The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia’s independence on 21 March 1990.

From 1884, Namibia was a German colony: German South West Africa. After the First World War, the League of Nations gave South Africa a mandate to administer the territory. Following World War II, the League of Nations was dissolved in April 1946 and its successor, the United Nations, instituted a trusteeship system 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 South African rule.

Legal argument ensued over the course of the next twenty years until, in October 1966, the UN General Assembly decided to end the mandate, declaring that South Africa had no further right to administer the territory, and that henceforth South West Africa was to come under the direct responsibility of the UN (Resolution 2145 XXI of 27 October 1966).