Dutch Cape Colony

Former Dutch supply station in Southern Africa

For the British colony, see Cape Colony.

Cape of Good Hope

Nederlandse Kaapkolonie

1652–1806

Flag

Coat of arms

VOC Cape at its largest extent in 1795

Status| Supply station under Company rule (1652–1795)
British occupation (1795–1803)
Colony Dutch Cape Colony 1803 of the Batavian Republic (1803–1806)
Capital| Castle of Good Hope (1st)
Kaapstad (2nd)
Official languages| Dutch
Afrikaans

Common languages

| Early Afrikaans

Khoikhoi
isiXhosa
Malay
Religion

| Dutch Reformed
native beliefs
Governor|

• 1652–1662

| Jan van Riebeeck

• 1662–1666

| Zacharias Wagenaer

• 1771–1785

| Joachim van Plettenberg

• 1803–1806

| Jan Willem Janssens
Historical era| Colonialism

• Establishment of Cape Town

| 6 April 1652

• Elevated to Governorate

| 1691

• First British occupation

| 7 August 1795

• Cape Colony to Dutch rule

| 1 March 1803

• Battle of Blaauwberg

| 8 January 1806
Area

• Total

| 145,000 km2 (56,000 sq mi)
Population

• 1797[1]

| 61,947
Currency| Dutch rijksdaalder

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Khoekhoe people

|

| British Cape Colony |

|

Republic of Graaff-Reinet |
Republic of Swellendam |
Today part of| South Africa
Historical states
in present-day
South Africa

before 1600

* Kingdom of Mapungubwe (1050–1270)
* Kingdom of Mutapa (1430–1760)

1600–1700

* Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1795)

1700–1800

* Mthethwa Paramountcy (c.1780–1817)
* Ndwandwe (c.1780–1817)
* Republic of Swellendam (1795)
* Republic of Graaff-Reinet (1795–1796)
* Cape Colony (1795–1802)

1800–1850

* Dutch Cape Colony (1802–1806)
* Cape Colony (1806–1910)
* Waterboer's Land (1813–1871)
* Zulu Kingdom (1818–1897)
* Adam Kok's Land (1825–1861)
* Winburg (1836–1844)
* Potchefstroom (1837–1848)
* Natalia Republic (1839–1843)

1850–1875

* South African Republic (1852–1902)
* Orange Free State (1854–1902)
* Republic of Utrecht (1854–1858)
* Lydenburg Republic (1856–1860)
* Griqualand East (1861–1879)
* Griqualand West (1870–1880)
* Diggers' Republic (1870–1871)

1875–1900

* Stellaland (1882–1885)
* Goshen (1882–1883)
* Nieuw Republiek (1884–1888)
* Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891)

1900–present

* Cape Colony (1806–1910)
* Union of South Africa (1910–1961)
* Transkei (1976–1994)
* Bophuthatswana (1977–1994)
* Venda (1979–1994)
* Ciskei (1981–1994)
* Republic of South Africa (1961–present)

South Africa portal

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The Dutch Cape Colony (Dutch: Nederlandse Kaapkolonie), officially known as the Cape of Good Hope Waystation (Dutch: Tussenstation Kaap de Goede Hoop), was a colony of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Batavian Republic in Southern Africa. Centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name, it was founded in 1652 by a VOC expedition under Jan van Riebeeck to serve as a re-supply and layover port for VOC vessels trading with Asia.[2] The Cape was under VOC rule from 1652 to 1795 and Batavian rule from 1803 to 1806.[3] Much to the dismay of the VOC's shareholders, who focused primarily on making profits from the Asian trade, the Cape Colony rapidly expanded into a settler colony in the years after its founding.

As the only permanent settlement of the VOC which served as a trading post, it proved an ideal retirement place for employees of the company. After several years of service in the company, an employee could lease a piece of land in the Cape Colony as a Free Burgher, on which he had to cultivate crops that he had to sell to the VOC for a fixed price. As these farms were labour-intensive, Free Burghers imported slaves from Madagascar, Mozambique and Asia (mostly the Dutch East Indies and Dutch Ceylon), which rapidly increased the number of inhabitants.[2] After King Louis XIV of France issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in October 1685 (revoking the Edict of Nantes of 1598), thereby ending protection of the right of Huguenots in France to practise Protestant worship without persecution from the state, the Cape Colony attracted some Huguenot settlers, who eventually mixed with the general Dutch population.

