The Republic of Namibia became independant on 21 March 1990, when SWAPO finally achieved independance from South African control. Namibia was formerly known as South-West Africa under British and South African rule (1917-1990) and as Suid-West Afrika under German colonial rule (1884-1917). The official language is English, but German and Afrikaans as well as a multitude of indigenous languages are also spoken.
It bordered to the north by Angola, to the east by Botswana and to the south by the Republic of South Africa. It is about 8000 km from the U.K.
Namibia is one of the worlds driest countries and also has one of the lowest population densities. Most of the population is concentrated along the Kunene river along the northern border with Angola and in the extreme north-east in the Caprivi strip. Namibia has two real deserts, the western Kalahari in the east, bordering Botswana, and the Namib, which stretches up the whole of the western coast. Rainfall in the south occurs in the winter - June, July and August. In the north there are summer rains from January to March. The rains may fail in the south and central areas, where periods of a few years without rain are fairly frequent.
