Jun 19, In Zimbabwe delegates
to the UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
approved the applications by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to sell an
annual quota of their collective 55 tons of ivory stockpile, but only
to Japan. Trade in ivory was shut down in 1989 due to extensive
poaching.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A9)
1998 Aug 26, In Congo
Rwandan-backed rebels attempted an assault on Kinshasa but were held
off by government soldiers and troops from Zimbabwe and Namibia.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 27, In Congo Unita forces
from Angola joined the rebels, while forces from Namibia fought for
Kabila’s regime.
(WSJ, 8/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe,
chairman of the African body “Organ on Politics, Defence and Security,”
joined with Namibia and Angola in a war of plunder in Congo.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.48)
1999 Feb 10, A UN panel eased a
trade ban on ivory. It allowed Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell nearly 34
tons to Japan.
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 9, Some 13.6 tons of
elephant tusks were sold at auction to Japanese buyers at the first
legal sale since a 1989 int'l. ban on the sale of ivory.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1999 Aug 2, In Namibia separatist
rebels for the independence of the Caprivi border area attacked the
town of Katima Mulilo and 16 people were killed. Pres. Sam Nujoma later
blamed the Caprivi Liberation Army and accused from opposition leader
Mishake Muyongo of being behind the revolt.
(WSJ, 8/3/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A9)
2000 Jan 4, In Namibia gunmen
attacked a family of French tourists, killed 3 children and wounded the
parents. Unita rebels were blamed.
(WSJ, 1/5/00, p.A1)
2000 May, Some 4,000 white
Namibians farmed 90 million acres, 44% of the country. Another 400
whites owned 7.5 million acres. About 1 million blacks had access to 83
million acres of communal land.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.A15)
2001 Sep 2, Namibia confirmed that
it had pulled all its troops from all of Congo except the capital.
Uganda said it had pulled 6 of 10 battalions.
(SFC, 9/3/01, p.A10)
2001 Sam Nujoma, president of
Namibia, authored his 476-page autobiography “Where Others Wavered.” In
2005 it was made into a film.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.49)
2003 Jul 5, Police in Namibia
reported the recent death of N!xau, the diminutive bushman catapulted
to international stardom in the film "The Gods Must Be Crazy" — he was
thought to be about 59 years old.
(AP, 7/5/04)
2003 Dec 29, Frustrated with
the government's stalled land reform program, impoverished black
farmers and laborers warned that come January they will start invading
the country's mostly white-owned commercial farms.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2004 Apr 21, President Sam Nujoma
assured Namibians that a land expropriation program would be conducted
in a legal and orderly manner.
(AP, 4/21/04)
2004 Nov, Namibia voters elected
the hand picked Hifikepunye Pohamba (69), minister for land, as
president. Sam Nujoma was due to step aside in March 2005.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.62)(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
2005 Mar 14, Sam Nujoma, president
of Namibia, retired.
(http://asi.ndi.org/delegates/delegates.asp)
2006 May 27, Shiloh Nouvel
Jolie-Pitt, daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, was born in
Namibia, where the family had traveled for privacy.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2006 Sep 27, Jacob "Kobi"
Alexander, the former chief and founder of Comverse Technology Inc.,
was arrested in Namibia, where he awaited extradition to the US to face
criminal fraud charges related to stock options. Alexander had recently
transferred tens of millions of dollars to Namibia. He was released
after 6 days on $1.4 million bail.
(Reuters, 9/27/06)(WSJ, 9/28/06, p.A1)(WSJ,
11/17/06, p.A1)
2007 Feb 5, China’s president Hu
Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour to Namibia, a sparsely
populated, mineral-rich desert country that hopes to benefit from an
influx of Chinese investment and tourists.
(AP, 2/5/07)
2007 Feb 28, In Namibia hundreds
of people protested a visit by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe,
holding signs reading, "Go home dictator." The local National Society
for Human Rights called Mugabe's three-day state visit an insult to
Namibia.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Jun 2, The UN Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to permit a
one-off sale of 60 tons of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South
Africa to Japan, saying it would monitor closely the impact on poaching
and population levels.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Institute for
Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) said a study of mortality patterns in
South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Senegal indicated
Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis was reaching deep into elected governments.
