In contrast to the San and Damara, they lived on the livestock they bred themselves. The Nama only settled in southern Africa and southern Namibia during the first century B.C. It is dubitable whether the San (Bushmen), who alongside the Damara are the oldest ethnic group in Namibia, were the creators of these paintings.
There is no reliable indication as to which ethnic groups created them. In the Brandberg Mountains, there are numerous rock paintings, most of them originating from around 2000 B.C. Findings of Stone Age weapons and tools are further proof that a long time ago early humans already hunted the wild animals of the region. A fragment of a hominoid jaw, estimated to be thirteen Million years old, was found in the Otavi Mountains. The painted stone plates that exist from that time not only prove that these settlements existed, they also belong among the oldest works of art in the world.
Legal argument ensued over the course of the next twenty years until, in October 1966, the UN General Assembly decided to end the mandate, declaring that South Africa had no further right to administer the territory, and that henceforth South West Africa was to come under the direct responsibility of the UN (Resolution 2145 XXI of 27 October 1966). South Africa objected arguing that a majority of the territory's people were content with South African rule. Following World War II, the League of Nations was dissolved in April 1946 and its successor, the United Nations, instituted a trusteeship system to reform the administration of the former League of Nations mandates and clearly establish majority rule and independence as eventual goals for the trust territories. After the First World War, the League of Nations gave South Africa a mandate to administer the territory. The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990.įrom 1884, Namibia was a German colony: German South West Africa.