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The first European to set foot on Namibian soil was the Portuguese Diogo Cão in 1485, who stopped briefly on the Skeleton Coast, and raised a limestone cross there, on his exploratory mission along the west coast of Africa. The next European to visit Namibia was also a Portuguese, Bartholomeu Dias, who stopped at what today is known as Walvis ...
The Dutch left a lasting impact in South Africa, a region ignored by Portugal that the Dutch eventually decided to use as a station in their route to East Asia. Jan van Riebeeck founded Cape Town in 1652, starting the European exploration and colonization of South Africa.
Bartolomeu Dias [a] (c. 1450 – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lies in the open ocean, well to the west of the African coast.
[1] [2] South Africa's first known inhabitants have been collectively referred to as the Khoisan, the Khoekhoe and the San. Starting in about 400 AD, these groups were then joined by the Bantu ethnic groups who migrated from Western and Central Africa during what is known as the Bantu expansion. These Bantu groups were mainly limited to the ...
Growing independence movements, indigenous political parties and trade unions coupled with pressure from within the imperialist powers and from the United States and the Soviet Union ensured the decolonisation of the majority of the continent by 1980. Some areas (in particular South Africa and Namibia) retain a large population of European descent.
Namibia–South Africa relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Namibia and South Africa.South Africa (then part of the British Empire as the Union of South Africa) captured the area now known as Namibia from Germany during World War I and governed it, by the name 'South West Africa', until 1990, when the country gained independence under the name 'Namibia'.
The Namibia–South Africa border dispute centers on the precise demarcation along the Orange River, which forms the southern boundary of Namibia. Historically, the 1890 Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany set the boundary along the northern bank of the river. However, Namibia argues that, based on international principles and ...
In 1949, the Union passed a law bringing South West Africa into closer association with it including giving South West Africa representation in the South African parliament. Walvis Bay , which is now in Namibia , was originally a part of the Union of South Africa as an exclave as it was a part of the Cape Colony at the time of Unification.