Due to the authoritarian rule of the company (telling farmers what to grow for what price, controlling immigration, and monopolising trade), some farmers tried to escape the rule of the company by moving further inland. The company, in an effort to control these migrants, established a magistracy at Swellendam in 1745 and another at Graaff Reinet in 1786, and declared the Gamtoos River as the eastern frontier of the Cape, only to see the Trekboers cross it soon afterwards. In order to keep out Cape native pastoralists, organised increasingly under the rising Xhosa people, the VOC agreed in 1780 to make the Great Fish River the boundary of the Cape.

In 1795, after they launched an invasion of the Cape Colony in present-day Cape Town, the British occupied the Cape. Under the terms of the Peace of Amiens of 1802, Britain ceded the Cape back to the Batavian Republic on 1 March 1803, but as the Batavians had nationalized the VOC in 1796, the Cape Colony now became a colony under the direct rule of The Hague. Batavian control did not last long, however, as the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars on 18 May 1803 invalidated the Peace of Amiens. In January 1806, the British occupied the colony for a second time after their victory at the Battle of Blaauwberg at present-day Bloubergstrand. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Britain.

## History

[edit]

### United East India Company

[edit]

Main articles: History of Cape Colony before 1806 and History of South Africa (1652–1815)

View of Table Bay with ships of the United East India Company (VOC), c. 1763 Painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, by Charles Bell

Traders of the United East India Company (VOC), under the command of Jan van Riebeeck, were the first people to establish a European colony in South Africa. The Cape settlement was built by them in 1652 as a re-supply point and way-station for United East India Company vessels on their way back and forth between the Netherlands and Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies. The support station gradually became a settler community, the forebears of the Boers, and the Cape Dutch who became Afrikaners.

### Khoi people of the Cape

[edit]

At the time of first European settlement in the Cape, the southwest of Africa was inhabited by Khoikhoi pastoralists and hunters. Disgruntled by the disruption of their seasonal visit to the area for which purpose they grazed their cattle at the foot of Table Mountain only to find European settlers occupying and farming the land, leading to the first Khoi-Dutch War as part of a series of Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars. After the war, the natives ceded the land to the settlers in 1660. During a visit in 1672, the high-ranking Commissioner Arnout van Overbeke made a formal purchase of the Cape territory, although already ceded in 1660, his reason was to "prevent future disputes".[4]

The ability of the European settlers to produce food at the Cape initiated the decline of the nomadic lifestyle of the Khoi and Tuu speaking peoples since food was produced at a fixed location. Thus by 1672, the permanent indigenous residents living at the Cape had grown substantially. The first school to be built in South Africa by the settlers were for the sake of the slaves who had been rescued from a Portuguese slave ship and arrived at the Cape with the Amersfoort in 1658. Later on, the school was also attended by the children of the indigenes and the Free Burghers. The Dutch language was taught at schools as the main medium for commercial purposes, with the result that the indigenous people and even the French settlers found themselves speaking Dutch more than their native languages. The principles of Christianity were also introduced at the school resulting in the baptisms of many slaves and indigenous residents.[4]

Conflicts with the settlers and the effects of smallpox decimated their numbers in 1713 and 1755, until gradually the breakdown of their society led them to be scattered and ethnically cleansed beyond the colonial frontiers: both beyond the Eastward-expanding frontier (to form eventually the future resisting population of the frontier wars), as well as beyond the Northern open frontier war above the Great Escarpment.[5]

Some worked for the colonists, mostly as shepherds and herdsmen.[6]

### Free Burghers

[edit]

