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DATE
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EVENT
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26 000 BP
(Before Present) |
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Estimated date, which is established
by using radiocarbon techniques, of the oldest San rock painting in present-day
Namibia. Rock paintings reveal archival evidence of San social and belief
systems |
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15 000 BP
(Before Present) |
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Dated rock paintings
reveal that San hunter-gatherers are widely distributed in southern Africa |
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2200 BP
(Before Present) |
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It is estimated that
some San groups in present-day northern Botswana acquire domesticated livestock.
They move south, and their new socio-economic order leads them to be anthropologically
described as Khoikhoi hunter-herders. |
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| c. 200 |
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Farming communities acquainted
with the use of iron, and regarded as the forebears of Bantu-speaking people,
establish themselves south of what becomes known as the Limpopo River |
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| c. 500 |
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Early Iron Age people develop
a new form of pottery. This form is best represented in pottery fragments
that have been assembled and subsequently become known as the Lydenburg
Heads, named after the place where the find was made |
|
| c. 600 |
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Early Iron Age people settle along
the south- eastern seaboard as far as Mpame, in the region later to be known
as the Transkei |
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| c. 600 |
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Beginnings of the Late Iron Age
in the southern Africa region lead to a greater concentration of settlement
on the central Highveld of southern Africa |
|
| c. 900 |
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Estimated establishment of Mapungubwe
in the Limpopo Valley |
|
| 1250 - 1400 |
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Mapungubwe becomes the dominant
power in the Limpopo Valley region |
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| 1300 - 1500 |
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The Highveld interior becomes
populated by political entities speaking SeSotho-SeTswana.
Nguni-speaking communities settle along the southeastern seaboard and in
the Drakensberg interior.
The Khoisan are established as the dominant power in the southern and southwestern
Cape regions |
|
| 1460 |
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Portuguese navigators representing
the interests of the Portuguese Royal House and merchants of discovering
a sea-route to India around the south coast of Africa and of securing slaves
for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, reach the coast of Guinea, West Africa |
|
| 1483 |
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Diogo Câo, a navigator acting
under the instruction of the Portuguese King John II, reaches the mouth
of the Congo River |
|
| 1485 |
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Câo puts ashore at Cape Cross,
north of present-day Walvis Bay |
|
| 1487 |
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The Portuguese explorer Batholemeu
Dias sails down the coast to reach southern Angola. He later lands at present-day
Walvis Bay and soon after at Lüderitz Bay |
|
| 1488 |
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Dias succeeds in circumnavigating
the Cape, naming it “Cabo do Boa Esperança or the Cape of Good Hope. This
is a major breakthrough in the search for discovering a sea-route to India |
|
| 1488 |
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With the ascension of Manuel I
to the Portuguese throne, the Royal House of Portugal strengthens its support
of the scientific maritime investigation into finding a sea trade route
to India
Vasco da Gama is mandated to expand on Dias’ discoveries. He sails along
the southern African coast on the way to India. He puts to land at present-day
St. Helena Bay on the west coast. Further east Da Gama and his crew sight
the Natal coast on Christmas Day and name it “Terra do Natal”, which is
Portuguese for “Land of Birth” (Christmas). The crew does not put ashore
there, but further north in present day Moçambique. The first detailed information
on the indigenous inhabitants is transmitted to Europe.
Da Gama reaches the mouth of the Limpopo River. He crosses the Indian Ocean
and is able to reach India, thereby establishing the Portuguese monopoly
of the sea trade route to India |
|
| 1500 |
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The beginning of the decline of
the power of the Portuguese nation. This marks the start of many European
nations pursuing the sea route rather than the land route to India |
|
| 1500 |
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The Viceroy of Portuguese India,
Francisco d’ Almeida, is killed in a skirmish with Khoikhoi at the mouth
of the Salt River in Table Bay on his way back to Portugal. Thereafter,
Portuguese traders tend to bypass the Cape itself, relying on Robben Island
for fresh meat and water |
|
| 1580 |
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An English admiral rounds the
Cape in his quest to reach India for the English Crown |
|
| 1594 - 1601 |
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The English navigator, James Lancaster,
explores the southern African coast extensively. He establishes trade relationships
with local Khoikhoi inhabitants |
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| 1602 |
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Founding of the trading company
the Vereenigde Landsche Ge-Oktroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie in Holland.
In Anglophone countries it is better known as the Dutch East India Company
or simply the VOC
|
|
| 1631 |
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The English takes Khoikhoi leader
Autsumao, known to the English as “Harry” and later to the Dutch as “Herrie”,
to Batavia. He is later returned to the Cape to serve as an interpreter
for the negotiation of livestock bartering. He also acts as the resident
agent or postmaster for passing ships’ officers |
|
| 1647 |
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The ship Nieuwe Haerlem is wrecked
in Table Bay. A survivor, Leendert Janszen, is instructed to remain behind
with some crew to look after the cargo. After a year a Dutch ship fetches
Janszen, his crew and the cargo. Upon his return to Holland, Janszen is
required to write a feasibility report on the establishment of a refreshment
station at the Cape. He consequently writes the now well-known recommendation
called the Remonstrantie in support of the Dutch establishing a refreshment
station at the Cape. Jan van Riebeeck, who is subsequently appointed by
the VOC to establish the trading and refreshment station at the Cape, supports
him |
|
| 1652 |
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Under the command of Van Riebeeck,
the VOC establishes the refreshment station at the Cape between the foot
of Table Mountain and the shores of the Table Bay. The purpose is to provide
fresh water, fruit, vegetables and meat for passing ships en route to India
as well as build a hospital for ill sailors.
Van Riebeeck immediately requests that the VOC supplies him with slaves
imported from Asia to do the farming, perform other tasks related to the
needs of the crews of passing ships and to build a fortification, as the
VOC had issued clear instructions that the indigenous population was not
to be enslaved. The VOC does not send slaves for at least five years. The
only slaves that Van Riebeeck receives are either stowaways or those that
captains on passing ships give him.
The first slave, Abraham, a stowaway from Batavia, is given to Van Riebeeck |
|
| 1654 |
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The first Cape-based slave expedition
is sent to Madagascar and Moçambique |
|
| 1654 |
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Batavian convicts and political
opponents are banished to the Cape |
|
| 1655 |
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The Dutch ensign, Jan Wintervogel,
is sent by Van Riebeeck to explore the interior to scout for trading opportunities
with the indigenous communities there as well as to identify arable land.
He reaches Saldanha Bay on the southwest coast overland.
