History

The Colonial Era Begins

As the Cape settlement grew from a victualling station to a colony during the 17th century, so Khoikhoi resistance against colonists' efforts to seize ancestral land increased. The colonists, reinforced by slaves from the East, spread into the interior as farmers, by now speaking their own vernacular, Afrikaans, which had developed in the Cape from Dutch roots. Inevitably, a form of social segregation grew between colonists and the black people of the interior. In 1779, in the eastern Cape, competition for grazing lands led to the first of nine frontier wars between the whites and Xhosa

From Backwater to Valuable Possession

The discoveries of diamonds in the Northern Cape in 1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 changed the face of southern Africa forever. A colonial backwater suddenly became a coveted imperial possession as a flood of immigrants transformed a rural, pastoral land into a bustling, industrial, minerals-based economy. Johannesburg became the economic heartland and, over time, home to sizeable Jewish, German, Greek, Portuguese and Italian communities. Rapid urbanisation of blacks and whites and the migrant worker system had profound political consequences.

Conflicts intensify

By the mid-1800s Afrikaners had been in the Cape for nearly 200 years. They despised British rule and were angry with the Khoikhoi's charter of liberties and the abolition of slavery in 1834. In the same year a mass migration - the Great Trek - of Afrikaners into the northern interior began.

From backwater to valuable possession

The discoveries of diamonds in the Northern Cape in 1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 changed the face of southern Africa forever. A colonial backwater suddenly became a coveted imperial possession as a flood of immigrants transformed a rural, pastoral land into a bustling, industrial, minerals-based economy. Johannesburg became the economic

Apartheid tightens its grip

Between Union and the end of WWII, South Africa grew into a modern, industrial nation, and began to give legal effect to the racial segregation always inherent in the society.

The Tide Turns

By the 1980s African liberation had reached South Africa's borders as Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe achieved independence. By 1990 the Cold War was over, Namibia was independent and FW de Klerk had succeeded PW Botha. De Klerk soon unbanned the ANC, released Mandela and began formal talks over a new political dispensation.

A democratic country

Following the elections, international sanctions were lifted and South Africa reclaimed its place in international and regional organisations. President Mandela signed a final constitution into law on December 10, 1996.

[For more information purchase South Africa at a Glance]