Portal:South West Africa/Intro

South West Africa (Suidwes-Afrika; Südwestafrika; Zuidwest-Afrika) was the name for modern-day Namibia when it was under South African administration, from 1915 to 1990. It borders with Angola (Portuguese colony before 1975), Botswana (Bechuanaland before 1966), South Africa, and Zambia (Northern Rhodesia before 1964).

Previously the colony of German South West Africa from 1884–1915, it was made a League of Nations mandate of the British-ruled Union of South Africa following Germany’s defeat in World War I. Although the mandate was abolished by the UN in 1966, South African rule continued despite it being illegal under international law. The territory was administered directly by the South African government from 1915 to 1978, when the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference laid the groundwork for semi-autonomous rule. During an interim period between 1978 and 1985, South Africa gradually granted South West Africa a limited form of home rule, culminating in the formation of aTransitional Government of National Unity.

In 1990, South West Africa was granted independence as the Republic of Namibia with the exception of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, which continued to remain under South African rule until 1994.