Main article: Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony

The VOC favoured the idea of freemen at the Cape and many settlers requested to be discharged in order to become free burghers; as a result, Jan van Riebeeck approved the notion on favorable conditions and earmarked two areas near the Liesbeek River for farming purposes in 1657. The two areas which were allocated to the freemen, for agricultural purposes, were named Groeneveld and Dutch Garden. These areas were separated by the Amstel River (Liesbeek River). Nine of the best applicants were selected to use the land for agricultural purposes. The freemen or free burghers as they were afterwards termed, thus became subjects, and were no longer servants, of the company.[7]

### Trekboers

[edit]

Main article: Trekboers

After the first settlers spread out around the Company station, nomadic European livestock farmers, or Trekboeren, moved more widely afield, leaving the richer, but limited, farming lands of the coast for the drier interior tableland. There they contested still wider groups of Khoe-speaking cattle herders for the best grazing lands.

The Cape society in this period was thus a diverse one. The emergence of Afrikaans reflects this diversity, from its roots as a Dutch pidgin, to its subsequent creolisation and use as "Kitchen Dutch" by slaves and serfs of the colonials, and its later use in Cape Islam by them when it first became a written language that used the Arabic letters. By the time of British rule after 1795, the sociopolitical foundations were firmly laid.

### British conquest

[edit]

Main article: Invasion of the Cape Colony

In 1795, France occupied the Dutch Republic. This prompted Great Britain, at war with France, to occupy the territory that same year as a way to better control the seas on the way to India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simon's Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, took control of the territory. The United East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Dutch sister republic established by France) in 1798, then ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape Colony over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

In 1806, the Cape, now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had broken after one year, while Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic (which he would replace with a monarchy later that year). The British established their colony to control the Far East trade routes. In 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London.

## Administrative divisions

[edit]

Administrative divisions of the Cape Colony on the eve of the 1795 British occupation

The Dutch Cape Colony was divided into four districts. In 1797 their "recorded" populations were:[8]

District  | Free Christians  | Slaves  | "Hottentots" | Total (1797)

|
|
|
|

District of the Cape  | 6,261  | 11,891  | - | 18,152
District of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein | 7,256  | 10,703  | 5,000 | 22,959
District of Zwellendam | 3,967  | 2,196  | 500 | 6,663
District of Graaff Reynet | 4,262  | 964  | 8,947 | 14,173

## Demographics

[edit]

During this period a significant proportion of marriages were interracial, this is at least partially attributed to a lack of 'White' or 'Christian' women within the colony. What later became the racial division between 'White' and 'non-White' populations originally began as a division between Christian and non-Christian populations.[9] The Geslags-registeers estimated that seven percent of the Afrikaner gene pool in 1807 was non-White.[9]

Year  | White men  | White women  | White children  | White total  | Total population  | Source/notes

|
|
|
|
|
|

1658  |  |  |  |  | 360 | Recorded population of Cape Town only.[citation needed]
1701  | 418  | 242  | 295  | 1,265 | \-  | Excluding indentured servants.[9]
1723  | 679  | 433  | 544  | 2,245 | \-  | Excluding indentured servants.[9]
1753  | 1,478  | 1,026  | 1,396  | 5,419 | \-  | Excluding indentured servants.[9]
1773  | 2,300  | 1,578  | 2,138  | 8,285 | \-  | Excluding indentured servants.[9]
1795  | 4,259  | 2,870  | 3,963  | 14,929 |  | Excluding indentured servants.[9]
1796  | \-  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 61,947 | Total for all groups.[10]

## Commanders and Governors of the Cape Colony (1652–1806)

[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Dutch Cape Colony" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

The title of the founder of the Cape Colony, Jan van Riebeeck, was installed as "Commander of the Cape", a position he held from 1652 to 1662. During the tenure of Simon van der Stel, the colony was elevated to the rank of a governorate, hence he was promoted to the position of "Governor of the Cape".

