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 . and Lodge (2014) 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 administration of Walvis Bay was transferred to South West Africa under the
South West Africa Affairs Act of 1922. Despite the territory never having been part of German South West Africa, the Act stated that: "the port and settlement of Walvis Bay, which forms part of the Cape of Good Hope, shall for judicial and administrative purposes be regarded as if it were part of the mandated territory of South West Africa". On 14 December 1971, the
Namibian general contract workers strike began in Walvis Bay, after starting the day before in
Windhoek. The goal of the strike was the abolition of the contract labour system, to oppose
apartheid, and promote Namibia's independence. In 1977, following increasing international pressure to relinquish its control over South West Africa, South Africa repealed the Act, but transferred control of Walvis Bay back to the
Cape Province, thereby making it an
exclave. From 1980, it was represented in both the
Provincial Council and the
House of Assembly as part of the
Green Point constituency in
Cape Town, before becoming a separate constituency in 1982. In response, the
United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution 432 (1978), which declared that "the territorial integrity and unity of Namibia must be assured through the reintegration of Walvis Bay within its territory". In 1990, South West Africa gained independence as
Namibia, but Walvis Bay remained under South African sovereignty, with South Africa increasing the number of troops. However, in 1992, the two countries agreed to establish a transitional Joint Administrative Authority for Walvis Bay and the Offshore Islands. The Authority was headed by two Chief Executive Officers,
Nangolo Mbumba, then Secretary to the Namibian Cabinet, and Carl von Hirschberg, former South African Ambassador to the United Nations. In August 1993, prior to the end of
apartheid, the
Multiparty Negotiating Forum in South Africa passed a resolution calling for "the incorporation-reintegration of Walvis Bay and the Off-Shore Islands into Namibia." The Transfer of Walvis Bay to Namibia Act was passed by the
Parliament of South Africa that year. Following the signing of
a treaty between the two countries, South Africa formally transferred sovereignty of Walvis Bay and the
Penguin Islands to Namibia on 1 March 1994. == Geography ==