Willem Muller, a corporal, accompanied by the interpreter, Autsumao, is
sent by Van Riebeeck and to explore the Hottentots Holland region |
|
| 1655 |
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Maize seeds are introduced to
the Cape from the Netherlands |
|
| 1655 |
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Van Riebeeck has the first vine
planted in the Company’s garden |
|
| 1656 |
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The first slave is freed to marry
a Dutch settler |
|
| 1657 |
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Nine Company servants are freed
at Van Riebeeck’s recommendation to the VOC to farm and keep livestock on
freehold land along the Liesbeeck River. These ex-servants, now called “free
burghers”, are exempt from taxation and have access to slaves. They have,
however, to sell all their produce to the Company. This is an attempt by
Van Riebeeck to match the requirements for fresh produce by passing ships,
as five years into the establishment of the refreshment station Van Riebeeck
is still not able to produce the fresh food required by the ships on their
way to the East |
|
| 1657 |
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The first group of slaves is brought
to the Cape from Angola and West Africa |
|
| 1657 |
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Abraham Gabbema is sent on an
investigative mission into the interior. He “discovers” a river, which he
names the Berg River and a volcanic extrusion that he names the Paarl Rock |
|
| 1657 |
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Doman, the leader of the Goringhaiqua
Khoikhoi, is sent to Batavia to be trained as an interpreter |
|
| 1658 |
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As the result of a secret expedition,
228 slaves from Dahomey are brought to the Cape. A Portuguese slaver is
captured. 174 slaves are taken |
|
| 1659 |
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The first of a series of armed
confrontations over the ownership of the land takes place between the Dutch
settlers and a Khoikhoi clan led by Doman. The Khoikhoi attempt to steal
the cattle used by Dutch settlers to plough the land that the latter had
appropriated from them in order to prevent the settlers from tilling the
seized land. In this first anti-colonial Khoikhoi-Dutch War the settlers
seek refuge in the fort. A lack of unity among the Khoikhoi groups is used
to undermine the revolt. Consequently, the Peninsular Khoikhoi loose more
land to Dutch settlers. The Dutch administration erects a series of fortified
fences along the Liesbeeck River and an almond hedge in present day Kirstenbosch
to separate the Khoikhoi from their ancestral land and from the Dutch. Khoikhoi
are restricted in their movement and are forced to use designated gates
when entering the enclosed and fortified area |
|
| 1660 |
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The first horses are imported
from Batavia which substantially increases the military mobility of the
settlers, but which also facilitates expeditions into the interior to establish
trading relations with non-Peninsular Khoikhoi. The Peninsular Khoikhoi
consequently loose importance for the Dutch settlers.
The first Dutch exploratory expedition on horseback sets out to east and
northwards. Jan Danaert reaches what he names the Olifants River. Pieter
Everaert is unsuccessful in his attempt to locate the land of the Namaqua |
|
| 1661 |
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Pieter Cruythoff is sent into
the interior north of the Cape refreshment station to investigate the suitability
of that terrain for agriculture |
|
| 1662 |
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Zaccharias. Wagenaer succeeds
Van Riebeeck as Commander of the refreshment station, which has, under Van
Riebeeck’s command, become a colony |
|
| 1662 |
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Colonialists establish outposts
in the newly reconnoitred Hottentots Holland and Saldanha Bay areas |
|
| 1662 |
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Doman, leader of the Goringhaiqua
Khoikhoi, dies |
|
| 1662 |
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Autsumao, the interpreter, dies |
|
| 1666 |
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Work begins on the building of
a stone fortification at the Cape that later is popularly known as the Castle |
|
| 1668 |
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Hieronimus Cruse is given the
instruction to explore the southeast coast as far as Mossel Bay and to return
to the Castle overland. His crew in the vessel Voerman are to explore the
coast of Natal |
|
| 1672 |
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The VOC attempts to transact a
formal transfer of land seized from Khoikhoi in numerous skirmishes |
|
| 1672 |
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Sugar cane is introduced. Brandy,
which is used as currency in the bartering trade relations with the Khoikhoi,
is produced in the colony for the first time |
|
| 1673 |
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Following the various exploratory
excursions into the interior north of the colony, the Dutch discover fertile
grazing land to the northeast of the Hottentots-Hollands Mountains, which
belong to the Chainoqua, Hessequa, Cochoqua and Gouriqua Khoikhoi chiefdoms.
These Khoikhoi have big herds of livestock. They are also willing to engage
in trade with the Dutch. However, the Dutch terms of trade lead to warfare
and raiding of livestock, also amongst the Khoikhoi chiefdoms. The Company
sends Hieronimus Cruse in 1673 to attack the Cochoqua. This attack, executed
on horseback, marks the beginning of Second Dutch-Khoikhoi War. The Dutch
take approximately 1800 head of livestock |
|
| 1674 - 1677 |
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The VOC launches a second attack
on the Chocoqua. In this Third Dutch-Khoikhoi War almost 5000 head of livestock
in addition to weapons are taken from the Chocoqua. This war continues until
1677 when Governor Bax extracts the submission of the Chocoqua to Dutch
rule, expressed in an annual tribute of 30 head of cattle. This submission
paves the way for Dutch colonial expansion into the land of the Khoikhoi |
|
| 1674 |
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The building of the stone fortification,
known as the Castle of the Cape of Good Hope, is completed |
|
| 1679 |
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Simon van der Stel is appointed
Commander of the Cape of Good Hope Colony. He is specifically mandated by
the VOC to vigorously continue with the Company policy of Dutch colonial
expansionism |
|
| 1680 |
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Van der Stel gives land belonging
to the Khoikhoi to Dutch farmers along the Eerste River |
|
| 1684 |
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The VOC unilaterally establishes
price controls over hides, skins, ivory and ostrich eggs, thereby provoking
more conflict with the indigenous population and the “illicit” dealing in
these commodities |
|
| 1685 |
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The visiting VOC Commissioner,
Hendrik van Rheede, decrees that male slaves buy their freedom at the age
of 25 and female slaves at 22 years. The freed slaves are to be trained
in designated areas of work, including agriculture. This decree is not enacted.
However, a slave school is established in the Company Slave Lodge for the
children of Company slaves only.
Dutch settlers discover the copper deposits in Namaqualand after decades
of exploratory expeditions to that purpose |
|
| 1687 |
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Khoikhoi land, which becomes known
as Stellenbosch after Van der Stel, is now fully occupied by Dutch settler
farmers |
|
| 1687 |
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Free burghers petition the Company
administration to extend the slave trade to private enterprise |
|
| 1688 |
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French Huguenot refugees are given
asylum by the colonial Cape government. Commander van der Stel settles them
in the present day Drakenstein, Franschhoek and Wellington areas, all of
which belong to various Khoikhoi chiefdoms and do not fall within the jurisdiction
of the Cape Colony. Van der Stel thereby extends colonial settlement beyond
the official boundaries of the Cape colonial administration and simultaneously
seizes Khoikhoi land |
|
| 1690 (approx) |
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This period marks the appearance
of the trekboer, a semi-nomadic Dutch farmer and cattle grazer who illegally
settles beyond the Cape’s official borders and out of the reach of the authority
of the Company. They raid the livestock of the Khoikhoi, burn down their
dwellings and settlements and drive them off the land, which the trekboers
then appropriate for themselves |
|
| 1690 |
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Slaves in Stellenbosch attempt
unsuccessfully to rise up against their owners |
|
| 1691 |
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Simon van del Stel is elevated
to the rank of Governor of the Cape Colony |
|
| 1699 |
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Governor Simon van de Stel retires.