Jan van Riebeeck Meeting between Governor Janssens and the Xhosa leader Gaika, 1803 Commanders of the Cape Colony (1652–1691)  Name  | Period  | Title

|
|

Jan van Riebeeck | 7 April 1652 – 6 May 1662  | Commander
Zacharias Wagenaer | 6 May 1662 – 27 September 1666  | Commander
Cornelis van Quaelberg | 27 September 1666 – 18 June 1668  | Commander
Jacob Borghorst | 18 June 1668 – 25 March 1670  | Commander
Pieter Hackius | 25 March 1670 – 30 November 1671  | Commander and Governor
| 1671–1672  | Acting Council
Albert van Breugel | April 1672 – 2 October 1672  | Acting Commander
Isbrand Goske | 2 October 1672 – 14 March 1676  | Governor
Johan Bax van Herenthals | 14 March 1676 – 29 June 1678  | Commander
Hendrik Crudop | 29 June 1678 – 12 October 1679  | Acting Commander
Simon van der Stel | 10 December 1679 – 1 June 1691  | Commander, after 1691 Governor
Governors of the Cape Colony (1691–1795)  Name  | Period  | Title

|
|

Simon van der Stel | 1 June 1691 – 2 November 1699  | Governor
Willem Adriaan van der Stel | 2 November 1699 – 3 June 1707  | Governor
Johan Cornelis d'Ableing | 3 June 1707 – 1 February 1708  | Acting Governor
Louis van Assenburgh | 1 February 1708 – 27 December 1711  | Governor
Willem Helot (acting)  | 27 December 1711 – 28 March 1714  | Acting Governor
Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes | 28 March 1714 – 8 September 1724  | Governor
Jan de la Fontaine (acting)  | 8 September 1724 – 25 February 1727  | Acting Governor
Pieter Gysbert Noodt | 25 February 1727 – 23 April 1729  | Governor
Jan de la Fontaine | 23 April 1729 – 8 March 1737  | Acting Governor
Jan de la Fontaine | 8 March 1737 – 31 August 1737  | Governor
Adriaan van Kervel | 31 August 1737 – 19 September 1737 (died after three weeks in office)  | Governor
Daniël van den Henghel | 19 September 1737 – 14 April 1739  | Acting Governor
Hendrik Swellengrebel | 14 April 1739 – 27 February 1751  | Governor
Ryk Tulbagh | 27 February 1751 – 11 August 1771  | Governor
Baron Joachim van Plettenberg | 12 August 1771 – 18 May 1774  | Acting Governor
Baron Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn | 1772 – 23 January 1773 (died at sea on his way to the Cape)  | Governor designate
Baron Joachim van Plettenberg | 18 May 1774 – 14 February 1785  | Governor
Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff | 14 February 1785 – 24 June 1791  | Governor
Johan Isaac Rhenius | 24 June 1791 – 3 July 1792  | Acting Governor
Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh and
Simon Hendrik Frijkenius | 3 July 1792 – 2 September 1793  | Commissioners-General
Abraham Josias Sluysken | 2 September 1793 – 16 September 1795  | Commissioner-General
Governors of the First British occupation (1797–1803)  Name  | Period  | Title

|
|

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney | 1797–1798  | Governor
Francis Dundas (1st time)  | 1798–1799  | Acting Governor
Sir George Yonge | 1799–1801  | Governor
Francis Dundas (2nd time)  | 1801–1803  | Governor
Governors of the Cape Colony for the Batavian Republic (1803–1806)  Name  | Period  | Title

|
|

Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist | 1803–1804  | Governor
Jan Willem Janssens | 1804–1807  | Governor

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Robert Montgomery Martin (1836). The British Colonial Library: In 12 volumes. Mortimer. p. 112.
2. ^ a b "Kaap de Goede Hoop". De VOC site. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
3. ^ J. A. Heese, Die Herkoms van die Afrikaner 1657–1867. A. A. Balkema, Kaapstad, 1971. CD Colin Pretorius 2013. ISBN 978-1-920429-13-3. Bladsy 15.
4. ^ a b History of South Africa, 1484–1691, G.M. Theal, London 1888
5. ^ Penn, Nigel G (1995). "The Northern Cape Frontier Zone 1700- c.1815" (PDF). The Northern Cape Frontier Zone 1700- c.1815.
6. ^ Newmark, S. Daniel. The South African Frontier: Economic Influences 1652–1836. Stanford University Press. pp. 10–11\. ISBN 978-0-8047-1617-8.
7. ^ Precis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope, January 1652 - December 1658, Riebeeck's Journal, H.C.V. Leibrandt, pp. 47–48
8. ^ Sir John Barrow (1806). Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa. T. Cadell and W. Davies. p. 25.
9. ^ a b c d e f g Ross, Robert (1975). "The 'White' Population of South Africa in the Eighteenth Century". Population Studies. 29 (2): 217–230\. doi:10.2307/2173508. hdl:1887/4261. ISSN 0032-4728. JSTOR 2173508.
10. ^ Martin, Robert Montgomery (1836). The British Colonial Library: In 12 volumes. Mortimer. p. 112.

