Editing Namibia (section)

===Pre-colonial period===
The dry lands of Namibia have been inhabited since prehistoric times by the [[San people|San]], [[Damara people|Damara]], and [[Nama people|Nama]]. For thousands of years, the [[Khoisan]] peoples of Southern Africa maintained a [[nomad]]ic life, the [[Khoikhoi]] as pastoralists and the San people as [[hunter-gatherer]]s. Around the 14th century, immigrating [[Bantu people]] began to arrive during the [[Bantu expansion]] from central Africa.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Belda|first=Pascal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcsUr8BkqAUC&q=The+dry+lands+of+Namibia+have+been+inhabited+since+early+times+by+San,+Damara,+and+Nama.+Around+the+14th+century,+immigrating+Bantu+people+began+to+arrive+during+the+Bantu+expansion+from+central+Africa.&pg=PA14|title=Namibia|date=May 2007|publisher=MTH Multimedia S.L.|isbn=978-84-935202-1-2|access-date=19 October 2020|archive-date=18 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518174457/https://books.google.com/books?id=NcsUr8BkqAUC&q=The+dry+lands+of+Namibia+have+been+inhabited+since+early+times+by+San,+Damara,+and+Nama.+Around+the+14th+century,+immigrating+Bantu+people+began+to+arrive+during+the+Bantu+expansion+from+central+Africa.&pg=PA14#v=snippet&q=The%20dry%20lands%20of%20Namibia%20have%20been%20inhabited%20since%20early%20times%20by%20San%2C%20Damara%2C%20and%20Nama.%20Around%20the%2014th%20century%2C%20immigrating%20Bantu%20people%20began%20to%20arrive%20during%20the%20Bantu%20expansion%20from%20central%20Africa.&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

From the late 18th century onward, [[Oorlam people]] from Cape Colony crossed the [[Orange River]] and moved into the area that today is southern Namibia.<ref name="KDA">{{cite web|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Biographies/Biographies_A.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015021238/http://www.klausdierks.com/Biographies/Biographies_A.htm|archive-date=15 October 2008|last=Dierks|first=Klaus|author-link=Klaus Dierks|title=Biographies of Namibian Personalities, A|access-date=24 June 2010}}</ref> Their encounters with the nomadic Nama tribes were largely peaceful. They received the missionaries accompanying the Oorlam very well,<ref name="Dierks">{{cite web|last=Dierks|first=Klaus|author-link=Klaus Dierks|title=Warmbad becomes two hundred years|url=http://www.klausdierks.com/Warm_Bath/index.htm|website=Klausdierks.com|access-date=22 June 2010|archive-date=21 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821172028/http://www.klausdierks.com/Warm_Bath/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> granting them the right to use waterholes and grazing against an annual payment.{{sfn|Vedder|1997|p=177}} On their way further north, however, the Oorlam encountered clans of the [[OvaHerero people|OvaHerero]] at Windhoek, [[Gobabis]], and [[Okahandja]], who resisted their encroachment. The Nama-Herero War broke out in 1880, with hostilities ebbing only after the [[German Empire]] deployed troops to the contested places and cemented the status quo among the Nama, Oorlam, and Herero.{{sfn|Vedder|1997|p=659}}

In 1878, the [[Cape Colony|Cape of Good Hope]], then a British colony, annexed the port of Walvis Bay and the offshore [[Penguin Islands]]; these became an integral part of the new [[Union of South Africa]] at its creation in 1910.

The first Europeans to disembark and explore the region were the Portuguese navigators [[Diogo Cão]] in 1485<ref>{{Cite web|last=Observador|title=Padrão português com 500 anos foi roubado da Namíbia no século XIX. Vai ser devolvido|url=https://observador.pt/2019/05/17/padrao-portugues-com-500-anos-foi-roubado-da-namibia-no-seculo-xix-vai-ser-devolvido/|access-date=7 December 2020|website=Observador|language=pt-PT|archive-date=6 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206022143/https://observador.pt/2019/05/17/padrao-portugues-com-500-anos-foi-roubado-da-namibia-no-seculo-xix-vai-ser-devolvido/|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Bartolomeu Dias]] in 1486, but the Portuguese did not try to claim the area. Like most of the interior of [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], Namibia was not extensively explored by Europeans until the 19th century. At that time traders and settlers came principally from Germany and Sweden. In 1870, [[Finland|Finnish]] missionaries came to the northern part of Namibia to spread the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran religion]] among the [[Ovambo people|Ovambo]] and [[Kavango people]].<ref name="finnish-mission"/> In the late 19th century, [[Dorsland Trek]]kers crossed the area on their way from the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] to Angola. Some of them settled in Namibia instead of continuing their journey.