German South - West Africa German South - West Africa ( , DSWA ) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915 , when it was taken over by the Union of South Africa ( as part of the British Empire ) and administered as South - West Africa , finally becoming Namibia in 1990 . With an area of 835 , 100 km² , it was one and a half times the size of the mainland German Empire in Europe ( without its colonies ) at the time . Early settlements . Initial European contact with the areas which would become German South - West Africa came from traders and sailors , starting in January 1486 when Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão , possibly accompanied by Martin Behaim , landed at Cape Cross . However , for several centuries , European settlement would remain limited and temporary . In February 1805 the London Missionary Society established a small mission in Blydeverwacht , but the efforts of this group met with little success . In 1840 the London Missionary Society transferred all of its activities to the German Rhenish Missionary Society . Some of the first representatives of this organisation were Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt ( who arrived in October 1842 ) and Carl Hugo Hahn ( who arrived in December 1842 ) . They began founding churches throughout the territory . The Rhenish missionaries had a significant impact initially on culture and dress , and then later on politics . During the same time that the Rhenish missionaries were active , merchants and farmers were establishing outposts . Early history . On 16 November 1882 a German merchant from Bremen , Adolf Lüderitz , requested protection for a station that he planned to build in South - West Africa , from Chancellor Bismarck . Once this was granted , his employee Heinrich Vogelsang purchased land from a native chief and established a city at Angra Pequena which was renamed Lüderitz . On 24 April 1884 , he placed the area under the protection of Imperial Germany to deter British encroachment . In early 1884 , the Kaiserliche Marine ship SMS " Nautilus " visited to review the situation . A favourable report from the government , and acquiescence from the British , resulted in a visit from the SMS " Leipzig " and SMS " Elisabeth " . The German flag was finally raised in South - West Africa on 7 August 1884 . The German claims on this land were confirmed during the Conference of Berlin . The indigenous peoples never held the idea of individually held land as " private property " : land could never be alienated by any individual no matter what his rank , thus in their view all German land claims were fraudulent . In October , the newly appointed Commissioner for West Africa , Gustav Nachtigal , arrived on the SMS " Möwe " . In April 1885 , the " Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft für Südwest - Afrika " ( German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa , known as DKGSWA ) was founded with the support of German bankers ( Gerson von Bleichröder , Adolph von Hansemann ) , industrialists ( Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck ) and politicians ( Frankfurt mayor Johannes von Miquel ) . DKGSWA was granted monopoly rights to expolit mineral deposits . The new Society soon bought the assets of Lüderitz ' s failing enterprises . Later , in 1908 , diamonds were discovered . Thus along with gold , copper , platinum , and other minerals , diamonds became a major investment . Earlier , the colonial aim was to dispossess the indigenous peoples of their land , for use of German settlers , as well as be a source of raw materials and a market of German industrial products . Lüderitz drowned in 1886 while on an expedition to the Orange River . The company bought all of Lüderitz ’ land and mining rights , following Bismarck ' s policy that private rather than public money should be used to develop the colonies . In May , Heinrich Ernst Göring was appointed Commissioner and established his administration at Otjimbingwe . Then , on 17 April 1886 , a law creating the legal system of the colony was passed , creating a dual system with laws for Europeans and different laws for natives . Over the next several years relations between the Germans and indigenous peoples continued to worsen . Additionally , the British settlement at Walvis Bay as well as numerous small farmers and missionaries were all involved in the area . A complex web of treaties , agreements and vendettas increased the unrest in the area . In 1888 the first group of " Schutztruppe n " — colonial protectorate troops — arrived ( they were sent secretly ) to protect the base at Otjimbingwe . The Schutztruppe detachment consisted of two officers , five non - commissioned officers , and 20 black soldiers . By the end of the year , the German commissioner Heinrich Ernst Göring was forced to flee to Walvis Bay after negotiations failed with a local tribe . Also , by the late 1880s , the South West Africa Company was nearly bankrupt and had to ask Bismarck for help and additional troops . By 1890 the colony was declared a Crown Colony and additional troops were sent to the area . At the same time the colony grew through the acquisition of the Caprivi Strip in the northeast , which promised new trade routes . This territory was acquired through the Heligoland - Zanzibar Treaty between Britain and Germany . Almost simultaneously , in August through September , 1892 , the South West Africa Company , Ltd ( SWAC ) was established by the German , British , and Cape Colony governments , aided by financiers to raise the capital required in order to enlarge mineral exploitation ( specifically , the Damaraland concession ' s copper deposit interests ) . German South - West Africa was the only German colony where Germans settled in large numbers . German settlers were drawn to the colony by economic possibilities in diamond and copper mining , and especially farming . In 1902 the colony had 200 , 000 inhabitants , though only 2 , 595 were German , 1 , 354 were Afrikaner , and 452 were British . By 1914 , 9 , 000 more German settlers had arrived . There were probably around 80 , 000 Herero , 60 , 000 Ovambo , and 10 , 000 Nama , who were disparagingly referred to as Hottentots . Rebellion against German rule and genocide of the Herero and Namaqua . Through 1893 and 1894 , the first " Hottentot Uprising " of the Nama and their legendary leader Hendrik Witbooi occurred . The following years saw many further local uprisings against German rule . Before the Herero and Namaqua Genocide of 1904 - 1907 , the Herero and Nama had good reasons to distrust the Germans . This is discussed in Khaua - Mbandjeru Rebellion . This rebellion , in which the Germans tried to control the Khaua by seizing their property by artificially imposing European legal views of property ownership , led to the largest of the rebellions , known as the Herero Wars ( or Herero Genocide ) of 1904 . Remote farms were attacked , and approximately 150 German settlers were killed . The " Schutztruppe " of only 766 troops and native auxiliary forces was , at first , no match for the Herero . The Herero went on the offensive , sometimes surrounding Okahandja and Windhoek , and destroying the railway bridge to Osona . Additional 14 , 000 troops , hastened from Germany under Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha , crushed the rebellion in the Battle of Waterberg . Earlier von Trotha issued an ultimatum to the Herero people , denying them the right of being German subjects and ordering them to leave the country , or be killed . In order to escape , the Herero retreated into the waterless Omaheke region , a western arm of the Kalahari Desert , where many of them died of thirst . The German forces guarded every water source and were given orders to shoot any adult male Herero on sight . Only a few Herero managed to escape into neighbouring British territories . The German official military report on the campaign lauded the tactics : In late 1904 , the Nama entered the struggles against the colonial power under their leaders Hendrik Witbooi and Jakobus Morenga , the latter often referred to as " the black Napoleon " . This uprising was finally quashed during 1907 – 1908 In total , between 25 , 000 and 100 , 000 Herero , more than 10 , 000 Nama and 1 , 749 Germans died in the conflict . After the official end of the conflict , the remaining natives , when finally released from detention , were subject to a policy of dispossession , deportation , forced labour , and racial segregation and discrimination in a system that in many ways anticipated apartheid and even perhaps foreshadowed the industrial - scale killing in Nazi Germany . The genocide remains relevant to ethnic identity in independent Namibia and to relations with Germany . The Germans maintained a number of concentration camps in the colony during their war against the Herero and Nama peoples . Besides these camps the indigenous people were interned in other places . These included private businesses and government projects , ships offshore , " Etappenkommando " in charge of supplies of prisoners to companies , private persons , etc . , as well as any other materials . Concentration camps implies poor sanitation and a population density that would imply disease . Prisoners were used as slave labourers in mines and railways , for use by the military or settlers . The Herero and Namaqua genocide has been recognised by the United Nations and by the German Federal Republic . At the 100th anniversary of the camp ' s foundation , German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek - Zeul commemorated the dead on - site and apologised for the camp on behalf of Germany . World War I . During World War I , South African troops opened hostilities with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station on 13 September 1914 . German settlers were transported to prison camps near Pretoria and later in Pietermaritzburg . Because of the overwhelming superiority of the South African troops , the German Schutztruppe , along with groups of Afrikaner volunteers fighting in the Maritz Rebellion on the German side , offered opposition only as a delaying tactic . On 9 July 1915 , Victor Franke , the last commander of the Schutztruppe , capitulated near Khorab . After the war , the territory came under the control of Britain , and then was made a South African League of Nations mandate . In 1990 , the former colony became independent as Namibia , governed by the former liberation movement SWAPO . German legacy . Many German names , buildings , and businesses still exist in the country , and about 30 , 000 people of German descent still live there . German is still widely used in Namibia , with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation operating a German language radio station , while the daily newspaper " Allgemeine Zeitung " , founded in 1916 , remains in publication .