History of Namibia

The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being <a href="/facts/Colony/6ku13Po7">colonised</a> in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.
From 1884, <a href="/facts/Namibia/ahXuaypy">Namibia</a> was a German colony: <a href="/facts/German_South_West_Africa/NhNk647H">German South West Africa</a>. After the <a href="/facts/First_World_War/vITTUanQ">First World War</a>, the <a href="/facts/League_of_Nations/PQlcKzXs">League of Nations</a> gave South Africa a <a href="/facts/League_of_Nations_Mandate/CXCj7gno">mandate</a> to administer the territory. Following <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, the League of Nations was dissolved in April 1946 and its successor, the United Nations, instituted a <a href="/facts/United_Nations_Trust_Territory/dtI36Q9h">trusteeship system</a> to reform the administration of the former League of Nations mandates and clearly establish majority rule and independence as eventual goals for the trust territories. South Africa objected arguing that a majority of the territory's people were content with <a href="/facts/South_West_Africa/xoeFfUSf">South African rule</a>.
Legal argument ensued over the course of the next twenty years until, in October 1966, the <a href="/facts/UNGA/pNDmCu8X">UN General Assembly</a> decided to end the mandate, declaring that South Africa had no further right to administer the territory, and that henceforth <a href="/facts/South_West_Africa/xoeFfUSf">South West Africa</a> was to come under the direct responsibility of the UN (Resolution 2145 XXI of 27 October 1966).

History of Namibia open-in-new

History of Namibia