Namibia

Fact Sheet :

- Area : 825,418 sq km

- Population : 2,055,080 (July 2007 est.)

- Capital : Windhoek

- Languages : English 7% (official), Afrikaans 60%, German 32%

- Currency : Namibian dollar (NAD); South African rand (ZAR)

- Government type : republic

- Elements of History :

South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that was soon named Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia won its independence in 1990 and has been governed by SWAPO since. Hifikepunye POHAMBA was elected president in November 2004 in a landslide victory replacing Sam NUJOMA who led the country during its first 14 years of self rule.

- Climate : desert; hot, dry; rainfall sparse and erratic