His son Willem Adrian van der Stel, who governs until 1707, succeeds him |
|
| 1700 |
|
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The first "placaat" (ordinance
or statute) restricting the importation of Asian slaves is promulgated |
|
| 1700 |
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Dlamini chiefdoms move south from
Delagoa Bay and settle on land north of the Phongolo River; thereby forming
the core of the future Swazi nation |
|
| 1700 |
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Free burghers are permitted to
trade with local Khoikhoi chiefdoms. The latter suffer economic decline,
a direct result of the terms of the trading system set by the Dutch |
|
| 1700 |
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At the advice of Cape Governor
WA van der Stel, the Dutch colonial administration annuls its policy of
forbidding the inland trek of migrant stock farmers or trekboers. This paves
the way for unencumbered colonial expansion. The boundaries extend north
and include Winterberg, Witzenberg and Roodezand, later called Tulbagh |
|
| 1701 |
|
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First recorded raid by Khoisan
on cattle of Dutch farmers at the Cape. This form of rebellion is the first
of a series of sporadic raids and attacks by Khoisan on Dutch cattle and
colonial control posts. They continue until approximately 1715 |
|
| 1702 |
|
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Traffic in cattle and ivory at
the Cape colony is firmly established. An expedition of ivory traffickers
unsuccessfully attacks AmaXhosa for cattle. They lift cattle from Khoikhoi
instead. This attack is the first recorded evidence of encounters of colonists
with the AmaXhosa |
|
| 1702 - 1704 |
|
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In an attempt to put a stop to
cattle raiding and other forms of brigandage by trekboers, the VOC imposes
a temporary ban on free trading with the Khoikhoi at the Cape. This embargo
is lifted in 1704 |
|
| 1703 |
|
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Cape Colony: Licences are issued
to stock farmers allowing them to graze their cattle beyond formal colonial
boundaries on the land of the Khoikhoi. This is an attempt to increase their
productivity. It is estimated that whereas colonists owned 8 300 head of
cattle and 54 000 sheep in 1700, by 1710 this number had increased to 20
000 head of cattle and 131 000 sheep |
|
| 1706 |
|
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Cape Colony: Adam Tas, representing
farming burghers, draws up a formal memorandum of complaint, which is addressed,
to the Directorate of the VOC in Batavia. In the memorandum the signatories
accuse Governor van der Stel and Company officials of illicit farming and
trading, illegal landholding and setting up of illicit monopolies on the
sale of wine, wheat and meat. The Governor orders the arrest and detention
of Tas and 60 signatories. However, the VOC removes the Governor, the Lieutenant
Governor, the chaplain and the landdrost (magistrate) from their posts and
all the land in possession of company officials have to be disposed of.
In addition, the monopolies are rescinded. This meant that the VOC re-asserted
the official Company policy with regard to prohibiting the involvement of
Company officials in farming and trading activities and restricting them
to their official administrative responsibilities |
|
| 1710 - 1720 |
|
|
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Cape Colony: A continuing surplus
of wheat and wine results in a price slump with serious consequences for
the wholly agrarian Cape economy |
|
| 1713 |
|
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An outbreak of smallpox, introduced
by the crew and passengers of a passing ship, results in the virtual decimation
of the south-western Cape Khoikhoi who have no resistance against this disease.
The disease proves fatal for a large number of the colonists as well. The
decimation of the Khoikhoi results in an acute labour shortage. Tracts of
land become “ownerless”. Colonial cattle farmers appropriate this land.
Further outbreaks occur in 1755 and most seriously in 1767, which registers
three separate outbreaks |
|
| 1713 |
|
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A group of Cape slaves desert
the immediate Cape Colony and attempt to establish a life for themselves
to the north-west. They are captured and severely punished. Thomas van Bengalen
is hanged, while Tromp van Madagscar, the leader, is sentenced to death
by impalement. Van Madagascar commits suicide in gaol. The rest of the captured
slaves have their Achilles tendons severed or their feet otherwise broken
on the wheel |
|
| 1715 |
|
|
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Trekboers raid cattle of farmers
as far northwest of the Cape Colony as Saldanha Bay |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
|
The VOC decides that future grants
of land to settlers at the Cape should no longer be done on a freehold basis,
but as loan farms called leningplaatsen. The farmers have to pay a rental
to the Company for the use of the farm. However approximately 400 freehold
farms had been granted by the time that this system was changed. The owners
of these farms are consequently unaffected by the new system of land tenure |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
|
Cape colony: Estimates put the
colony’s population at 744 officials, approximately 2 000 burghers and just
over 2 700 slaves. Hence the slave population forms approximately 50% of
the total population within little more than 50 years of the founding of
the refreshment station |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
|
The VOC administration establishes
a slaving post at Lorenço Marques, the present day Maputo |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
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The VOC opens a slaving station
at Delagoa Bay |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
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The Company (VOC) reinstates the
ban on free trading with the Khoikhoi that it had suspended in 1704 |
|
| 1717 |
|
|
|
In an attempt to enforce its control
over the maintenance of borders in the eastern regions of the Cape Colony,
the Company establishes an administrative post at Ziekenhuys |
|
| 1728 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Conflict between
trekboers and the indigenous population escalates into a full-blown skirmish
as the Khoikhoi are systematically and with violent means robbed of their
land and livestock. Twelve Khoikhoi are killed by gunshot in this skirmish |
|
| 1730 |
|
|
|
The VOC begins the systematic
trading for slaves in Moçambique and Zanzibar |
|
| 1730 |
|
|
|
Phalo assumes rule over the AmaXhosa.
During his forty-five year reign power struggles between two of his sons,
Gcaleka and Rharhabe, lead to a deep political rift in his kingdom |
|
| 1730 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: A commando attacks
a group of Khoisan whom they suspect of having lifted cattle. Apart from
six Khoisan being shot dead by the commando, the commando takes a woman
and three children captive. This is the first record of indigenous women
and children being taken captive and forced into domestic labour by Dutch
colonists as booty of warfare. It was to become a characteristic practice
in the ensuing clashes and skirmishes between the Dutch and the indigenous
population |
|
| 1732 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: In an attempt to
contain the expansionist lawlessness and movement of the trekboers and to
enforce payment of rent on the leningplaatsen, the VOC revises the land
tenure system. It introduces the quitrent system, which allows the farmer
land tenure for fifteen years. If after a tenure of the agreed fifteen years
the farm is returned to the Company, the farmer is reimbursed for all fixed
improvements made to the farm |
|
| 1734 |
|
|
|
The Company (VOC) sets up an administrative
post in the East at Rietvlei. The Great Brak River is declared the eastern
boundary of Cape colony |
|
| 1734 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Georg Schmidt, a
Moravian missionary, is granted permission by the VOC to establish a mission
station for landless Khoikhoi at Baviaanskloof, today known as Genadendal.
