The territory of present-day Namibia became a German colony in the late 19th century. Land seizures and brutal exploitation led the Herero people to revolt, and this uprising was crushed with extreme violence. These events are widely regarded as the first genocide of the 20th century.
After World War I, Namibia came under the administration of the Union of South Africa, which pursued an apartheid policy of racial segregation.
Namibia’s struggle for freedom began in the 1960s and lasted for almost 30 years. Independence finally came in 1990.
Professor Lumumba notes that the country’s key historical question remains unresolved: most of the land is still controlled by the white descendants of colonial settlers. Will Namibia’s current leadership be able to redistribute the country’s land fairly and secure reparations from Germany for the crimes of the last century?
