Talk:Namibia

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I'm curious about "Secondary Languages" section of the profile. Is the information about Portuguese correct? Why are no other languages mentioned?


The demographics section could be much more comprehensive and straightforward. Though pictured, the Herero and Himba are never mentioned in the article itself. Neither are the Kavango, Caprivians or Tswana even mentioned at all.

The following are statistics posted on the CIA factbook website (https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/wa.html):

black 87.5%, white 6%, mixed 6.5% note: about 50% of the population belong to the Ovambo tribe and 9% to the Kavangos tribe; other ethnic groups are: Herero 7%, Damara 7%, Nama 5%, Caprivian 4%, Bushmen 3%, Baster 2%, Tswana 0.5%

Wouldn't it make sense to incorporate this information?

Contents

[edit] Climate

Map of Namibia Image:Namibiamap.gif

[edit] Both maps please

Both maps please

Tabletop 7 July 2005 06:38 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy?

There isn't any past conversation / controversy that I can see on the discussion page (I'm still new, so I might be missing something), so I'm wondering what the controversy is about? The first map, obviously from CIA Factbook, is the map used for about 90% of country pages that I've noticed so far (probably because it's from a US Government source, it's not copyrighted and a Godsend for Wikipedians) so why should the Namibia map be different?

The only difference I can see (other than quality) is that the larger map shows administrative areas (apparently) and some more towns. If that's the reason people want the second map included, then I saw include both. If there's an inaccuracy to the (currently-shown) Factbook map, just use the second one.

Simple, n'est-ce pas? --Canuckguy 07:57, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

The contoversy was about the resolution of the lower map, but I think I have a way to banish any arguments as to that. I'll think about putting both maps in the article. Kelisi 21:26, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Readability/layout

I'm still something of a noob, so I'm not sure how to proceed with this article. I flagged it for wp:cleanup last week because the graphics are haphazardly placed, and in the case of the geography section, they overlay text. Then, I joined WP, and while I was fooling around with preferences, I noticed that with the "Cologne Blue" skin, the page is beautifully laid out, but it still looks goofy with the default skin. So, the question is, is the default skin privileged? Should I edit the page to make it look better in that, possibly wrecking the formatting of the "Cologne Blue" version? Woden325 16:45, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thanks to some advice from the IRC people, along with the other handy-dandy help pages I went ahead and reformatted the page. I rearranged the images in the politics and geography sections to make them look better in the default skin. I also removed the cleanup tag. Woden325 00:30, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I changed "List of German Speaking Countries"

I changed it since Namibia speak both German and they speak English. So it lists both now.

Ideally this article will show more data of regional linguistic usage.01:58, 9 September 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.65.248.130 (talk)

[edit] Border Region Zambia/Zimbabwe/Botswana/Namibia

I deleted the part where was stated that Namibia borders Zimbabwe. There is indeed a border dispute, but since Namibia and Zimbabwe do not object the plans of a bridge between Botswana and Zambia, and don't have a single border post between their countries. One can assume that a direct border between Namibia and Zimbabwe is nothing but a claim.

I dissagree with you, cause the border is in the middle of the river. Just cause we don't have a border post with Namibia, I still like the fact that we have a rare phenominon in four countries converging in a single place. Please put it back. 193.130.182.67 10:55, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Total Area and Population Density Errors

The article says:

"At 318,674 mi² (825,418 km²[1]), Namibia is the world's thirty-fourth largest country (after Venezuela). It is comparable in size to Pakistan, and is about half the size of the US state of Alaska. After Mongolia, Namibia is the least densely populated country in the world (1.5 persons per km²)."

That paragraph has serious errors. The link to the CIA's world fact book (CITED IN THE PARAGRAPH) puts Namibia at rank 42 for area. Then if you calculate the population density, 2,044,147/825,418 = 2.476 people / square kilometer, which contradicts the 1.5 people / square kilometer it states.

Also, http://www.photius.com/wfb1999/rankings/population_density_0.html shows that there are lots of countries less densely populated than Namibia.