This marks the beginning of protestant missionary expansionism in South
Africa |
|
| 1739 |
|
|
|
South-western Cape Khoikhoi take
up arms against the Dutch in protest against the colonial seizure of their
land. This is their last organised rebellion. After it is suppressed, the
defeated Khoikhoi are absorbed as unskilled farm labourers into the colonial
economy |
|
| 1742 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Georg Schmidt baptises
five Khoikhoi. This causes upheaval, as politically it is still not clear
whether converts to Christianity from the indigenous population should be
accorded equal civil and political rights as colonists. The Council of Policy
therefore forbids such baptisms by Schmidt, citing the excuse that he is
not an ordained minister. Two years later, in 1744, Schmidt leaves the Cape
for Holland in order to be ordained, and hence be allowed to baptise Khoikhoi.
In his absence no missionary activity takes place. He also does not return
to the Cape |
|
| 1743 - 1745 |
|
|
|
Governor-General Baron van Imhoff
inspects the Cape Colony. He changes the land tenure system to discourage
migrant pastoralism among the border Dutch, as the introduction of the quitrent
system proves ineffectual. Additionally, he establishes the district of
Swellendam, and also orders the establishment of Dutch reformed churches
in areas that are to become known as Malmesbury and Tulbagh |
|
| 1751 - 1771 |
|
|
|
Ryk Tulbagh is made Governor of
the Cape. During his twenty-year reign he establishes the Colony’s first
library and a plant and animal collection in the gardens of the Company |
|
| 1752 |
|
|
|
Ensign Friedrich Beutler explores
the eastern coastal region of South Africa with a team comprising a surveyor
and cartographer, a surgeon, a botanist, a wainwright and a blacksmith.
He returns to the Company (VOC) with descriptions of the Nguni inhabitants
of the Keiskamma River region |
|
| 1753 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Tulbagh initiates
the codification of slave law |
|
| 1754 |
|
|
|
A census of the Cape reveals that
its non- indigenous population comprises 510 colonists/settlers and 6 279
slaves |
|
| 1754 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Khoisan groups attack
and raid farms in the Roggeveld area |
|
| 1755 |
|
|
|
The second great smallpox epidemic
breaks out at the Cape |
|
| 1760 |
|
|
|
Hendrick Hop and Willem van Reenen
complete a successful exploratory expedition into Namaqualand as far north
as Walvis Bay and Keetmanshoop. They discover evidence of copper in that
region |
|
| 1762 |
|
|
|
Jacobus Coetzee undertakes an
exploratory expedition north of the Orange River |
|
| 1765 |
|
|
|
The Meermin sails from the Cape
to purchase slaves in Madagascar. Due to a mutiny by the slaves on the return
journey, the journey fails |
|
| 1767 |
|
|
|
The Cape frontier is pushed further
eastward, beyond the Gamtoos River into the land of the AmaXhosa. Armed
confrontations between the AmaXhosa and the Dutch colonists ensue |
|
| 1767 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Trekboers reach the
Swartkops River to the east and Bruintjieshoogte to the north |
|
| 1767 |
|
|
|
The third great smallpox epidemic
breaks out at the Cape |
|
| 1775 |
|
|
|
The death of Phalo increases the
political tensions and strife within the AmaXhosa people. Consequently they
split into two groupings: into followers of Gcaleka and of Rharhabe, two
of the sons of Phalo |
|
| 1775 |
|
|
|
The Council of Policy of the VOC
extends the borders of the districts of Stellenbosch, Drakenstein and Bruintjieshoogte
as part of its policy of expanding the Cape Colony |
|
| 1778 |
|
|
|
The Cape Colony’s eastern border
is extended to the Upper (Greater) Fish and Bushmans Rivers by decree of
the VOC Council of Policy. This lays for the foundation for a series of
anti-colonial wars by the AmaXhosa and skirmishes that are to last until
the end of the nineteenth century |
|
| 1778 |
|
|
|
Gcaleka, the paramount chief of
the AmaXhosa dies. Ngqika succeeds him under the regency of Ndlambe, the
son of Rharhabe. Rharhabe uses Gcaleka’s death to extend his own power.
This includes attempting to form an alliance with the Colony. In the ensuing
strife Rharhabe and his AmaRharhabe are banished to the north of the Eastern
Cape |
|
| 1779 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Adriaan van Jaarsveld
is instructed to implement the establishment of the eastern border of the
Colony (Greater Fish and Bushman’s Rivers) by enforcing a relocation of
all AmaXhosa chiefdoms living to the west of the Greater Fish River. Under
the pretence of bringing the AmaMdange a gift of goodwill, Van Jaarsveld
orders his commando to attack the unsuspecting and unarmed AmaMdange, killing
many. Other chiefdoms are similarly attacked. In addition to defeating the
AmaXhosa, Van Jaarsveld nets almost 6 000 head of cattle. Numbers for other
livestock are not known.
