other · Central and Southern Africa

South West Africa

1915 CE – 1990 CE · capital Windhoek

Namibia under South African rule, a League of Nations mandate turned into a contested apartheid territory until independence in 1990.

Origins

South African forces conquered German South West Africa in 1915. In 1920 the League of Nations gave South Africa a class C mandate to administer the territory, which it governed from Windhoek as if it were a fifth province.

Rule and society

Land was handed to white farmers, while Africans were confined to reserves and northern Ovambo men supplied contract labour to mines and farms. The Bondelswarts rising of 1922 was crushed with aircraft. Apartheid laws were extended after 1948, and the Odendaal Plan of 1964 set up ethnic homelands. The United Nations revoked the mandate in 1966, and the International Court of Justice declared the occupation illegal in 1971.

Decline and legacy

SWAPO waged an armed struggle from 1966, linked to the war in Angola. After the 1988 New York Accords, UN-supervised elections were held, and Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990 under President Sam Nujoma.

Lineage

German South West Africa 1884 CE – 1915 CESouth West Africa

Connections (5)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). South West Africa. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/south-west-africa
MLA
“South West Africa.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/south-west-africa. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “South West Africa.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/south-west-africa.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘South West Africa’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/south-west-africa (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