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* The South Atlantic Ocean is quite cold and although Swakopmund and Luderitz are local holiday destinations, there are no beach resort facilities as such.
* Very low rainfall on the coast, a little higher inland. Average annual rainfall in Windhoek is 360 mm / 14 inches.
* Average maximum daily temperature is 20 to 30 Celsius / 68 to 86 Fahrenheit.
* Average of over 300 days a year of sunshine.
* Currency: Namibian dollar divided into 100 cents. Equivalent to the South African Rand.
* Credit Cards: Visa, Mastercard, Access, American Express and Diners Club are widely accepted in good hotels, restaurants and also in many stores in the capital.
* Banking Hours: 0900 to 1530 Monday to Friday; 0830 to 1100 Saturday.
* Currency Restrictions: Importation of local currency limited to $500. Importation of foreign currency unlimited. Exportation of local currency limited to $500. Exportation of foreign currency limited to the amount imported.
* Credit Cards:
Visa, Mastercard, Access and American Express are acceptable in most good tourist hotels and restaurants etc.
* Agriculture: About 60% of the population are involved in agriculture dominated by livestock farming and subsistence farming.
* Mining: One of the world's largest producers of diamonds and uranium; copper, cadmium, lead, zinc, salt, silver, tin, tungsten; some fishing.
* Manufacturing: Food processing, brewing, plastics, furniture, textiles.
* Other: Tourism is of increasing but minor importance.
* Official name:xxx* Official name: Namibia.
* Population: 1,300,000 (1990 estimate).
* Situation: Southern Africa.
* Timezone: GMT + 2 for most of the year; GMT + 1 from
1April to 3 September.
* Area: 823,144 square kilometres / 317,734 square miles.
* Borders with: Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia.
* Coasts: Atlantic Ocean.
* Capital: Windhoek
* Major Towns: Grootfontein, Keetmanshoop, Luderitz, Walvis Bay.
* Chief Port: Walvis Bay.
* Religion: Mainly local tribal beliefs.
* Rest Day: Sunday.
* Electricity: 220/240 Volts AC, 50Hz.
* Physical: The Atlantic coast is fringed with desert. Inland a plateau with an average elevation of 1,500 meters / 5,000 feet, has peaks up to 2,600 meters / 8,550 feet (Mt Brandberg). The Kalahari Desert covers the eastern and southern parts of Namibia. The Orange River forms the southern border with South Africa. In the extreme north east the Caprivi Strip reaches out to the Zambezi River.
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* This part of Africa was ignored by the European nations due the fact that it has one of the most barren and inhospitable coastlines.
* In the late 15th century the first Europeans the Portuguese, arrived looking for a route to the Indies, but they did not settle, they simply created navigation aids along the coastline.
* The 18th century saw the arrival of American whalers.
* In the 19th century Namibia was annexed by Germany, this was during the scramble for colonies.
* In 1878 the enclave of Walvis Bay was taken by the British for the Cape Colony.
* The original population tried to keep their independence, but this was unsuccessful using peaceful means and so in 1904 a rebellion arose, in retaliation the colonial authorities responded with a year of genocide, the majority of tribes were overrun but the Ovambo managed to avoid conquest until after World War 1, when in 1915 the Portuguese pacified them, the German colony concluded in the same year.
* South African control over Namibia increased every year, this began with the granting of representation in the South African parliament, for white people, the white people were then allocated farm land where they used black, cheap labour.
* Namibia is very rich in minerals such as uranium and copper, these are mined by the South Africans and other western companies, the labour is supplied by black Namibians in a forced labour system.
* In the 1950's mass demonstrations were staged protesting against the working conditions, the consequence of these was the development of nationalism, a number of political parties were formed and by 1960 SWAPO was formed by the merging of these parties.
* In 1966 the UN cancelled the South African mandate and apartheid and security laws were introduced, South Africa legally continued to occupy and rule Namibia.
* Also in 1966 the Council for South West Africa was set up to administer the territory, guerrilla warfare mounted by SWAPO (South West African People's Organisation) increased, the consequence of this was the stationing of thousands of South African troops, this also led to a number of attacks on Angola.
* In retaliation the South African government reacted with unrestrained brutality, funds were put into white and compliment black organisations, this was to help a campaign for unilateral exercise in self determination.
* This was an attempt to upstage the UN , by providing a government that took into account all aspects of the Namibian population, this was very successful in stalling for time and for currying the flavour of the UN Security Council who continued to veto sanctions.
* In 1975 the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) was formed, this turned out to be nothing more than a toothless debating chamber.
* Later however, due to Dirk Mudge, a leader of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance making it known that SWAPO's participation would be limited and that all defense and foreign affairs would remain largely under the control of South Africa, it lost a lot of its credibility.
* An attack was staged on Angola in 1975 in support of UNITA forces due to the rising of the MPLA forces after independence in 1975.
* In 1976 the troops were withdrawn and the whole attack was deemed a failure.
* The MPLA supported the SWAPO's war of liberation.
* 1983, the DTA was dissolved and was replaced by the Multi Party Conference, this was a larger failure than the DTA, therefore a South African appointed administrator general was resumed and they were attained absolute authority, this government was determined not to allow a SWAPO dominated government to take control of Namibia, the guerrilla campaign intensified due to the existence of Cuban troops in Angola.
* South Africa were forced to negotiate due to a number of reasons.
* In 1985 conscription became common.
* In 1990 independence was achieved with Sam Nujoma becoming president.
* In 1994 Nujoma was swept to victory in the elections.
History
Namibia Index
* Official: Afrikaans, English.
* Other: Several local languages including Ovambo, Herero, Khoisan. German is common among the Europeans.
* Tribes: Ovambo is the largest with about 40% of the population; also Kavango, Damara, Nama, Herero, Tswana, San, Himba, Hottentots. Some Europeans.
* Countries whose nationals do not require a visa include:
+ Angola, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mozambique, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, UK, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe (visiting for tourism only).
* Countries whose nationals do require a visa include:
+ All countries not shown above.
+ Zimbabwe for business purposes.
* Visas are issued at Namibian Embassies.
* Advice, information and full visa service from :
* Action Visas
for worldwide visa service, central London based:
phone # 0171 388 4498
fax # 0171 916 0671
from foreign contries:
phone # 44 171 388 4498
fax # 44 171 916 0671