Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

Neil Parker contributed more variations of the regional capitals from two more sources. Morris Fisher also provided alternate capitals from the website devoted to addresses of world leaders. I discovered the Association of Regional Councils website and updated regional areas using its data. (This site lists populations that exactly correspond to the 1991 census, and areas that are rounded to the nearest tenth of a hectare - about 10,000 square feet, which may be higher precision than is justified.)

Alan Pritchard drew my attention to the new census results  posted on the Website of the Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services.

Country overview: 

Short name	NAMIBIA
ISO code	NA
FIPS code	WA
Language	English (en), Afrikaans (af)
Time zone	+1~
Capital	Windhoek

 

South-West Africa was a German protectorate at the beginning of the 20th century. After World War I, when Germany was divested of all its colonies, South-West Africa was made a Class C mandated territory of South Africa (Treaty of Versailles, effective 1920-12-17). After World War II, there was a prolonged dispute in which South Africa continued to exercise its mandate, while the United Nations ineffectually revoked it. The United Nations renamed it from South-West Africa to Namibia on 1968-06-12. Namibia finally gained its independence from South Africa on 1990-03-21.

Other names of country: 

1. Afrikaans: Suidwes-Afrika (obsolete)
2. Danish: Namibia
3. Dutch: Namibië, Republiek Namibië (formal)
4. English: Republic of Namibia (formal), South West Africa (obsolete)
5. Finnish: Namibia
6. French: Namibie f
7. German: Namibia n
8. Icelandic: Namibía
9. Italian: Namibia f
10. Norwegian: Namibia, Republikken Namibia (formal)
11. Portuguese: Namíbia, República f da Namíbia f (formal)
12. Russian: Республика Намибия (formal)
13. Spanish: Namibia, República f de Namibia f (formal)
14. Swedish: Namibia
15. Turkish: Namibya Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

after the Namib Desert, from a Nama word variously translated as bare place, vast arid plain, area where there is nothing.

Primary subdivisions: 

Namibia is divided into thirteen regions.

Region	HASC	FIPS	Pop-2001	Pop-1991	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Caprivi	NA.CA	WA28	79,852	90,422	19,532	7,541	Katima Mulilo
Erongo	NA.ER	WA29	107,629	55,470	63,720	24,602	Swakopmund *
Hardap	NA.HA	WA30	67,998	66,495	109,888	42,428	Mariental
Karas	NA.KA	WA31	69,677	61,162	161,325	62,288	Keetmanshoop
Khomas	NA.KH	WA21	250,305	167,071	36,805	14,210	Windhoek
Kunene	NA.KU	WA32	68,224	64,017	144,255	55,697	Opuwo *
Ohangwena	NA.OW	WA33	227,728	179,634	10,582	4,086	Oshikango *
Okavango	NA.OK	WA34	201,093	116,830	43,418	16,764	Rundu
Omaheke	NA.OH	WA35	67,496	52,735	84,732	32,715	Gobabis
Omusati	NA.OS	WA36	228,364	189,919	13,638	5,265	Uutapi *
Oshana	NA.ON	WA37	161,977	134,884	5,290	2,043	Oshakati *
Oshikoto	NA.OT	WA38	160,788	128,745	26,607	10,273	Tsumeb
Otjozondjupa	NA.OD	WA39	135,723	102,536	105,328	40,667	Otjiwarongo *
13 regions			1,826,854	1,409,920	825,120	318,579
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Pop-2001: 2001-08-27 census preliminary results. Pop-1991: 1991-10-21 census. Area: Source: Association of Regional Councils in the Republic of Namibia .

 

* Capitals: Different sources disagree about the regional capitals. In the table above, I've tried to give the majority opinion. "The Statesman's Year-Book", 1997-98 edition (SY); "The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World", 2001 edition (TA); a 1994 book called "Payscope" (P) published by Encyclopaedia Universalis; a more recent Encyclopaedia Universalis  online (subscribers only) map (EU); Johan van der Heyden's Global Statistics  (GS) website; Werner Fröhlich's geonames.de  (GN) website; the website of the Association of Regional Councils in the Republic of Namibia  (RC); and the Address Directory For The Governmental Leaders of The World  (AD) website have varying information about the capitals of six regions. (Note that AD is less trustworthy, because the address for a regional governor is not necessarily the regional capital.) The following list shows sources that disagree with the capitals listed in the table. These are all different places, and not just alternate names of the same place. (The book "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries" shows the same capitals as "The Statesman's Year-Book", which was my most trusted source for the data at the time it was written.)