## Sources

[edit]

* Van der Merwe, Petrus Johannes (1995). The Migrant Farmer in the History of the Cape Colony, 1657-1842. Athens: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-1090-5.
* Theal, George McCall (1887). History of the Boers in South Africa; Or, the Wanderings and Wars of the Emigrant Farmers from Their Leaving the Cape Colony to the Acknowledgment of Their Independence by Great Britain. London: S. Sonnenschein, Lowrey.
* Ross, Robert John (1999). Status and Respectability in the Cape Colony, 1750–1870: A Tragedy of Manners (PDF). African studies series. Cambridge (GB): Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-62122-9.

## External links

[edit]

* Simon van der Stel's journal and daily record of his journey to Namaqualand with the Dutch East India Company, 1685, from the Library of Trinity College Dublin

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Other South African governments

| Kingdoms| Colonies| Boer Republics| Bantustans| National

|
|
|
|

* Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c. 1075–c. 1220)
* Mthethwa Paramountcy (c. 1780–1817)
* Ndwandwe Kingdom (c. 1780–1819)
* Zulu Kingdom (1816–97)

* Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1806)
* Cape Colony (1795–1910)
* Natal Colony (1843–1910)
* Orange River Colony (1902–10)
* Transvaal Colony (1902–10)

* Natalia Republic (1839–43)
* Orange Free State (1854–1902)
* Griqualand East (1861–79)
* Griqualand West (1870–73)
* Goshen (1882–83)
* Stellaland (1882–85)
* Nieuwe Republiek (1884–88)
* Upingtonia (1885–87)
* Klein Vrystaat (1886–91)

* Gazankulu (1971–94)
* Lebowa (1972–94)
* QwaQwa (1974–94)
* Transkei (1976–94)
* Bophuthatswana (1977–94)
* Venda (1979–94)
* Ciskei (1981–94)
* KaNgwane (1981–94)
* KwaNdebele (1981–94)
* KwaZulu (1981–94)

* Cape Qualified Franchise (1853–1910)
* South African Republic (1856–1902)
* Union of South Africa (1910–61)
* Republic of South Africa (1961–present)

Current government

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Dutch colonial empire

Colonies and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company (1602–1798)

| Governorate General|

* Batavia

|

Governorates|

* Ambon
* Banda Islands
* Cape Colony
* Celebes
* Ceylon
* Coromandel
* Formosa
* Malacca
* Moluccas
* Northeast coast of Java

Directorates|

* Bengal
* Persia
* Suratte

Commandments|

* Bantam
* Malabar
* West coast of Sumatra

Residencies|

* Bantam
* Banjarmasin
* Batavia
* Cheribon
* Malang
* Palembang
* Preanger
* Pontianak

Opperhoofd settlements|

* Myanmar
* Canton
* Dejima
* Mauritius
* Siam
* Timor
* Tonkin
* Vietnam (1637–1643)

