Namibia timeline
Chronology of key events:
1488 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias visits.
1886-90 Present international boundaries established by German treaties with Portugal and Britain. Germany annexes the territory as South West Africa.
1892-1905 Suppression of uprisings by Herero and Namas. Possibly 60,000, or 80% of the Herero population, are killed, leaving some 15,000 starving refugees.
South Africa Occupation
1915 South Africa takes over territory during First World War.
1920 League of Nations grants South Africa mandate to govern South West Africa (SWA).
1946 United Nations refuses to allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. South Africa refuses to place SWA under UN trusteeship.
1958 Herman Toivo Ya Toivo and others create the opposition Ovamboland People's Congress, which becomes the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) in 1960.
1961 UN General Assembly demands South Africa terminate the mandate and sets SWA's independence as an objective.
1966 Swapo launches armed struggle against South African occupation.
1968 South West Africa officially renamed Namibia by UN General Assembly.
1973 UN General Assembly recognises Swapo as "sole legitimate representative" of Namibia's people.
1988 South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.
1989 UN-supervised elections for a Namibian Constituent Assembly. Swapo wins.
Independence
1990 March Namibia becomes independent, with Sam Nujoma as first president.
1994 South African exclave of Walvis Bay turned over to Namibia.
1994 Nujoma and Swapo re-elected.
1998 Hundreds of residents of the Caprivi Strip flee to Botswana, alleging persecution by the Namibian government.
1998 August Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against rebels.
1999 August Emergency declared in Caprivi Strip following series of attacks by separatists.
1999 December Nujoma wins third presidential term.
1999 December World Court rules in favour of Botswana in territorial dispute with Namibia over the tiny Chobe River island of Sedudu - known as Kasikili by Namibians.
2001 November President Nujoma says he will not stand for a fourth term when his presidency expires in 2004.
2002 August New prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, says land reform is a priority. President Nujoma says white farmers must embrace the reform programme.
2003 November Union representing black farmworkers calls off plans to invade 15 white-owned farms after reaching agreement with white farmers' group. Government says illegal land occupations will not be allowed.
2004 May Road bridge across Zambezi river between Namibia, Zambia opens amid hopes for boost to regional trade.
2004 August Germany offers formal apology for colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros, but rules out compensation for victims' descendants.
2004 November Hifikepunye Pohamba, President Nujoma's nominee, wins presidential elections. He is inaugurated in March 2005.
2005 September Government begins the expropriation of white-owned farms as part of a land-reform programme.
2005 November Two mass graves are found near a former South African military base in the north. They are thought to date back to the apartheid-era independence struggle.
2006 June National anti-polio vaccination campaign is launched following the death of at least 12 people from the disease.
2007 February Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, signs aid and economic co-operation agreements.
2007 July Controversy as a local rights group asks the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ex-president Sam Nujoma over the death of thousands during the independence struggle.
2007 August Ten men are found guilty of treason for leading a secessionist rebellion in the Caprivi region and are given long prison terms.
2009 November Presidential and parliamentary polls. President Pohamba and his ruling Swapo party re-elected.
2011 February High Court dismisses legal challenge by nine opposition parties claiming irregularities in the 2009 parliamentary election.
2011 July Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali says Nambia has found an estimated 11bn barrels of offshore oil reserves.
2011 October Skulls of 20 Herero and Nama people repatriated from a museum in Germany to a welcome from hundreds of descendants.
source: BBC News: Africa – Namibia profile
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13891138
1488 Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias visits.
1886-90 Present international boundaries established by German treaties with Portugal and Britain. Germany annexes the territory as South West Africa.
1892-1905 Suppression of uprisings by Herero and Namas. Possibly 60,000, or 80% of the Herero population, are killed, leaving some 15,000 starving refugees.
South Africa Occupation
1915 South Africa takes over territory during First World War.
1920 League of Nations grants South Africa mandate to govern South West Africa (SWA).
1946 United Nations refuses to allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. South Africa refuses to place SWA under UN trusteeship.
1958 Herman Toivo Ya Toivo and others create the opposition Ovamboland People's Congress, which becomes the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) in 1960.
1961 UN General Assembly demands South Africa terminate the mandate and sets SWA's independence as an objective.
1966 Swapo launches armed struggle against South African occupation.
1968 South West Africa officially renamed Namibia by UN General Assembly.
1973 UN General Assembly recognises Swapo as "sole legitimate representative" of Namibia's people.
1988 South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.
1989 UN-supervised elections for a Namibian Constituent Assembly. Swapo wins.
Independence
1990 March Namibia becomes independent, with Sam Nujoma as first president.
1994 South African exclave of Walvis Bay turned over to Namibia.
1994 Nujoma and Swapo re-elected.
1998 Hundreds of residents of the Caprivi Strip flee to Botswana, alleging persecution by the Namibian government.
1998 August Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against rebels.
1999 August Emergency declared in Caprivi Strip following series of attacks by separatists.
1999 December Nujoma wins third presidential term.
1999 December World Court rules in favour of Botswana in territorial dispute with Namibia over the tiny Chobe River island of Sedudu - known as Kasikili by Namibians.
2001 November President Nujoma says he will not stand for a fourth term when his presidency expires in 2004.
2002 August New prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, says land reform is a priority. President Nujoma says white farmers must embrace the reform programme.
2003 November Union representing black farmworkers calls off plans to invade 15 white-owned farms after reaching agreement with white farmers' group. Government says illegal land occupations will not be allowed.
2004 May Road bridge across Zambezi river between Namibia, Zambia opens amid hopes for boost to regional trade.
2004 August Germany offers formal apology for colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros, but rules out compensation for victims' descendants.
2004 November Hifikepunye Pohamba, President Nujoma's nominee, wins presidential elections. He is inaugurated in March 2005.
2005 September Government begins the expropriation of white-owned farms as part of a land-reform programme.
2005 November Two mass graves are found near a former South African military base in the north. They are thought to date back to the apartheid-era independence struggle.
2006 June National anti-polio vaccination campaign is launched following the death of at least 12 people from the disease.
2007 February Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, signs aid and economic co-operation agreements.
2007 July Controversy as a local rights group asks the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ex-president Sam Nujoma over the death of thousands during the independence struggle.
2007 August Ten men are found guilty of treason for leading a secessionist rebellion in the Caprivi region and are given long prison terms.
2009 November Presidential and parliamentary polls. President Pohamba and his ruling Swapo party re-elected.
2011 February High Court dismisses legal challenge by nine opposition parties claiming irregularities in the 2009 parliamentary election.
2011 July Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali says Nambia has found an estimated 11bn barrels of offshore oil reserves.
2011 October Skulls of 20 Herero and Nama people repatriated from a museum in Germany to a welcome from hundreds of descendants.
source: BBC News: Africa – Namibia profile
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13891138