1. Erongo: SY says Omaruru; P says both Omaruru and Swakopmund.
2. Kunene: GS says Outjo; P says that Khorixas, Opuwo, and Outjo are all capitals.
3. Ohangwena: EU, GN, and RC say Eenhana; AD says Ondangwa; GS says there is no capital, only villages.
4. Omusati: Oshakati (GS and RC), Ongandjera (SY), Omusati (P), or Ombalantu (AD and EU). GN uses the spelling Outapi. Oshakati is not even located in Omusati, although that doesn't prove anything.
5. Oshana: GS says Etosha; P says Oshana.
6. Otjozondjupa: GS says Okahandja; SY, TA, and P say Grootfontein.

Further subdivisions:

See the Constituencies of Namibia page.

Territorial extent: 

In the division into districts prevailing before 1990, Hereroland East was split into two disjoint parts, separated by Gobabis. The Caprivi Strip (Afrikaans: Caprivi Zipfel), a panhandle in the northeast, consisted of Caprivi East and part of Kavango.

Origins of names: 

1. Bethanien: German for Bethany, after the Biblical city
2. Damaraland: Land of the Damaras (Hottentot tribe)
3. Erongo: for Erongo Mountain
4. Hardap: for Hardap Dam
5. Karas: for Karas mountain range
6. Khomas: for Khomas Hochland mountain range
7. Kunene: for Kunene River
8. Omaheke: Herero word for Sandveld, a dry grassland with sandy soil
9. Oshana: = intermittent lake
10. Warmbad: = warm bath (hot springs)

Change history: 

Dr. Klaus Dierks has an extensive website on Namibian history . I found a number of details for the change history there.

1. 1903: According to Dierks , the German protectorate had six regional offices: Gibeon, Keetmanshoop, Omaruru, Outjo, Swakopmund, and Windhoek.
2. 1909-02-07: Schuckmannsburg became first capital of Caprivi Strip.
3. 1910: Warmbad district split from Keetmanshoop.
4. 1915-05-01: Capital of the German protectorate of South-West Africa moved to Grootfontein.
5. 1922: Walvis Bay (then called Walfisch Bay) transferred from Cape Province of the Union of South Africa to Namibia (then called South West Africa).
6. 1936: Capital of Caprivi Strip moved to Katima Mulilo.
7. 1936: Capital of Kavango moved from Nkurenkuru to Rundu (called Runtu until the late 1940s).
8. 1948: South Africa reclaimed sovereignty over Walvis Bay.
9. This table appeared in the Encyclopædia
   Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.

District	Population
Bethanie	3,233
Gibeon	11,802
Gobabis	19,347
Grootfontein	17,930
Karibib	7,142
Keetmanshoop	12,814
Lüderitz	6,073
Maltahöhe	3,960
Okahandja	7,506
Omaruru	9,403
Otjiwarongo	15,328
Outjo	10,443
Rehoboth	16,085
Swakopmund	3,922
Warmbad	7,470
Windhoek	23,492
Kaokaveld	184,090
Okavango
Ovamboland
19 districts	360,040
District: except the last three, which are native territories. Population: 1946 census

1. ~1977: Divisions of Namibia reorganized. Kavango and Bushmanland split from Grootfontein. Part of Outjo and all of Walvis Bay (a district adjacent to the enclave of Walvis Bay) annexed to Swakopmund. Damaraland formed from parts of Outjo, Omaruru, and Swakopmund. Owambo formed from Ovamboland and a small part of Grootfontein. Hereroland West formed from parts of Grootfontein, Gobabis, and Otjiwarongo. Part of Rehoboth transferred to Windhoek. Hereroland East split from Gobabis. Gibeon (capital Mariental) split into Mariental (with the addition of part of Rehoboth) and Namaland (with the addition of parts of Bethanien and Keetmanshoop). Other, lesser boundary adjustments occurred. Names of Kaokoveld and Warmbad changed to Kaokoland and Karasburg, respectively. The resulting divisions were:

