There are genetic markers in our DNA that map the history of our origins. The DNA from people around the world confirms that we all have roots reaching back to the continent of Africa. After the last Ice Age, the species Homo sapiens was on the verge of extinction and survived only in Africa, in a region including the northern part of Namibia. Then suddenly, about 50,000 years ago, it began to grow rapidly and migrated north to re-populate Europe and Asia, eventually populating the entire earth. It is known from rock paintings that nomadic tribes roamed the plains of Namibia over 15,000 years ago. In 1486 the Portuguese established the city now known as Luderitz. It developed into a busy seaport where whalers and commercial ships sought refuge and replenished supplies on their voyages around the horn of Africa.

The Namib Desert along the coastline was a rugged and intimidating barrier that discouraged explorers from venturing inland until many centuries later. Namibia became the German colony of "South West Africa" in 1890 pursuant to treaties entered into by Germany, Britain and Portugal. With the Germans came trade, surveyors, military, missionaries and, unfortunately, genocidal policies. Germany lost its control over the area when World War I began. In 1920, with the approval of the League of Nations, the government of South Africa took control over Namibia. For decades, South Africa refused to give-up that control and continued to oppress its people and exploit its natural resources. In 1960 the South West African Peoples Organization, also known as “SWAPO,” began to urge the United Nations to revoke the mandate which granted South Africa control over the region, and by 1966 a guerilla war of independence was being waged to overthrow the apartheid regime in both Namibia and South Africa. The United Nations revoked the mandate of South Africa in 1968 at which time the name "Namibia" was adopted. It refers to the Namib Desert and is translated loosely to mean a bare place, vast arid plain or “area where there is nothing.” The United Nations imposed a regional peace plan but the struggle for independence continued for another decade. Independence from South Africa was declared on March 21, 1990, and was followed by free elections for new national representatives.

Namibia emerged from its colonial/apartheid history as a constitutional democracy with a free-market economy. Namibia is not well known in the U.S., largely because for many years it was in the shadow of South Africa. During the struggle for independence the liberation army professed a Marxist ideology; it was supported by troops from Cuba and received weapons and other military support from Communist countries in Eastern Europe. This was during the “Cold War” and the U.S. was concerned that the movement would establish a socialist government. Although that did not happen, the political and geographic distance from the U.S. also explain why many Americans knew nothing about Namibia until 2006, when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt selected it as the place for the birth of their daughter.