Walvis Bay

History

Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão reached Cape Cross, north of the bay, in 1485. There followed Bartolomeu Dias, who anchored his flagship São Cristóvão in what is now Walvis Bay on 8 December 1487, on his expedition to discover a sea route to the East via the Cape of Good Hope. He named the bay "O Golfo de Santa Maria da Conceição". However, the Portuguese did not formally stake a claim to Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay was founded at the end of the 18th century as a stopover for sea travel between Cape Town and the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company. No permanent (year-round) settlement was attempted and little commercial development occurred on the site until the late 19th century. In the meantime, the Cape Colony had become British, and during the Scramble for Africa, the British claimed Walvis Bay. They permitted the Cape Colony to complete the annexation of the territory in 1884, together with the Penguin Islands, following initial steps that had been taken in 1878. The land surrounding the territory was annexed by the German Empire as German South West Africa. In 1910, Walvis Bay, as an exclave of the Cape Colony, became part of the newly formed Union of South Africa. A boundary dispute with Germany was settled in 1911, with Walvis Bay having a confirmed area of . The exclave was overrun by the Germans during the South West Africa Campaign early in the First World War, but the Union Defence Force (UDF) of South Africa eventually ousted the Germans in 1915. Subsequently, Walvis Bay was quickly integrated into the new martial law regime in South West Africa. South Africa was later awarded control (a Class "C" mandate) over South West Africa by the League of Nations to administer the territory. Civilian rule was restored in South West Africa in 1921 and the…

Geography

Due to its South African administration, Walvis Bay was developed as a segregated town. The suburb of Kuisebmond, located 3.2 kilometres (1.8 mi) northeast of Walvis Bay city centre, housed Black people; Narraville, located 3.3 kilometres (2 mi) east northeast of Walvis Bay city centre, was inhabited by Coloureds; and Whites lived in the city centre.

Most-observed species

• Kelp Gull

  Larus dominicanus M.H.K.Lichtenstein, 1823 · Aves
  1,947
• Greater Flamingo

  Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811 · Aves
  1,875
• Lesser Flamingo

  Phoeniconaias minor (É.Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1798) · Aves
  1,813
• Hartlaub's Gull

  Chroicocephalus hartlaubii (Bruch, 1855) · Aves
  1,791
• Pied Avocet

  Recurvirostra avosetta Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,387
• Great White Pelican

  Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,311
• Curlew Sandpiper

  Calidris ferruginea (Pontoppidan, 1763) · Aves
  1,216
• Cape Wagtail

  Motacilla capensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,118