Walvis Bay
Namibia

Although Walvis Bay had already been discovered by Diaz as early as 1487, it was only founded in 1793 by the Cape Dutch. Two years later it was annexed by the British. In 1910, Walvis Bay became - like the entire Cape Colony - part of the South African Union. After Namibia's independence, the only deep sea harbour on the Namibian coast remained under South African rule and only in 1994, did the former South African president F.W. de Klerk agree to return it to Namibia.

Today, Walvis Bay has about 50 000 citizens and seems to be quite a busy town. Most people are employed at the modern harbour terminal and in the booming fish industry. Another production branch is the processing of sea salt. The salt fields of Walvis Bay cover an area of 3500 hectares and annually produce 400 000 tons of high quality salt.