This commando attack goes down in history as the First War of Dispossession
between the AmaXhosa and Dutch colonists. It is the first of a series of
nine wars waged by various colonial administrations against the AmaXhosa
in attempts to dispossess them of their land and livestock and to settle
colonists there |
|
| 1780 - 1783 |
|
|
|
War between The Netherlands and
England hastens the end of the commercial and political influence of the
Dutch East India Company, which had started to decline in the early second
half of the eighteenth century |
|
| 1781 |
|
|
|
In an attempt to avert a British
threat to Dutch control at the Cape, the French who are allies of the Dutch,
station troops at the Cape. They remain there for three years |
|
| 1782 |
|
|
|
The chief of the AmaXhosa and
brother of Gcaleka, Rharabe, dies |
|
| 1782 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The rix dollar becomes
the unit of paper currency, gradually replacing gold and silver |
|
| 1785 |
|
|
|
Shaka, the future king of the
AmaZulu, is born |
|
| 1786 |
|
|
|
The Fish River is proclaimed the
Cape\'s eastern border |
|
| 1786 |
|
|
|
Moshoeshoe, the future king of
the Basotho, is born |
|
| 1786 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Graaff-Rheinet is
established as a district and as the location from which the colonial administration
implements its policy of separation of trekboers and AmaXhosa and enforcing
the border that they had drawn up |
|
| 1789 |
|
|
|
Merino sheep are imported from
The Netherlands. This marks the start of the lucrative wool industry in
the Cape Colony. It is also a significant reason for ensuing battles for
the land of the indigenous people, as settler merino farmers demand more
grazing land |
|
| 1789 |
|
|
|
The first overseas mail service
in South Africa is inaugurated |
|
| 1789 |
|
|
|
Ngqika, who makes an unsuccessful
bid for the supreme leadership of the AmaXhosa, defeats Ndlambe. By the
end of the decade Ndlambe moves west of the Fish River, back to their ancestral
land |
|
| 1789 |
|
|
|
Mzilikazi, future leader of the
AmaKhumalo and later of the AmaNdebele, is born near Mkuze, Zululand. He
dies in Ingama, Matabeleland in 1868 |
|
| 1790 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Second War of
Dispossession begins as burgher commandos of the Graaff-Rheinet area force
AmaXhosa chiefdoms across the Fish River and pillage their cattle. The war
ends three years later in a truce that does not appease the burghers’ demand
for more land than already taken from the AmaXhosa |
|
| 1791 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Burghers are successful
in their demands for the slave trade to be open to private enterprise |
|
| 1792 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Three ordained Moravian
missionaries Hendrik Marsveld, Daniel Schwinn and Christian Kuehnel arrive
at Baviaanskloof (Genadendal) to revive the work begun by Georg Schmidt
in 1737. The missionaries find an aged woman named Lena, who had been a
member of Schmidt’s original congregation. Together the four people re-build
the mission station. The VOC government, although more sympathetic to missionary
activity than the government under which Georg Schmidt had served, nonetheless
forbids the missionaries from erecting a church and a school. Religious
and school instruction is given either in the homes of the missionaries
or under trees |
|
| 1793 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: H.C.D. Maynier is
appointed the landdrost (magistrate) of Graaff-Rheinet |
|
| 1793 |
|
|
|
Rebellion by the “republics” of
Swellendam and Graaff-Rheinet against the policies of the Cape government
that prohibit the plundering of land and livestock of the indigenous population |
|
| 1794 |
|
|
|
Tuan Guru founds the Auwal Masjid
(mosque) in Dorp Street, Cape Town, the first Muslim place of worship in
southern Africa |
|
| 1795 |
|
|
|
With the first British occupation
of the Cape, the rule of the VOC there comes to an end. General J Craig
is appointed Commanding Officer |
|
| 1795 |
|
|
|
The British authorities outlaw
torture in the Cape colony |
|
| 1795 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Moravian missionaries
are granted the freedom to pursue the full range of missionary activities
amongst the Khoikhoi and Khoisan, a privilege that they could not secure
from the Dutch administration |
|
| 1795 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Maynier is driven
out of Graaff-Rheinet by burghers who accuse him of not dealing effectively
with the “kaffir” problem, that is, of not siding with the demand of the
burghers for the land and livestock of the indigenous population. They lose
their short-lived independence because their settlements are economically
not viable without the support of the Cape government |
|
| 1798 |
|
|
|
The VOC is officially dissolved |
|
| 1798 |
|
|
|
A fire devastates large areas
of Cape Town |
|
| 1798 |
|
|
|
The construction of the Cape Colony’s
first post office begins |
|
| 1798 |
|
|
|
The Reverend J.T. van der Kemp
comes to the Cape as a missionary of the London Missionary Society to work
among the AmaXhosa. He begins his activities in collaboration with the Chief
of the AmaXhosa, Ngqika |
|
| 1799 - 1802 |
|
|
|
Khoisan rise up in an unsuccessful
but protracted rebellion in the eastern districts of the Cape in what becomes
known as the Third War of Dispossession between the Khoisan of the colonial
authorities |
|
| 1800 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: An official newspaper
press is established. A Government Gazette is issued. The establishment
of an official press forbids freedom of the press, with a heavy fine threatening
anyone who attempts to publish. In July 1800 the Cape government orders
the publication of a weekly newspaper called the Cape Town Gazette and African
Advertiser |
|
| 1800 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Ndlambe and his people
settle to the west of the Fish River, an area from which the Dutch colonial
administration had driven the AmaXhosa on a number of previous occasions |
|
| 1802 |
|
|
|
The region of the AmaZulu is plagued
by drought and accompanying famine. This leads to internal strife and social
dislocation within the AmaZulu chiefdoms. The drought produces thousands
of internal refugees |
|
| 1803 - 1806 |
|
|
|
The Cape is retroceded to Dutch
rule under Batavian administration. Advocate A de Mist is elevated to the
rank of Commissioner-General in order to receive the colony from Britain.
He is also instructed to establish a new system of government for the Cape.
Lieutenant-General J Janssens is appointed Governor.
A mail service between Cape Town and Algoa Bay (present day Port Elizabeth)
is inaugurated |
|
| 1804 |
|
|
|
Godongwana, a son of Jobe the
Chief of the AmaMthethwa, attempts to seize power by plotting to assassinate
his ageing father. The plot is foiled and Godongwana is sent into exile |
|
| 1804 |
|
|
|
A large group of Khoikhoi, deserting
slaves, San, people of mixed ancestry and some who have problems integrating
into the Cape colonial society trek from the Cape and settle at Klaarwater
north of the Orange River. They are called “Basters” by the colonial authorities
but name themselves Griqua, a name which has its possible origins in an
old Khoikhoi clan, the Guriqua and which is recommended to them by the missionaries
of the London Missionary Society who work amongst them |
|
| 1805 |
|
|
|
Khoikhoi runners are employed
to deliver letters from Cape Town to drostdies (offices of magistrates)
in the various districts of the Colony |
|
| 1806 |
|
|
|
The British occupy the Cape for
a second time. After a skirmish between British troops and a Cape burgher
militia at Blaauwberg, the Dutch capitulate. All property of the Batavian
Government is surrendered to the British. The formal cession of the colony
to the Britain takes place eight years later in 1814 |
|
| 1807 |
|
|
|
Promulgation of the Abolition
of the Slave Trade Act in Britain. Britain hereby bans slave trading which
includes the importation of slaves to the Cape. However, ownership of slaves
is still legal
|
|
| 1808 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Moravian missionaries
are given the farm Groenekloof in the Malmesbury district to undertake missionary
work among the freed slaves and Khoikhoi. The farm is later re-named Mamre.
This grant marks the beginning of the founding of a number of Moravian missionary
settlements amongst the Khoikhoi and later their descendants in the Western
Cape, as well as amongst the AmaMfengu in the Eastern Cape |
|
| 1809 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Caledon introduces
a code, the so-called “Hottentot Proclamation” to regulate the use of Khoisan
and coloured labour to satisfy the labour needs of white farmers. This entails
the curtailment of the freedom of movement to seek work, with a pass system
being introduced as the regulatory tool |
|
| 1809 |
|
|
|
Jobe of the AmaMthethwa dies.
