Timeline: Namibia

A chronology of key events:

1488 - Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias visits.

Quiver Tree Forest, one of Namibia's main natural attractions

1886-90 - Present international boundaries established by German treaties with Portugal and Britain. Germany annexes the territory as South West Africa.

1892-1905 - Suppression of uprisings by Herero and Namas. Possibly 60,000, or 80% of the Herero population, are killed, leaving some 15,000 starving refugees.

South African occupation

1915 - South Africa takes over territory during First World War.

1920 - League of Nations grants South Africa mandate to govern South West Africa (SWA).

1946 - United Nations refuses to allow South Africa to annex South West Africa. South Africa refuses to place SWA under UN trusteeship.

1958 - Herman Toivo Ya Toivo and others create the opposition Ovamboland People's Congress, which becomes the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) in 1960.

Independence campaign: South African troops took on Swapo 1999: Namibia learns hard lessons of independence

1961 - UN General Assembly demands South Africa terminate the mandate and sets SWA's independence as an objective.

1966 - Swapo launches armed struggle against South African occupation.

1968 - South West Africa officially renamed Namibia by UN General Assembly.

1972 - UN General Assembly recognises Swapo as "sole legitimate representative" of Namibia's people.

1988 - South Africa agrees to Namibian independence in exchange for removal of Cuban troops from Angola.

1989 - UN-supervised elections for a Namibian Constituent Assembly. Swapo wins.

Independence

Some 4,000 white farmers own much of the arable land 2004: Namibians prepare for emotive land reform 2002: Land pressure mounting in Namibia

1990 March - Namibia becomes independent, with Sam Nujoma as first president.

1994 - South African exclave of Walvis Bay turned over to Namibia.

1994 - Nujoma and Swapo re-elected.

1998 - Hundreds of residents of the Caprivi Strip flee to Botswana, alleging persecution by the Namibian goverment.

1998 August - Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against rebels.

1999 August - Emergency declared in Caprivi Strip following series of attacks by separatists.

1999 December - Nujoma wins third presidential term.

1999 December - World Court rules in favour of Botswana in territorial dispute with Namibia over the tiny Chobe River island of Sedudu - known as Kasikili by Namibians.

2001 November - President Nujoma says he will not stand for a fourth term when his presidency expires in 2004.

Founding President Sam Nujoma served for 15 years 2005: Namibian founding father replaced

2002 August - New prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, says land reform is a priority. President Nujoma says white farmers must embrace the reform programme.

2003 November - Union representing black farmworkers calls off plans to invade 15 white-owned farms after reaching agreement with white farmers' group. Government says illegal land occupations will not be allowed.

2004 May - Road bridge across Zambezi river between Namibia, Zambia opens amid hopes for boost to regional trade.

2004 August - Germany offers formal apology for colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros, but rules out compensation for victims' descendants.

2004 November - Hifikepunye Pohamba, President Nujoma's nominee, wins presidential elections. He is inaugurated in March 2005.

2005 September - Government begins the expropriation of white-owned farms as part of a land-reform programme.

2005 November - Two mass graves are found near a former South African military base in the north. They are thought to date back to the apartheid-era independence struggle.

2006 June - National anti-polio vaccination campaign is launched following the death of at least 12 people from the disease.

2007 February - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, signs aid and economic co-operation agreements.

2007 July - Controversy as a local rights group asks the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ex-president Sam Nujoma over the death of thousands during the independence struggle.

2007 August - Ten men are found guilty of treason for leading a secessionist rebellion in the Caprivi region and are given long prison terms.