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1 CE
First documented people in southern Africa
The Khoisan people were the first inhabitants of south Africa. They lived in small communities of 20 to 80 families all related by blood or marriage. Each community had a leader who was distinguishable by his attire and wealthy look. -
1000
New cultures
Many farmers and herders moved to the territory. These people brought with them their language known as Bantu. This development created diversity and new ethnic groups formed. -
New arrivals
Beginning in 1652 Dutch colonist known as Boers, settled in the Cape of Good Hope region. They made a port to supply fresh food and supplies to those trading on boats from Asia to Europe. They brought with them the religion of Calvinism. -
Promises of security
As the British and Boers fought over the region the British made promises to the Africans. They promised safety to many of the groups turning them into British colonies. The smaller groups who didn't comply were torn apart and dispersed. -
British abolishment of slavery
People from the British colony of India began to arrive in South Africa in large numbers after the British abolished slavery throughout their empire in 1833. This forced many settlers to find low wage labor. Many of these people came as indentured servants. -
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Movement groups are created
John Tengo Jabavu, in 1884, he established a newspaper that he used to promote resistance to the Cape Legislative Assembly; his vision and drive led to the creation of the Union of Native Vigilance Association. Another group that was created was the protest association of the South African Native National Congress. In 1919 they changed the name to the African National Congress. -
Diamonds and gold
The discovery of diamonds in 1869 in the Orange Free State and gold in 1886 in Transvaal all in the hands of entrepreneurs with ties to England. They had mining fields that were very productive and produced the most diamonds and gold known to man. -
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The Second Boer War
The British torched farms in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, destroying crops and killing cattle, and they placed families in concentration camps, where some 26,000 Boers died of famine and disease. This second war was fueled by the British desire to take control of the gold mines, mainly given the fear that the rail line through Mozambique would shut the British out of the gold trade. -
British fear of immigration
As the Indians continued to migrate to South Africa they began to grow immensely in number. They soon outnumbered the white Africans and began to expand territory. The British pushed for legislation against them and a cease in immigration. -
Rights are celebrated by those of color
Prior to 1910, the rights enjoyed by “citizens of colour,” as journalist Sol Plaatje referred to black South Africans at the time, varied widely in the four separate colonies. The establishment of the Union of South Africa was a setback for those of color because the whites later created a parliament that only benefited them. -
Switch of language
As part of a movement to strengthen Afrikaner nationalism whites began to take away the Dutch roots of the language. In the 1920s, Afrikaner nationalists fought to replace Dutch, recognized as one of the country’s official languages, with Afrikaans. -
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Segregation makes a return
Slaves who had been formally freed from slavery lacked freedom in practice, by the 1790s they could leave their area of residence only by permission of the colonial authorities. Segregation was reaffirmed and put into practice with many acts taking away colored freedom steadily again. -
Ceremonial reenactment
A reenactment of the Great Trek in 1938 took place on the 100th anniversary of the Afrikaner victory over the Zulu in the Battle of Blood River. Afrikaners revisited military victories over black South Africans, emphasizing their own superiority to the groups they defeated. -
Dominance for whites is granted
A majority in the national House of Assembly on May 26, 1948, the Herenigde National Party and its Afrikaner Party allies strengthened South Africa’s discriminatory laws, implementing the apartheid system to segregate the country’s races and guarantee the dominance of the white minority.