FLAG OF NAMIBIA: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The flag of Namibia is the national symbol of this African republic. It has been the national flag since its independence from South Africa in 1990. It is made up of a red diagonal stripe that divides the flags into two triangles. The upper left is blue and the lower right is green. In the canton, the flag features a yellow sun.

Namibia as a nation is very young and the history with its flags began after European colonization. First from the hands of the Dutch and then the British, different colonial flags waved on Namibian territory. This did not change after the more than 70 years of South African occupation, where only the South African flag was used.

Namibian flag. (Gmaxwell).

The current flag of Namibia is the product of the consensus of three designs presented to the Constituent Assembly, before the independence produced in 1990. The red represents the Namibian people, the blue the ocean, the sky and the rivers, the green the vegetation and wealth and white to peace and union. In addition, the sun is the symbol of the energy and life of the country.

History of the flag

It is estimated that present-day Namibia was one of the first places where hominids made their presence, 25 thousand years ago BC. C. Different archaeological finds confirm the dating of the Namibian population. Later, throughout history, the Namibian territory was dominated by Bantu tribes such as the Ovambo and Kavango, especially in the north of the present country.

These tribes used to live isolated and with an economy of production, gathering and hunting destined for self-sustenance. Their tribal ways of life caused them to be located in places where small-scale agriculture was feasible.

By not constituting themselves as nations or groups in the form of a state, they did not have symbols that identified them as the type of flag. Another characteristic tribal group of Namibia were the Hereros, who populated the territory since the seventeenth century after a migration from the northwest of the country.

- First European contacts

The first European navigators to make contact with the Namibian territory were the Portuguese, with the navigator Diogo Cão in 1485, who stopped briefly on his route along the West African coast. The Portuguese Batholomeu Dias also made contact with the area, especially with the Namib desert, a natural barrier between the coast and the rest of the territory.

However, the first Europeans to settle in the territory were the Dutch. In 1793, the Dutch authority established in the Cape Town colony took control of Walvis Bay, in the center of the Namibian coast. In that period the flag of the Netherlands East India Company was used.

Flag of the Netherlands East India Company. (Himasaram, from Wikimedia Commons).

- First British claim

The Cape Colony in the possession of the Dutch fell to British hands in 1795. Consequently, Walvis Bay came under British control. This was merely a port establishment, so that the European population hardly settled in the areas near the coast. However, after the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, the territory returned to Dutch hands.

However, from then on, the settlement of present-day Namibia began. The first to move to the territory were missionaries from the London Missionary Society, beginning their pastoral work in the south of the country. Other groups that migrated were the Boer farmers, who dominated the indigenous Khoisan. As a consequence, many Indians adopted Boer customs and were renamed Oorlams.

Also present were the Basters, who were descendants of Boer men and African women. This indigenous group was Calvinist and spoke Afrikaans, which can be seen as a particular European element.

The British occupation of the Cape Colony was again consummated in 1806. During this period the British Union Jack was used, as there was still no colonial flag.

United kingdom flag. (Original flag by Acts of Union 1800SVG recreation by User: Zscout370, from Wikimedia Commons).

- XIX century multipresencial

The German presence began to develop in Namibian territory around the 1840s. Like the British, German missionaries began to settle in the territory. But it was not until the partition of Africa that the territory began to be recognized as a possible assignment to the German Empire, while respecting British control over Walvis Bay and the surrounding islands.

On the other hand, the local population began to organize in different ways. The basters founded the city of Rehoboth, and in 1872 declared the independence of the Free Republic of Rehoboth. That country would have parliamentary institutions and elections, which was an attempt at local organizing with European inspiration. Its flag included the Germanic colors, with three rectangular frames of black, red and white.

Flag of the Free Republic of Rehoboth. (1872). (Bamse).

British annexation of Walvis Bay

Faced with the German threat, the British Empire officially annexed Walvis Bay as part of the Cape Colony, beginning in 1878. This served to counter the threat from the Germans there and to guarantee the British a safe deep-water port., practically unique in the area.

As early as 1876, a British colonial flag began to be used in the Cape Colony. That included Walvis Bay from 1878. In addition to the Union Jack and the blue background, the flag kept a shield with a wildebeest and a gemsnbok, protecting the lion from the British monarchy.

This was inside a red shield with three rings. In the upper part, the symbol is presided over by a female figure representing hope.

Flag of the British Cape Colony. (1876-1910). (Sodacan).