District	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Typ	Capital	Became
Bethanien	WA01	2,911	18,004	6,951	m	Bethanien	Karas
Bushmanland	WA03	3,828	18,468	7,131	r	Tsumkwe	Otjozondjupa
Caprivi East	WA02	70,782	11,533	4,453	r	Katima Mulilo	Caprivi
Damaraland	WA22	32,938	46,560	17,977	r	Khorixas	Erongo, Kunene
Gobabis	WA04	27,844	41,447	16,003	m	Gobabis	Omaheke
Grootfontein	WA05	34,905	26,520	10,239	m	Grootfontein	Otjozondjupa
Hereroland East	WA23	25,255	51,949	20,058	r	Otjinene	Omaheke, Otjozondjupa
Hereroland West	WA24	18,824	16,500	6,371	r	Okakarara	Otjozondjupa
Kaokoland	WA06	26,313	58,190	22,467	r	Opuwo	Kunene
Karasburg	WA20	11,284	38,116	14,717	m	Karasburg	Karas
Karibib	WA07	12,147	13,230	5,108	m	Karibib	Erongo
Kavango	WA25	136,592	50,955	19,674	r	Rundu	Caprivi, Okavango
Keetmanshoop	WA08	20,804	38,302	14,788	m	Keetmanshoop	Karas
Lüderitz	WA09	17,475	53,063	20,488	m	Lüderitz	Karas
Maltahöhe	WA10	4,110	25,573	9,874	m	Maltahöhe	Hardap
Mariental	WA26	24,892	47,689	18,413	m	Mariental	Hardap
Namaland	WA27	16,234	21,120	8,154	r	Gibeon	Hardap, Karas
Okahandja	WA11	20,118	17,640	6,811	m	Okahandja	Otjozondjupa
Omaruru	WA12	7,446	8,425	3,253	m	Omaruru	Erongo
Otjiwarongo	WA13	23,326	20,550	7,934	m	Otjiwarongo	Otjozondjupa
Outjo	WA14	12,377	38,722	14,951	m	Outjo	Kunene
Owambo	WA15	615,057	51,800	20,000	r	Ondangwa	Ohangwena,Omusati,Oshana,Oshikoto
Rehoboth	WA16	34,372	14,182	5,476	r	Rehoboth	Hardap, Khomas
Swakopmund	WA17	20,757	44,697	17,258	m	Swakopmund	Erongo, Hardap, Kunene
Tsumeb	WA18	22,511	16,420	6,340	m	Tsumeb	Kunene, Oshikoto
Windhoek	WA21	158,609	33,489	12,930	m	Windhoek	Khomas
26 districts		1,401,711	824,268	318,253
FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1991-10-21 census Typ: Created as magisterial districts (m) or reserves (r) Became: Present-day region(s) occupying the same territory

1. 1992-08: Walvis Bay placed under joint Namibian and South African administration.
2. 1992-08-31: Regional Councils Act (Act 22 of 1992) promulgated. Under this act, Namibia reorganized from 26 districts to 13 regions. (Dierks:)  in 1990, the Delimitation Commission and the Cabinet proposed the region names Liambezi, Maroela, Mopane, and Waterberg. By the time the regions were actually created, those names had been changed to Caprivi, Ohangwena, Omusati, and Otjozondjupa, respectively.
3. 1994-03-01: Walvis Bay fully incorporated into Namibia as part of Erongo region.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Caprivi: Liambezi (variant)
2. Ohangwena: Ohanguena (variant)
3. Okavango: Kavango (variant)
4. (former divisions:)
5. Bushmanland: Boesmanland (Afrikaans)
6. Caprivi East: Caprivi Oos (Afrikaans); Caprivi, East Caprivi (variant)
7. Hereroland East: Hereroland Oos (Afrikaans)
8. Hereroland West: Hereroland Wes (Afrikaans)
9. Kaokoland: Kaokoveld (obsolete)
10. Karasburg: Warmbad (obsolete)
11. Outjo: Outjo/Kamanjab (variant)
12. Owambo: Owamboland (variant)
13. Walvis Bay: Walfisch Bay (obsolete); Walvisbaai (Afrikaans)
14. Windhoek: Windhuk (German)