History

Historical events 

The written history starts with the arrival of the Portuguese in South Africa. But they didn’t

colonized it. Later the Dutch colonized South Africa. At the end of the 18th century the british disputed the country. Because the British abolished slavery, there became peasant wars. In 1948 the apartheid was started. The apartheid means the (social) life between black and white people was completely separated. The white people were superieur over the black people. The apartheid ends in 1990 after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.

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People in the history of South Africa

There are a lot of events but there are also important people in the history of South Africa.

Like someone we all know: “ Nelson Mandela”. Nelson Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family in Mvezo. Thembu people are one of the population groups in South Africa who speaks Xhosa. Xhosa is a spoken first language in South Africa. His birth was at the 18th of July 1918. He was the county’s first black head of state. Nelson Mandela grew up in the company of tribal elders and chiefs. In 1944 Nelson Mandela joined the ANC. ANC means African National Congress. It’s a political party in South Africa that for many years fought against the system of apartheid. In 1952 he got the leader of the ANC protests activities. He fought for equality between black and white people. But because of his leadership he was imprisoned at Robben Island and later Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. His imprisonment lasted 27 years.

After his punishment, there became a end of the apartheid and black and white people were equal again. In 1994, he became the first black president. When he was 95 years old, he died at the 5th of December 2013. 

(Click on Nelson mandela for more information.)

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South Africa, the colonie of the Netherlands

1652, the Dutch East India Company established a colony in Cape Town to use for Dutch trade with Asia. 

A few years after the Dutch arrival to the Cape, the Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars began in 1659 and lasted until 1677. Later when the wars were over, the Dutch began further expansion inland. Dutch farmers known as Boers began arriving to the Cape region to settle and would become the forefathers of the Afrikaner people.

In 1795, the Dutch Cape Colony became a British colony after the Battle of Muizenberg. The British decided to take the Cape Colony after the Netherlands became part of the French Empire under Napoleon