The territory was a German colony, then placed under South African administration by mandate. The UN terminated that mandate in 1966 and declared continued South African administration to be without legal basis, confirmed by the International Court of Justice in a 1971 advisory opinion, but South Africa continued until 1990. During that period the UN created the Council for Namibia, which issued travel documents to Namibians.

Because travel documents are in principle issued by a state, whereas here an international organisation assumed that role for a people without an independent state, and other countries accepted it. It is the strongest evidence for the principle the Kosovo article concluded with: a document has value not because of who issued it but because enough countries agreed to accept it.

German colonial forces conducted campaigns against the Herero and Nama communities with death tolls very large relative to those communities' populations, and many researchers describe this as the first genocide of the twentieth century. In 2021 Germany formally recognised it as genocide and reached an agreement with Namibia on reconciliation with financial commitments, though some community representatives opposed it on the grounds they were not fully party to the negotiations.

Namibia's constitution contains provisions on environmental protection and sustainable resource use, from which it built a system granting local communities rights to manage wildlife on their land and receive tourism revenue directly. Populations of several large species including black rhino and desert lions have recovered. The principle: when wildlife generates income for the people living alongside it, protecting it becomes an interest rather than a burden.

On 21 March 1990, among the last African countries to do so. Walvis Bay, its most important port area, was transferred in 1994.

The rules must be verified directly, as this is subject to specific provisions and has been domestically debated. Citizenship is by descent and by birth under conditions, and there is no citizenship-by-investment programme.

Income inequality among the highest in the world, a direct legacy of the pre-1990 economic structure; high unemployment; and structural water scarcity, as Namibia is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Namibia features prominently in green hydrogen projects given abundant sun, wind and open land, alongside being among the world's largest uranium producers.