Namibia is a country in southern Africa, with Windhoek serving as its capital. It borders Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south and east, and it is the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The region was originally inhabited by the San, Damara, and Nama peoples, but, since the 14th century, the Bantu peoples expanded into the region, and the Bantu Ovambo are now the majority group in the country. In 1878, the Cape Colony annexed Walvis Bay and the offshore Penguin Islands, becoming an integral part of South Africa in 1910. In 1884, the German Empire established a protectorate in much of Namibia, and it was colonized until 1915, when South Africa conquered German South-West Africa during World War I. South Africa imposed racial classifications and rules upon the peoples of Namibia, who were subjected to apartheid after 1948. In 1966, SWAPO began an insurgency to achieve the independence of Namibia from the minority-rule government of South Africa, leading to the South African Border War. In 1973, the United Nations recognized SWAPO as the legitimate government of Namibia, and Namibia obtained full independence from South Africa in 1990; Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands were ceded in 1994. In 2017, Namibia had a population of 2,606,971 people.
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