Colonies and trading posts of the Dutch West India Company (1621–1792)

| Colonies in the Americas|

* Berbice 1
* Brazil
* Cayenne
* Curaçao and Dependencies
* Demerara
* Essequibo
* New Netherland
* Pomeroon
* Sint Eustatius and Dependencies
* Surinam 2
* Tobago
* Virgin Islands

|

Trading posts in Africa|

* Arguin
* Gold Coast
* Loango-Angola
* Senegambia
* Slave Coast

* 1 Governed by the Society of Berbice
* 2 Governed by the Society of Suriname

Settlements of the Noordsche Compagnie (1614–1642)

| Settlements|

* Jan Mayen
* Smeerenburg

|

Colonies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1962)

| Until 1825|

* Bengal
* Coromandel
* Malacca
* Suratte

|

Until 1853|

* Dejima

Until 1872|

* Gold Coast

Until 1949|

* Dutch East Indies

Until 1954|

* Curaçao and Dependencies 3
* Surinam 3

Until 1962|

* New Guinea

* 3 Became constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; Suriname gained full independence in 1975, Curaçao and Dependencies was renamed to the Netherlands Antilles, which was eventually dissolved in 2010.

Kingdom of the Netherlands (1954–present)

| Constituent countries|

* Aruba
* Curaçao
* Netherlands
* Sint Maarten

|

Special municipalities of the Netherlands|

* Bonaire
* Saba
* Sint Eustatius

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Commanders and Governors of the Dutch Cape Colony

| Commanders
1652–1691|

* Jan van Riebeeck
* Zacharias Wagenaer
* Cornelis van Quaelberg
* Jacob Borghorst
* Pieter Hackius
* Albert van Breugel
* IJsbrand Godske
* Johan Bax van Herenthals
* Hendrik Crudop
* Simon van der Stel

Governors
1691–1795|

* Simon van der Stel
* Willem Adriaan van der Stel
* Johan Cornelis d'Ableing
* Louis van Assenburgh
* Willem Helot
* Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes
* Jan de la Fontaine
* Pieter Gysbert Noodt
* Jan de la Fontaine
* Adriaan van Kervel
* Daniël van den Henghel
* Hendrik Swellengrebel
* Ryk Tulbagh
* Joachim van Plettenberg
* Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn
* Joachim van Plettenberg
* Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff
* Johan Isaac Rhenius
* Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh & Simon Hendrik Frijkenius
* Abraham Josias Sluysken

Those in italics were Acting Governors

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Political history of South Africa

Defunct polities|

* Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c. 1075–c. 1220)
* Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1806)
* Mthethwa Paramountcy (c. 1780–1817)
* Ndwandwe Kingdom (c. 1780–1819)
* Cape Colony (1795–1910)
* Zulu Kingdom (1816–1897)
* Natalia Republic (1839–1843)
* Natal Colony (1843–1910)
* Orange Free State (1854–1902)
* South African Republic (1856–1902)
* Griqualand East (1861–1879)
* Griqualand West (1870–1873)
* Goshen (1882–1883)
* Stellaland (1882–1885)
* Nieuwe Republiek (1884–1888)
* Upingtonia (1885–1887)
* Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891)
* Orange River Colony (1902–1910)
* Transvaal Colony (1902–1910)
* Union of South Africa (1910–1961)
* Transkei (1976–1994)
* Bophuthatswana (1977–1994)
* Venda (1979–1994)
* Ciskei (1981–1994)

Events|

| Pre-colonial|

* Bantu migrations
* Battle of Salt River

|

1652–1815|

* Dutch settlement
* French Huguenot settlement
* Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars
* Xhosa Wars
* Battle of Muizenberg
* Battle of Blaauwberg
* Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814

1815–1910|

* Mfecane
* 1820 Settlers
* Great Trek
* Boer Republics
* Transvaal Civil War
* Mineral Revolution
* Witwatersrand Gold Rush
* South African Wars
* South Africa Act 1909 (National Convention)

1910–1948|

* South West Africa campaign
* Maritz rebellion
* Rand Rebellion
* Great Depression
* 1946 African Mine Workers' Union strike
* Bantustans