- German Southwest Africa

German interest in this part of West Africa dates back to the mid-19th century, but it was not until the end of the century that it was strongly demonstrated. By 1883, the German merchant Adolf Lüderitz bought the bay of Angra Pequena and urged Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to reclaim the territory before the British annexed it as a protectorate.

In doing so, the German Southwest African colony was officially born in 1884. The recognition of the German occupation came in 1890, having signed an exchange agreement with the British for some minor territories.

Problems between the Germans and the natives were recurrent, especially with groups like the Namaqua. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Namibia began to receive a significant number of German settlers, which by 1910 exceeded 10,000 and many were attracted by the discovery of minerals.

Increased settlers and land exploitation led to wars with the Herero and Namaqua from 1904. Following the military leadership of Lothar von Trotha, the Germans carried out genocide against the Herero and Namaqua, assassinating more than half the population of each ethnic group.

German proposed colonial flag

The German Empire used in its colonies its tricolor, black, white and red. The flag of colonial use differed from the one used in Europe because it had a white circle in the central part where a black eagle was imposed.

Flag of the German Imperial Office (1892–1918). (David Liuzzo, from Wikimedia Commons (see proposals)).

Before the end of World War I, which involved the loss of all German colonies, flags were proposed to distinguish each colony. In 1815 the German Southwest African flag arose, which would have incorporated a blue blazon with the figure of an ox and a white sun.

Proposed flag of German Southwest Africa. (1815). (Fornax).

- South African occupation

World War I brought the end of all German colonies. After the defeat of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, their possessions were divided by the rest of the conquering powers. In the case of the German colony of South West Africa, the invasion came from its southern neighbor: South Africa.

The British Cape colony joined together with those of Natal, Transvaal and Orange River to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. In this way, it gained tutored independence from the United Kingdom, following the example of Australia and Canada. As South Africa was part of the Commonwealth of Nations, its troops occupied Namibia to remove German colonial power.

After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, South Africa received a mandate from the League of Nations to administer the territory of South West Africa. In principle, the mandates of the League of Nations had as an end date the moment when the peoples could be prepared for self-determination, but also in the Namibian case, this did not happen and South Africa made a de facto annexation.

Union Jack and derivatives

During the first South African independence, the country did not have an official flag. Consequently, they continued to wear the Union Jack, the British national symbol. However, unofficially a British-inspired flag was used, similar to the model used in Canada.

On this occasion, South Africa used a red flag with the Union Jack in the canton. In its right part, it included a white circle within which a shield with four barracks was imposed: the symbol of hope representing the cape, a fruit tree, two galloping animals and a float.

Unofficial flag of South Africa. (1912-1951). (Fornax).

South African flag of 1928

In 1928 the flag of South Africa was established which was also applied in South West Africa. Her inspiration was the Prinsenvlag flag, with orange, white and light blue stripes, which was used in the United Provinces of the Netherlands and also in the Dutch colonies of South Africa.

This flag was approved by the South African Parliament after an Afrikaner majority had been constituted. The flag was known as the Oranje, Blanje, Blou (orange, white, blue). In the center it kept three flags: that of the United Kingdom, that of the Orange Free State (predecessor of the British colony of Orange River) and that of the Republic of South Africa (predecessor of the British colony of Transvaal).

The flag remained in force after the end of the Union of South Africa and the beginning of the Republic of South Africa, on May 31, 1961. In South West Africa it was the only flag in force. For many people, it is a symbol of the apartheid regime.

South African flag. (1928-1994). (Parliament of South Africa (Vector graphics image by Denelson83)).

Evolution of South African dominance

After World War II, the United Nations Organization was founded. The mandates of the League of Nations were extinguished and were replaced by UN trusts, which were to be subject to international monitoring. However, South Africa refused to negotiate the South West Africa trust because it wanted to annex it to its territory.

Formal annexation never occurred, but the territory was counted as the fifth province and white Namibians had representation in the South African parliament.

The pressure for independence intensified in the 1950s and 1960s, when the rest of the European colonies in Africa obtained their emancipation. This led to the United Nations revoking the mandate of the League of Nations.

South Africa advanced its control over Namibia, also establishing its racist policies of apartheid.

Emancipation demands

In South West Africa occupied by South Africa, different guerrillas began to emerge for independence. The most renowned was the Namibia Liberation Army (PLAN), the armed wing of the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO). They received support from the communist government of Angola, which increased the pressure and participation of South Africa in regional conflicts and the Angolan war.

Later, the International Court of Justice ruled in 1971 that the South African occupation of Namibia was illegal and must end. Great powers such as West Germany, Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States were also involved in this cause and formed a contact group to generate the conditions for a Namibian transition to independence.