(Reuters, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 14, In the Netherlands
four African states (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe),
after an 18-year ban, were allowed to put their ivory stocks on the
market in a one-time sale as part of a hard-fought compromise reached
with other Africans who tried to block the sale. The 171-member
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES,
approved the deal by consensus.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jul 1, In Namibia a seal hunt
started with a planned run of five months saying it wants to save its
fishing industry. The start followed a government announcement that it
would allow the killing of 6,000 adult males and 80,000 pups, up by
20,000 in 2006.
(AP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 8, Two gunmen attacked a
German couple photographing wildlife in Namibia, killing Johannes
Fellinger (56), in front of his wife and taking her on a high-speed
chase.
(AP, 7/10/07)
2007 Jul 20, Angola, Namibia and
South Africa launched a joint commission designed to lay the groundwork
for a sustainable and environmental approach of their shared fishing
grounds in the Atlantic Ocean.
(AFP, 7/20/07)
2008 Mar 20, Kim Yong-Nam, North
Korea's de facto head of state, arrived in Namibia as part of his
goodwill visit to three African nations, which also includes Angola and
Uganda. Namibia and North Korea hoped to strengthen their economic
ties. Kim Yong-Nam warned against countries plundering resources from
poor African countries.
(AFP, 3/20/08)
2008 Apr, In Namibia a
16th-century Portuguese trade vessel was found by chance as mine
workers created an artificial sand wall with bulldozers to push back
the sea for diamond dredging. Six bronze cannons, several tons of
copper, huge elephant tusks, pewter tableware, navigational
instruments, and a variety of weapons including swords, sabres and
knives were soon tugged out of the beach sand. Over 2,300 gold coins
weighing some 21 kilograms (46 pounds) and 1.5 kilograms of silver
coins were also found.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Jul 16, The United States
signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with
countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade,
Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern
Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia,
South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework
Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Oct 28, Namibia sold more
than seven tons of ivory for $1.1 million, in the first legal auction
of elephant tusks in nearly a decade, exclusively for Chinese and
Japanese buyers.
(AP, 10/28/08)
2008 Nov 28, A regional tribunal
in Namibia ruled that 78 white Zimbabweans can keep their farms because
the government's land reform scheme discriminated against them.
(AFP, 11/28/08)
2009 Mar 11, Officials in Namibia
said at least 92 people had drowned in its northern regions since the
start of rainy season in Dec.
(SSFC, 3/15/09, p.A4)
2009 Mar 27, Southern African
countries (Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia) have been hit
by the worst floods in years, killing more than 100 people and
displacing thousands, as a tropical storm threatened to bring more pain.
(AFP, 3/28/09)
2009 Jun 25, In Namibia Russian
Pres. Dmitry Medvedev called for boosting trade ties with Namibia, at
the start of the first-ever visit by a Kremlin chief to the southern
African nation. Pres. Hifikepunye Pohamba said his nation was also keen
to strengthen cooperation and build a durable economic partnership.
(AFP, 6/25/09)
2009 Jul 1, In Namibia the annual
seal hunt opened despite objections by animal welfare groups. Hunters
were expected to club over 90,000 seals including 85,000 pups by Nov 15.
(SFC, 7/7/09, p.A2)(AFP, 8/4/09)
2009 Jul 17, In Namibia 2 European
journalists were fined $625 (US) by a court for filming the annual seal
hunt along the coast of the southern African nation. On July 31 British
investigative journalist Jim Wilckens and South African cameraman Bart
Smithers were found guilty of violating the Marine Resources Act by
entering a restricted area without permission.
(AFP, 7/18/09)(AFP, 8/4/09)
2009 Nov 27, Namibia’s Pres.
Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is seeking a 2nd 5-year term, was among the
first to vote as polls opened in a 2-day election. The elections
expected to return the long-ruling SWAPO to power despite a tough
challenge from a new breakaway party. The population of the desert
nation, half the size of Alaska, numbered more than 2 million people.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AFP, 11/27/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Namibia
End of file.