His exiled son, Gogongwana, returns with a new name, Dingiswayo. He removes
his brother who had taken over the chieftainship from their father, and
proclaims himself Chief of the AmaMthethwa. The AmaMthethwa society and
economy blossom under the rule of Dingiswayo although he had assumed power
and ruled autocratically and by violent means |
|
| 1810 |
|
|
|
Shaka is appointed chief of the
army of the AmaMthethwa |
|
| 1811 |
|
|
|
Circuit courts are introduced
in the Cape Colony to which black employees are able to formally lodge complaints
against ill treatment by their white employers |
|
| 1811 |
|
|
|
John Cradock replaces Caledon
as Governor of the Cape as he is expected to follow a more aggressive policy
towards the Colony’s eastern frontier than Caledon. His “frontier policy”
results in hostilities breaking out between the colonists and the AmaXhosa.
The British government at the Cape appoints John Graham as its Commissioner
for the eastern frontier |
|
| 1811 - 1812 |
|
|
|
The Fourth War of Dispossession
between the AmaXhosa and colonists takes place under the command of Commissioner
John Graham. In a brutal battle against the AmaXhosa, which includes the
indiscriminate shooting of women and other civilians as well as destruction
of crops, the AmaXhosa are driven from the Zuurveld. Women and children
are killed although the colonial authorities knew that the AmaXhosa only
attack men as men are regarded, as soldiers while women are not. The AmaXhosa
also never attacks male missionaries |
|
| 1811 |
|
|
|
The headquarters of the Cape Regiment
is named Graham’s Town (subsequently Grahamstown) after Commissioner John
Graham after his onslaught on the AmaXhosa |
|
| 1812 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Apprentice Ordinance
is promulgated which gives any white farmer the right to apprentice the
children of his labourers for a period of ten years from the age of eight |
|
| 1812 - 1813 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: In an attempt to
provide Khoikhoi and coloured employees with legal protection with regard
to labour, “Circuit Commissions” are instituted. Many charges made by the
labourers against their employers cannot be substantiated. However, the
Commissions uncover the violence endemic to the system of master-servant
relationship.
In the so-called public “Black Circuit” court hearings and sittings, numerous
white employees are convicted of ill treatment of their employees. Missionaries
such as James Read play a significant role in making the ill-treatment of
labourers by their employees public, leading to the conviction and punishment
of the worst perpetrators. The circuit courts and the support they enjoy
from missionaries lead to tensions between the white settlers on the one
hand and their servants and labourers and some missionaries on the other.
Governor Sir John Cradock passes plans for the introduction of white English-medium
schools throughout the Cape Colony |
|
| 1813 |
|
|
|
The founding of the Cape Town
Free School for needy white children |
|
| 1813 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Fiscal Daniel Dennijson
codifies the Cape Slave Trade Law |
|
| 1813 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Griqua at Klaarwater
create the beginnings of a political state. The head of state is a Kaptyn
(Captain). Adam Kok II and Barend Barends are elected Provisie Kaptyns (temporary
Captains) |
|
| 1814 |
|
|
|
With the official cession of the
Cape from the Batavian Government to Britain, Charles, Lord Somerset is
made Governor of the Cape |
|
| 1815 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The colonial army
crushes the Slachter’s Nek Rebellion of white farmers against perceived
British philanthropic policies in favour of the black population |
|
| 1815 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Governor Lord Somerset
forces Ngqika into an alliance with the Cape government in terms of which
the latter has to prevent cattle raiding on the eastern frontier. This alliance
causes friction amongst the chiefs of the AmaXhosa |
|
| 1815 |
|
|
|
Shaka assumes supreme power over
the AmaZulu |
|
| 1816 |
|
|
|
One of the most influential diviners
of the AmaXhosa, Ntsikana Gaba, converts to Christianity |
|
| 1817 (approx) |
|
|
|
Dingiswayo, Chief of the AmaMthethwa,
wanders out of his military camp and is captured by Zwide, Chief of the
AmaNwandwe. He is executed by Zwide and, left without its leader, the AmaMthethwa
Confederacy collapses. The ensuing power vacuum allows the rise to regional
prominence of the AmaZulu under the leadership of their young paramount
chief, Shaka |
|
| 1818 - 1819 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Fifth War of
Dispossession takes place as a result of Governor Somerset lifting 23 000
head of cattle belonging to Ndlambe who had been accused of alleged stock
theft |
|
| 1819 |
|
|
|
Ndlambe inflicts defeat over the
British ally Ngqika’s forces at Amalinde.
Colonial forces heavily defeat Ndlambe’s forces when he takes the battle
to Grahamstown.
The alliance between Ngqika and the Cape government is destroyed when Governor
Somerset appropriates land between the Fish and the Keiskamma Rivers. The
land was to serve as a buffer between the Colony and the AmaXhosa. The Cape
government declares the Keiskamma River its eastern border |
|
| 1819 |
|
|
|
The AmaZulu under Shaka’s military
leadership defeat the AmaNdwandwe at Gqokoli Hill |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
Approximately 5 000 British settlers
from economically depressed regions of Britain arrive in Algoa Bay in the
eastern Cape to increase the size of the white settler population. Upon
arrival it is revealed to them that they are also required to act as a civilian
defence force against the indigenous people on whose land they are settled.
They are allocated land in the Zuurveld, next to the Fish River |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
Port Elizabeth is founded |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
The rise of the kingdom of the
AmaZulu continues the already violent dispersal of neighbouring political
entities competing with each other and with British and Boer colonisers
for land and basic resources. This troubled period goes down in official
South African history as either the Mfecane (IsiZulu) or Difaqane (SeSotho)
which literally means “forced dispersal” or “forced migration” because the
upheavals caused thousands of refugees. The AmaMfengu, for example, flee
to the eastern Cape Colony, to the lands of the AmaXhosa. The fleeing political
entities engage in armed skirmishes for land with kingdoms and chiefdoms
which they encounter during their flight. This conflict continues for a
number of years throughout the southern African region. Until the 1990s
the view that the upheavals were caused solely by the alleged tyranny of
Shaka’s rise to power. This view has subsequently been challenged, with
some historians disputing the existence of the Mfecane or Difaqane at all.
Instead historians identify increasing pressure on the various communities
that populated the region as colonisers move in and colonisers and indigenous
people fight each other for the dwindling resources. This phenomenon is
seen as a direct result of an increase in population and a quest for power |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
King Moshoeshoe moves the capital
of the Basotho people to the Butha Buthe Mountain to escape the ravages
of the upheavals commonly called the Mfecane or Difaqane |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The missionaries
of the London Missionary Society play a significant role in forming the
Griqua state. With the arrival of the authoritarian missionary Robert Moffat
at Griquatown, the role of the missionaries lead to internal strife in the
Griqua community |
|
| 1820 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Adam Kok II and his
followers leave Griquatown for the area of the Riet River. The Griqua community
is without a political leader.
