Geological research in Namibia (formerly South-West Africa) dates back to the early 1900s, when the first government-appointed geologist set up office in the capital Windhoek, both to investigate the young colony's geological potential, and to oversee early mining and exploration activities. During the following century a mass of information has accumulated, the earliest maps being compiled without the aid of either topographic base maps or aerial photographs. To preserve and enhance this wealth of information, complementing systems have been developed to store both archival and new data from current activities. Apart from regional mapping, the latter include a high-resolution airborne geophysical program, a regional geochemical survey, as well as original research in a variety of fields (e.g stratigraphic correlation, sedimentology, palaeontology).