Walvis Bay is a town on the Atlantic coast of western-central Namibia, with 46,000 inhabitants. The country's only deep-water sea port, it handles some 800 ships and two million tonnes of cargo annually.
The settlement of Walvisbaai (walvis is Dutch for whale) was incorporated in the Cape Colony in 1878. Six years later, neighbouring South-West Africa was annexed by Germany, but Walvis Bay and its surrounding area of 1124 sq. km. remained part of the Cape Colony.
Following South Africa's occupation (1915) of South-West Africa during World War I, Walvis Bay was administered jointly with South-West Africa from 1922 until 1978. South Africa retained control of the enclave for four years after South-West Africa's independence as Namibia (1990), ceding it to that country on March 1, 1994.