Andries Waterboer is elected the new leader or Kaptyn of the Griquas |
|
| 1822 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: A large group of
Griqua leave their community and join up with groups of Koranna people.
Together they eke out their existence by raiding cattle and attacking the
various communities along the Orange and Vaal Rivers causing increased instability
in the region. These roving bands are called “Bergenaars” |
|
| 1822 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The London Missionary
Society, under the direction of Dr Philip, establish a mission station for
the San community at Philippolis |
|
| 1822 (approx) |
|
|
|
AmaNgwane cross the Drakensberg
and enter the Caledon River valley. AmaMfengu refugees of the upheavals
called the Difaqane settle in eastern Cape |
|
| 1823 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The London Missionary
Society establishes southern Africa’s first printing press in the Tyhume
Valley. Materials advancing missionary education and activities are printed.
Eleven years later, in 1834, a printing press is built in Genadendal, the
first Moravian missionary settlement. It is still operational |
|
| 1823 |
|
|
|
The Cape government introduces
a series of so-called “ameliorative” laws which attempts to improve the
relationship between slave owner and slave by determining the nature of
punishment that slave owners would be allowed to mete out, regulating working
hours and the provision of food and clothes for slaves. The legislation
outlaws public flogging, particularly of female slaves |
|
| 1823 |
|
|
|
The AmaKhumalo, under Mzilikazi,
move north of the Vaal River as a result of the upheavals called the Difaqane |
|
| 1824 |
|
|
|
The AmaTlokwa besiege the Basotho.
They flee from Butha Buthe and found a new capital, Thaba Bosiu |
|
| 1824 |
|
|
|
Shaka grants generous land and
other rights to two British traders and adventurers Lieutenant Francis Farewell
and Henry Fynn who pretend to be envoys of the British monarch and who establish
fiefdoms on the land granted them. They are involved in illicit trade. When
the colonial government becomes aware of their criminal activities, the
men attempt to divert the attention of the colonial authorities from themselves,
instead claiming to the British and Cape governments that Shaka and his
people are “barbarians”, and that Britain should annex Zululand. Together
with another adventurer, Nathaniel Isaacs, these men determine the stereotype
of Shaka as the “barbaric despot” that needed to be civilised by a colonising
imperial Britain |
|
| 1824 |
|
|
|
Cape traders settle at Port Natal,
later renamed Durban |
|
| 1824 |
|
|
|
The Dutch Reformed Church convenes
its first synod |
|
| 1824 |
|
|
|
South Africa’s first lighthouse
is built at Green Point, Cape Town |
|
| 1825 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: An uprising of slave
and Khoikhoi labourers against their owners takes place in the Worcester
district. Slaves are increasingly demanding the vindication of their rights
in terms of the amelioration legislation that had been introduced as of
1823 |
|
| 1825 |
|
|
|
The Cape colonial frontier is
extended northwards to the Orange River |
|
| 1825 |
|
|
|
The depreciated rix dollar is
converted into British curren |
|
| 1825 |
|
|
|
Adam Kok II is elected Kaptyn
of the Griquas in the Riet River area as well as of the “Bergenaars” |
|
| 1825 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger, who is to become
the most influential president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR),
is born |
|
| 1826 |
|
|
|
The Cape colonial government approves
the election of Adam Kok II. Due to internal strife Adam Kok II resigns
some months later. He is succeeded by Cornelius Kok II |
|
| 1826 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Legislation is passed
to reform the justice system. Jury in the Cape Colony institutes the Cape
Charter of Justice, which introduces trial |
|
| 1826 |
|
|
|
The Cape Parliament passes Ordinance
19 which provides for the appointment of a Guardian of Slaves to ensure
that slave owners adhere to the extent of punishment that they are allowed
to mete out to their slaves. Slaves could lodge complaints of violations
of the “ameliorative” legislation to the Guardian of Slaves or his assistants
who were required to investigate the accusations and take action against
the perpetrators.
Ordinance 19 also provided for slaves to have their freedom bought for them
by family members.
Slave owners rise up in protest against Ordinance 19 |
|
| 1828 |
|
|
|
In one of the numerous skirmishes
that form part of the Difaqane combined forces of the colonial government,
AmaXhosa, AmaThembu and white soldiers and farmers defeat Matiwane, Chief
of the AmaNgwane at the Battle of Mbholompo in an attempt to restore some
stability in the region. Matiwane returns to Zululand where Dingane executes
him.
His brother Dingane who succeeds him as paramount leader of the AmaZulu
assassinates Shaka |
|
| 1828 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Promulgation of Ordinance
50, which aims at ensuring equality before the law of “every free inhabitant
in the Colony” is introduced. Effectively this Ordinance curtails the power
that an employer has over his employee. It also exempts Coloureds from carrying
passes. Furthermore the Ordinance revises the Apprenticeship Ordinance of
1812 by requiring that children could only be apprenticed with the consent
of their parents. Finally, magistrates no longer have the power to administer
corporal punishment |
|
| 1828 |
|
|
|
Freedom of the press is recognised
by the Cape government |
|
| 1828 |
|
|
|
The Griqua leader Cornelius Kok
II dies. Adam Kok II once again becomes the political leader of the Griquas |
|
| 1829 |
|
|
|
The fertile land in the basin
of the Kat River in the Cape is granted to two hundred and fifty Khoikhoi
and coloured families. This marks the beginning of what came to be known
as the Kat River Settlement. This area is regarded as particularly strategic
in the struggle between the AmaXhosa and the colonial government for the
land of the AmaXhosa. The settlement is designed as a buffer zone of the
eastern frontier. Hence the inhabitants are armed by the colonial government,
despite objections by white settlers in the region. The settlement soon
develops into a self-sufficient farming community supported by much missionary
activity, a phenomenon which further irates the white farmers because it
means that the well-organised settlers of the Kat River could not be hired
as underpaid labourers on their farms |
|
| 1829 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: In the face of attacks
by the British colonial authorities the Rharhabe and Gcaleka polities reconcile
and establish peace between them in order to ward off colonial aggression
as a combined force |
|
| 1829 |
|
|
|
The South African College is founded
in Cape Town in order to advance higher education in the colonist society
as higher education was lagging behind elementary education |
|
| 1833 |
|
|
|
The Basotho kingdom of King Moshoeshoe
comes under threat from marauding mounted and armed “Bergenaars”, defectors
from the Griqua and Korana polities. Moshoeshoe introduces horses that are
adapted to his mountainous kingdom and arms his subjects to meet the threat.