Have you actually read those rakings properly? In the population density ranking, none of those listed below Namibia are independent countries except Mongolia. As for the area ranking, that also includes the world, oceans and the EU for comparison (in fairness, I believe the decision to give them ranking numbers is rather confusing).

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Southern Africa at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Southern Africa whose scope would include Namibia. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:40, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Worldwide Press Freedom Index

The Reporters Without Borders' Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2003 ranks Namibia as fifty-sixth out of 166 countries, as compared with thirty-first out of 139 countries in 2002.

This statement can be read to imply that Namibia's press freedom has diminished substantially and doesn't take into account the growth in numbers of countries ranked. Is there any further clarification that can be applied?

Realnamib 20:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed merge

Would you please take a look at Regions of Namibia and tell me what you think of my proposal to add the information there to the administrative regions section of this article. Ygoloxelfer 21:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Agree that it should be added here (but the origional pages shouldnt be deleted). However, I dont think it should be added with the box, the map with the lift to the right (or the left) would just do fine.
Good idea!
--Screensaver 08:11, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
I disagree. We have articles for political subdivisions for almost every country; why should Namibia's be merged? It does need improval, but that shouldn't be too hard to do. Nyttend 16:31, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
To answerScreensaver's point, what I meant was to just add the map infobox to the article, not the rest, and I suppose we could just keep the originl article there, but perhaps remove the link until it becomes an article worth looking at. Ygoloxelfer 10:00, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone know how to add the infobox and map in without it messing up the formatting? If anyone could do that it would be much appreciated. Ygoloxelfer 15:52, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Heroes' Acre Namibia

I would like to add an external link to <http://namibia-1on1.com/Namibia-Central/Heroes'-Acre-1.html> The Heroes' Acre is a National Heritage Council Memorial Site. Are there any objections? Keith Irwin 15:11, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

That is a better approach Keith. Perhaps one of the regular editors of the page will add an ext link - but, as discussed, adding links to your own sites is spam. That applies also to your requests on various other Namibia related pages. Cheers, Vsmith 10:36, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Digital Maps Of Namibia

Would Editors please look at the digital maps of Namibia available from <http://www.namibia-1on1.com/Namibia-Map/Namibia-Map-Key.html> If any of these are thought to be of use to the Namibia section of Wikipedia you are welcome to place external links to them. Keith Irwin 15:03, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] See meta:Proposals for closing projects/Closure of Herero Wikipedia

If anyone here has any Herero proficiency, please take a look at this proposal and at the small Herero encyclopedia itself to see what should be done with this wikipedia (keep it or delete it.) Keeping it implies more than a sentimental commitment ("it would be nice to have a wikipedia in every language ...") but also that it can be something more than a 10 or 20-article spam and vandalism trap and not just "someday" but in the here and now.

Please do not respond here but rather at that discussion (meta:Proposals for closing projects/Closure of Herero Wikipedia). --A. B. (talk) 12:08, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additional edits coming

I am in the process of working with three other people to create a page on Namibian wildlife conservancies. In the process we have some historical, geographical, and political data that seems more appropriate for the main Namibia page. This information will be edited in over the next few days.

In addition we have some original photographs of some typical Namibian landscapes, as well as some wildlife photos taken by one of our group members while on a trip to Namibia.

We are Wiki noobs, but we are looking forward to comments on what we add to the page.

Cheers, Christopher A. Scott

Blessent mon coeur d'une languer monotone. 23:14, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

I will be working on some of the edits with Christopher. I will stay limited to the more minor material - mostly adding information here and there in the sections mentioned above. Thanks in advance for going easy on us. --curugil 22:22, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additional photographs

Photographs added

Blessent mon coeur d'une languer monotone. 07:40, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Geography section

I have added the new text - which essentially replaces the old - and will work on the refs and pictures as quickly as I can or with the help of Chris. --curugil 06:59, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New section on HIV/AIDS

I just added a short section on HIV/AIDS in Namibia. This section could use some more research.

Blessent mon coeur d'une languer monotone. 08:26, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History

So when exactly was Namibia a German colony? Could you please improve your history section. Thank you. Jurgen —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.50.25.174 (talk) 11:25, 27 May 2008 (UTC)