Apartheid|

* 1948 general election
* Apartheid legislation
* Pass laws
* Internal resistance
* Coloured-vote constitutional crisis
* Defiance Campaign
* Congress of the People
* Freedom Charter
* Women's March 1956
* 1957 Alexandra bus boycott
* Sharpeville massacre
* 1960 republic referendum
* International isolation
* UN Resolution 1761
* UNSC Resolution 591
* Academic boycott
* Disinvestment
* Constructive engagement
* Tar Baby Option
* Sporting boycott
* Olympics
* Rugby union
* Rivonia Trial
* Durban Moment
* Border War
* Israeli alliance
* Israel–South Africa Agreement
* Mafeje affair
* Soweto Uprising
* Weapons of mass destruction
* Project Coast
* Church Street bombing
* 1983 constitutional referendum
* Vaal uprising
* Langa massacre
* Rubicon speech
* Operation Vula
* Dakar Conference
* Transkei coup d'état
* Ciskei coup d'état
* Venda coup d'état
* Third Force
* CODESA
* Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre
* Bisho massacre
* 1992 apartheid referendum
* Saint James Church massacre
* Bophuthatswana crisis
* Shell House massacre
* Sauer Commission

Post-
apartheid|

* 1994 general election
* Government of National Unity
* Reconstruction and Development Programme
* Truth and Reconciliation Commission
* Arms Deal
* Floor crossing
* Soweto bombings
* African Renaissance
* Travelgate
* Xenophobia
* Attack on Kennedy Road
* Blikkiesdorp
* Marikana massacre
* 2012 Western Cape farm workers' strike
* Nkandlagate
* Racism
* 2014 platinum strike
* #RhodesMustFall protests
* #FeesMustFall student protests
* Tshwane riots
* 2019 service delivery protests
* 2019 Johannesburg riots
* COVID-19 pandemic
* 2020 Phala Phala Robbery
* 2021 unrest
* Lady R incident

Political culture|

* African nationalism
* Afrikaner Calvinism
* Afrikaner nationalism
* Anarchism
* Azania
* Baasskap
* Boerehaat
* Black Consciousness Movement
* Cape Independence
* Day of the Vow
* Greater South Africa
* Honorary whites
* Rooi gevaar
* Slavery
* Swart gevaar
* Uitlander
* Volkstaat

Defunct
organisations|

| Civic and political
organisations|

* Afrikaner Bond
* Afrikaner Broederbond
* Afrikaner Party
* AITUP
* APO
* AVF
* BPC
* Black Sash
* Boerestaat Party
* CDA
* CNIP
* CTEG
* COD
* Congress Alliance
* COSG
* CP
* DLF
* Dominion Party
* DP (1973–1977)
* DP (1989–2000)
* DPP
* DSM
* ECC
* FA
* FD
* Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners
* GNP
* Het Volk
* HNP (Herenigde)
* HNP (Herstigte)
* IDASA
* ID
* IP
* ISL
* Jeugkrag
* Johannesburg Reform Committee
* Labour Party (1910–1958)
* Labour Party (1969–1994)
* Liberal Party (1953–1968)
* NA
* NCP
* Natal Indian Congress
* NLP
* NNP
* NP
* NPP
* NRP
* NUSAS
* Occupy
* Orangia Unie
* Oranjewerkers
* Orde Boerevolk
* PAVN
* PFP
* Progressive Party (Cape Colony)
* Progressive Party
* PRP
* Radio Freedom
* Reform Party
* SABP
* SADECO
* SAIC
* SASO
* SAYCO
* SAYRCO
* South African Party (Cape Colony)
* South African Party (1911–1934)
* South African Party (1977–1980)
* TNIP
* Torch Commando
* UFP
* United Party
* Unionist Party
* National Party of Venda
* Volksparty
* Workers Party
* WOSA

|

Trade unions and
social movements|

* APF
* BCM
* BLATU
* CNETU
* CTSWU
* FCWU
* FNETU
* FOSATU
* ICU
* IWW
* MUSA
* NEUM
* NURHS
* PAWE
* SAAPAWU
* SACTU
* SAIF
* SARHU
* SATUC
* Die Spoorbund
* UDF
* Umkosi Wezintaba

Paramilitary and
terrorist organisations|

* APLA
* ARM
* AWB
* BBB
* Boeremag
* Greyshirts
* MK
* Ossewabrandwag
* Orde van die Dood
* PAGAD
* SANF

Histories of
political parties|

* African National Congress
* Democratic Alliance
* Pan Africanist Congress of Azania

Category
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