Namibia - interesting facts

The Republic of Namibia is a "black pearl" of south-west Africa. It is a country of contrasts, contradictions and two elements - sand and water. Here you will find a real wild Africa, attracting tourists from all over the world. Let's find out the most interesting facts about Namibia.

The main thing about the state of Namibia

What you need to know about the country for every tourist:

1. The capital of Namibia is the city of Windhoek . Namibia borders on Angola, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa , it is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
2. The country is governed by a president elected for a period of 5 years, and a bicameral parliament.
3. The official language is English, but more than 30% of residents speak German. The majority of the population are Christians, the rest are Lutherans.
4. Since 1993, the Namibian dollar was introduced into circulation. The first president of the country, Samuel Nujoma, is depicted in dollars 10 and 20, while the banknotes of 50, 100 and 200 denominations represent a portrait of the national hero of Namibia, Hendrik Vitboi.
5. The educational system is progressing at a fast pace, more than 20% of the state budget is allocated for the development of education and science. Almost 90% of the population are literate people.
6. To date, Namibia has experienced a huge recession in the economy, but the authorities are building more than optimistic forecasts for the future.
7. Citizens of more than 40 countries can enter Namibia without a visa .
8. Alcohol in Namibia is sold in specialized stores, and on weekends it is generally impossible to buy.

Historical facts about Namibia

Today, Namibia is an actively developing country. But in the past she experienced a lot of grief and difficulties:

1. The name of the country went from the name of the Namib Desert, which in the local dialect means "great emptiness" or "a zone where there is nothing".
2. Since ancient times, residents have built large sanctuaries dedicated to ... buttocks. Literally in each stood a statue in the form of two hemispheres. The archaeologists who dug out these finds for a long time could not understand what they had found.
3. In Namibia, girls for marriage are great women of fashion. Fatu they replace "ekori" - this is an unusual headdress made of goat skin, rubbed with tar, fat and red ocher.
4. In ancient times, in the territory of today's Namibia, the Bushmen tribes lived, later Nama and Damara came to these places. Since the 16th century, Tswana, Cavango, Herero, Ovambo began to live here. Europeans landed on these lands only in 1878.
5. In 1980, an Anglo-German treaty was signed on the transition of the whole coast of present-day Namibia to Germany. The new authorities did not prevent the arrival of European colonists, who took away all lands from the local population. The result was the rebellion of the Herero and Nama tribes led by Samuel Magarero, when more than 100 colonists were killed.
6. The Genocide of 1904-1908 became a response to the uprising of the Namibian tribes. The victims of German punitive forces were 65 thousand Herero and 10 thousand Nama. Surviving people were outlawed.
7. South Africa controlled the territory of Namibia until 1988, only on March 21, 1990. The Republic of Namibia proclaimed its independence.

Interesting natural facts about Namibia

The nature of the country is very diverse and colorful:

1. In Namibia, many wild animals live: antelopes, ostriches, zebras, cheetahs, lions, elephants, hyenas, jackals, snakes. There is even a colony of penguins and farms, where they contain cheetahs.
2. This is the only country in the world where the rhinoceros population is only increasing.
3. In 1999, a large bacterium, 0.78 mm in size, was discovered, known as the "Gray Pearl of Namibia".
4. In 1986, in the north of Namibia, the world's largest Drachenhauhloh lake was discovered with an area of ​​3 hectares and a depth of 84 m.
5. The state's territory is rich in diamond deposits, the exports of which have raised the country's economy. In addition, the extraction of aquamarines, topazes and other semiprecious stones and gold is developed. In the city ​​of Tsumeb, the largest crystals of lapis lazuli are mined.
6. In Namibia there is a "diamond" ghost town called Kolmanskop . Once it was built in the Namib desert because of the diamonds found there, but the conditions in it were very little suitable for life, and the diamonds are over, here it stands, abandoned, in the sands.
7. The marble mined in the Namibian mines was used in China, Argentina , Germany, Italy and Spain.
8. The territory of Namibia is divided into two deserts - Namib and Kalahari. At the same time Namib desert is the most ancient in the world, it will be proved by 1000-year-old trees growing there.
9. In Namibia, almost 100 years ago, by great chance, a huge meteorite was found in the world weighing 60 tons, called Goba.
10. Creative photographers regularly fly to Namibia from around the world to shoot the most contrasting landscapes in the world.
11. Near the coast of Namibia, there were shipwrecks, now on the reefs you can see the protruding ribs of ships and human skeletons. The most notorious fame came from a site called the Skeleton Coast . On one of the ships sunk here more than 500 years ago, a treasure was found with gold coins worth more than 13 million dollars.