Despite South African promises to hold elections allowing the participation of SWAPO and other movements, this did not happen. Also, events such as the Angolan war with Cuban participation made countries like the United States force a delay in Namibian independence.

- Independence

Negotiations continued through mediation teams with the United Nations. Among the agreements reached between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was the end of the Cuban presence in Angola in exchange for the end of the South African occupation of Namibia. Thereafter, with some obstacles, the transition to independence began.

The independence process had different oppositions, from the South African and the Namibian side. Some factions of the PLAN did not join the agreements, until their repatriation from Angola was agreed. Similarly, the Afrikaner counterinsurgencies, or Kovoet, were demobilized.

Following an amnesty for political prisoners, the return of refugees and the end of the apartheid regime, South Africa withdrew from Namibia. In November 1989, a Constituent Assembly was elected, in which SWAPO received the support of 57% of the electorate. On March 21, 1990, the independence of Namibia was consummated. That day its current flag was raised, which has not received changes.

Creation of the Namibian flag

Before independence, a subcommittee for the creation of national symbols was formed in the Constituent Assembly. This instance received 870 projects of national flags, which, after a selection, were reduced to three. The resolution of the subcommittee was the fusion of these three designs, for which the flag was constituted with elements of the three final projects.

The final three projects included the colors of the flag of SWAPO, which became the most important political party in Namibia.

Flag of the People's Organization of South West Africa. (SWAPO). (Original by nl: User: Bries).

Three projects

Those responsible for the design were Theo Jankowski, Don Stevenson and Ortrud Clay. For Jankowski, his design chose blue, red and green as they were the colors of SWAPO, and the three stars were the aspiration to reach them.

Instead, Don Stevenson is a naturalized Namibian American designer who submitted more than thirty entries to the contest. His aspiration was for a simple design, like that of the Japanese and Canadian flags. The greatest acquisition of his design was the African sun, and, in addition, the colors chosen were also those of the SWAPO.

For her part, Ortrud Clay, a business teacher, came to the contest after seeing her husband making flag designs. The colors for Clay were the same, although these acquired new meanings: blue for the wealth of the sea, white for peace and the future, and red for the love of the country.

Other claims

Despite the result of the contest made by the Constituent Assembly, some designers have claimed to be the true creators of the Namibian flag. British Briton Roy Allen claimed that he was the first to design it while he lived in Namibia between 1978 and 1982. It would have been the winner of a competition in the Windhoek Observer newspaper.

Jankowski, Stevenson, and Clay rejected this claim. Faced with the controversy, the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication decided to carry out an investigation that determined that the three of them were the authors.

Another claim corresponds to the South African Frederick Brownell. According to his arguments, he would have designed the Namibian flag in 1990. However, Brownell was recognized for being a notable vexillologist and for having created the South African flag after apartheid. Other vexillologists like Withney Smith validate Brownell's version.

Meaning of the flag

The Namibian flag has numerous meanings. Coming from the merger of three different projects, their meanings converged. The simplest origin is that of the SWAPO flag, which is a tricolor of three equal stripes of blue, green and red. However, the colors acquired national significance.

Color meanings

The color red has been recognized as representing the Namibian people and their determination to work for the future of the young country. Instead, in the opinion of the three designers, the target is the country's peace and unity. This unit is reflected in the flag, since the white is the one that unites the different stripes.

For its part, green is the symbol of agricultural and plant resources, while blue is the representation of the sky, the Atlantic Ocean and the country's inland waters, as well as rain. Finally, the sun, invention of Don Stevenson, is the representation of the African sun and can also be understood as a symbol of unity, energy and life.

For Ortrud Clay, blue can also represent fidelity to the country, while white would be the future. Red is the symbol of love for Namibia and green also represents hope for the united future of the country.

References

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2. Kinahan, J. and Wallace, M. (2011). A history of Namibia. London, UK: C. Hurst & Co. Retrieved from academia.edu.
3. Namibia High Commission. London. (sf): Symbols of the Nation. Namibia High Commission London. Recovered from namibiahc.org.uk.
4. New Era Reporter. (June 14, 2018). The Namibian flag: Its origins and spirit that inspire the nation. New Era Live. Recovered from neweralive.na.
5. Schutz, H. (October 23, 2015). Allen from Plymouth… The man who designed the Namibian flag. The Namibian. Recovered from namibian.com.na.
6. Smith, W. (2014). Flag of Namibia. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Recovered from britannica.com.