Editing History of Namibia (section)

=== European influence and colonization ===
[[File:SouthernAfrica1707.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Detail of a map of Southern Africa from 1707, labelling the area as the [[Kaffir (racial term)|Kaffir]] Coast ({{langx|la|Costa de Caffares}}).]]
The first European to set foot on Namibian soil was the Portuguese [[Diogo Cão]] in 1485, who stopped briefly on the [[Skeleton Coast]], and raised a limestone cross there, on his exploratory mission along the west coast of Africa. The next European to visit Namibia was also a Portuguese, [[Bartholomeu Dias]], who stopped at what today is known as [[Walvis Bay]] and [[Lüderitz]] (which he named Angra Pequena) on his way to round the [[Cape of Good Hope]]. The inhospitable [[Namib Desert]] constituted a formidable barrier and neither of the Portuguese explorers went far inland.

The area was vaguely regarded as '''[[Cafreria]]'''<ref>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last=Smellie |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Smellie |display-editors=0 |contribution=[[:File:EB1 Plate LXXXVII Fig. 2 World.png|Plate LXXXVII. Fig. 2. World.]] |title=[[:s:EB1|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=1st |volume=II |date=1771 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Colin Macfarquhar]] }}.</ref> ("the land of the [[Kaffir (racial term)|kaffirs]]") and similar terms over the next few centuries.

In 1793 the [[Dutch colonial empire|Dutch authority]] in the Cape decided to take control of Walvis Bay, since it was the only good deep-water harbour along the Skeleton Coast. When the United Kingdom took control of the [[Cape Colony]] in 1805, they also took over Walvis Bay. But colonial settlement in the area was limited, and neither the Dutch nor the British penetrated far into the country.

One of the first European groups to show interest in Namibia were the [[missionaries]]. In 1805 the [[London Missionary Society]] began working in Namibia, moving north from the Cape Colony. In 1811 they founded the town [[Bethanie, Namibia|Bethanie]] in southern Namibia, where they built a church, which was long considered to be Namibia's oldest building,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.namibweb.com/bethanie.htm |title= Bethanie Village in Namibia|year=2017 |website= The Online Guide to Namibia & Travel Boutique|publisher=Elena Travel Services Namibia |location=Windhoek, Namibia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629140854/http://www.namibweb.com/bethanie.htm |archive-date=29 June 2017 |access-date=11 April 2018 |quote= The Schmelenhaus was built the same year, long considered the oldest structure in Namibia.}}</ref> before the site at [[ǁKhauxaǃnas]] which pre-dates European settlement was recognised.

In the 1840s the German [[Rhenish Mission Society]] started working in Namibia and co-operating with the London Missionary Society.
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It was not until the 19th century, when European powers sought to carve up the African continent between them in the so-called "[[Scramble for Africa]]", that Europeans – Germany in the forefront – became interested in Namibia.

The first territorial claim on a part of Namibia came when Britain occupied [[Walvis Bay]], confirming the settlement of 1797, and permitted the Cape Colony to annex it in 1878. The annexation was an attempt to forestall German ambitions in the area, and it also guaranteed control of the good deepwater harbour on the way to the Cape Colony and other British colonies on Africa's east coast.<ref>http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/8533/ISS-95.pdf?sequence=1 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215123603/http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/8533/ISS-95.pdf?sequence=1 |date=15 December 2018 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/hartman-honours.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209154519/http://www.history.ukzn.ac.za/files/theses/hartman-honours.pdf |archive-date=9 February 2014 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

[[File:Lüderitz in 1884.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Lüderitz]] in 1884.]]
In 1883, a German trader, [[Adolf Lüderitz]], bought [[Angra Pequena]] from the Nama chief [[Josef Frederiks II]]. The price he paid was 10,000 [[German gold mark|marks (ℳ)]] and 260 guns.<ref name="LuderitzPrice">{{cite web
| url = http://www.namibia-travel.net/namibia/history.htm
| title = History of Namibia. From Adolf Luederitz to Sam Nujoma.
| publisher = Namibia-travel.net
| access-date = 30 September 2006
| archive-date = 19 August 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170819155836/http://www.namibia-travel.net/namibia/history.htm
| url-status = live
}}</ref>
He soon renamed the coastal area after himself, giving it the name Lüderitz. Believing that Britain was soon about to declare the whole area a protectorate, Lüderitz advised the German chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]] to claim it. In 1884 Bismarck did so, thereby establishing [[German South West Africa]] as a colony (Deutsch-Südwestafrika in German).

A region, the [[Caprivi Strip]], became a part of German South West Africa after the [[Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty]] on 1 July 1890, between the United Kingdom and Germany. The Caprivi Strip in Namibia gave Germany access to the [[Zambezi River]] and thereby to German colonies in East Africa. In exchange for the island of [[Heligoland]] in the North Sea, Britain assumed control of the island of [[Zanzibar]] in East Africa.