In 1878 , the Cape of Good Hope , then a British colony , annexed the port of Walvis Bay and the offshore Penguin Islands ; these became an integral part of the new Union of South Africa at its creation in 1910 . In 1884 the German Empire established rule over most of the territory , forming a colony known as German South West Africa . It developed farming and infrastructure . Between 1904 and 1908 it perpetrated a genocide against the Herero and Nama people . German rule ended in 1915 with a defeat by South African forces . In 1920 , after the end of World War I , the League of Nations mandated the administration of the colony to South Africa . It imposed its laws , including racial classifications and rules . From 1948 , with the National Party elected to power , South Africa applied apartheid also to what was then known as South West Africa
genocide
Herero and Namaqua genocide
Namibia