Namibia

Being situated between two deserts, Namibia is very dry, but the San people persisted in this arid region for hundreds of years before the arrival of the Bantu-speaking peoples in the 1400’s, followed by the Europeans  particularly the Germans, who claimed a protectorate of the area in 1890.  However, the Germans were brutal with their genocide of natives in 1904-07 and ended up losing their protectorate during WWI.  South Africa stepped in and kept a tight grip on, what was then known as, South West Africa and instituted their own divisive apartheid policies.  Namibia finally gained independence in 1990 and was the first country to formally write conservation into their constitution.