Namibia document photos online

When Namibia raised its flag at midnight on 21 March 1990, it became the last territory in Africa to shake off colonial rule, and it did so with a remarkable first: its brand-new constitution made it the first nation on Earth to write environmental protection directly into its founding law. The young republic kept the South African rand circulating for three more years before issuing its own Namibian dollar in 1993, pegged one-to-one to the rand. That single piece of paper, the constitution, still shapes everyday identity here, from who counts as a citizen by descent to the right to hold two passports at once.

• Citizenship Namibia's constitution forbids stripping anyone of citizenship held by birth or descent, and a court confirmed those Namibians may carry a second passport without ever renouncing their own.
• Passport The Namibian passport ranks 61st on the Henley Passport Index, opening 74 destinations to its holders without a prior visa.
• Currency The Namibian dollar, launched on 15 September 1993, is locked one-to-one to the South African rand, which remains legal tender you can spend interchangeably across the country.
• Banknotes Every Namibian banknote first carried the face of 19th-century resistance leader Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, and a 2020 polymer N$30 note was minted to mark 30 years of independence.
• First in law By enshrining environmental protection in its 1990 constitution, Namibia became the first country in the world to grant nature a constitutional guarantee.
• Oldest desert The Namib, which gives the nation its name, is reckoned the oldest desert on Earth at around 55 million years, its red dunes towering near Sossusvlei among the tallest anywhere.
• Mega canyon The Fish River Canyon in the south is Africa's largest canyon and, after the Grand Canyon, often ranked the second-biggest in the world, plunging hundreds of metres deep.
• Monetary union Namibia belongs to the Common Monetary Area linking it with South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, so its independent currency shares a single exchange rate with three neighbours.
• Census The 2023 census counted about 3.02 million people, an unusually youthful nation where 71.1% are under the age of 35.