With this strategy they successfully beat off the “Bergenaars” as well as
subsequent attacks on the Basotho kingdom. The kingdom is able to maintain
its sovereignty and is an independent state today |
|
| 1833 |
|
|
|
King Moshoeshoe of the Basotho
invites missionaries to assist him with the consolidation of a modern state.
Two missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, Thomas Arbousset
and Eugene Casilis, as well as the artisan Constant Gosselin assist with
this project. Moshoeshoe instructs the missionaries to establish villages
south of the capital Thabo Bosiu along the frontier with the Korana under
the leadership of his sons Letsie and Molapa. The establishment of villages
along threatened borders become a pattern when other missionaries follow
the first missionaries to ensure that the King’s authority is recognised
by potential attackers |
|
| 1833 |
|
|
|
The British Parliament passes
an emancipation decree, the Abolition Act, which abolishes the system of
slavery, but which writes a kind of indentured labour system, called “apprenticeship”,
into the legislation. This is to ensure that the slave-based economies of
the British Empire do not collapse as a result of the end of slavery |
|
| 1834 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Official emancipation
of slaves. Although legally emancipated, the Cape slaves are indentured
as “apprentices” to their owners for a period of four years. Despite the
system of “apprenticeship”, numerous slaves desert their owners, while those
who remain to serve their “apprenticeship” increasingly adopt a less subordinate
attitude towards their masters. Desertion and insubordination hence become
characteristic of the slave-master relation after Emancipation. It is estimated
that the slave population of the Cape stood at 59 000 souls at Emancipation |
|
| 1834 |
|
|
|
The newly appointed Governor of
the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, establishes Executive and Legislative
Councils to determine the parameters of legislative and executive authority
in the Colony. Although no one could be elected onto the Council, freedom
of debate was guaranteed and most legislative initiatives had to pass through
the Council for approval |
|
| 1834 |
|
|
|
Beginning of the migration out
of the Cape Colony by groups of armed Boer farmers in what is to go down
in South African history as the Great Trek. Preparations for the migration
were done secretly in 1834. The key organisers, Louis Trichardt, Hans van
Rensburg, Hendrick Potgieter and Gert Maritz kept their scouting preparations
a secret from the British authorities, thereby making an accurate reconstruction
of events historically unreliable.
The widely accepted reasons for the Great Trek are regarded as political,
economic and social. Boer farmers migrated from the authority of the British
colonial government of the Cape whom they perceive as being politically
unsympathetic to their needs. Policy decisions taken in London meant that
the Boer farmer were no longer allowed to expand their farms and grazing
areas at the expense of the indigenous population with impunity. Ordinance
50 of 1828 granted Khoikhoi and Coloureds, the traditional servants and
slaves of the Boer farmers not only the freedom to seek work, but also to
own land. This leads to a shortage of labour for Boer farmers. In addition
Ordinance 50 put all “free inhabitants” of the Colony on equal political
footing before the law. This political act is unacceptable to the Boers
who regard Blacks as uncivilised heathen and therefore inferior to Whites.
Finally, the gradual introduction of a cash economy means that also Boer
farmers have to engage in surplus farming in order to get cash. Boer farmers
had been accustomed to a bartering economy |
|
| 1834 - 1835 |
|
|
|
AmaXhosa chiefdoms invade the
Cape Colony in an attempt to regain the land that the Cape government had
appropriated from them in previous wars. This goes down in history as the
Sixth War of Dispossession. The Governor, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, sends in
the Cape regiment troops as well as African allies to effect a devastation
of the invading AmaXhosa. The target of the military action is less the
armed AmaXhosa as the basis of their livelihood. Hence D’Urban orders the
destruction of whole villages and all the crops and food supplies. An AmaXhosa
nation thus impoverished and devastated would be forced to accept colonial
authority and rule.
With the AmaXhosa defeated and stripped of their means of production and
existence, D’Urban annexes all their land between the Kei and Keiskamma
rivers and expels the AmaXhosa living there. The annexed land is called
the Province of Adelaide.
The London Missionary Society missionary, Dr John Philip intervenes on behalf
of the AmaXhosa. As a result of his report to the British government, D’Urban
is forced to reverse his annexation policy. Philip and the London Missionary
Society had in the past persuaded the British government of the injustice
and belligerence of Cape colonial polices towards the indigenous people
of the Cape. His Researches in South Africa which was published in 1828
formed the basis of the British government’s decision to act against some
Cape colonial policies.
Missionaries are instrumental in the first publication of an IsiXhosa grammar
in Grahamstown |
|
| 1835 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Ordinance 1 lays
down the number of hours that an “apprentice” is required to work in gardens
or on fields. This does not apply to domestic service. Most provisions of
this Ordinance prove to be unenforceable.
Ordinance 1 forbids slave owners from meting out punishment. A judicial
and magisterial system is introduced to implement punishment in an attempt
to establish the “rule of law” in the Cape Colony |
|
| 1835 |
|
|
|
The trekking groups move north
and east of the Cape Colony, and during the Trek seize in violent skirmishes
and also protracted battles the land of African political entities that
they encounter |
|
| 1835 |
|
|
|
Hintsa, the Paramount Chief of
the AmaXhosa, is illegally captured under a flag of truce and the pretext
of peace negotiations by the military troops of the Cape Governor, Sir Benjamin
D’Urban. Both the Governor and his Colonel, Sir Harry Smith, who unsuccessfully
try to force him, under the threat of being hanged, to convince the AmaXhosa
to surrender to the colonial government during the Sixth War of Dispossession,
interrogate him for days. They murder him while he attempts to escape. His
ears are taken as trophy |
|
| 1836 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Andries Stockenström,
Lieutenant Governor of the Eastern Districts, restores the Province of Queen
Adelaide, land that had been annexed during the Sixth War of Dispossession,
to the AmaXhosa at the instruction of Britain. This follows his testimony
to the Aborigines Commission in London in which he describes the freedom
with which settlers are allowed to counter-raid suspected cattle thieves
among the AmaXhosa as a significant reason for the outbreak of warfare on
the frontier. Stockenström also institutes a “treaty system”, that recognises
the independence and authority of the AmaXhosa chiefs. This causes tension
between him and Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban who had been overlooked by
Britain in the making of this policy |
|
| 1836 |
|
|
|
Passing of the Cape of Good Hope
Punishment Act which attempts to control the movement of trekboers and Voortrekkers |
|
| 1836 |
|
|
|
The AmaNdebele under the leadership
of their king, Mzilikatsi, pose the biggest challenge to the marauding Voortrekkers
during the course of the Great Trek. In a series of bloody battles they
defeat the AmaNdebele, most notably by Hendrick Potgieter from his main
laager at Vegkop. The Battle of Vegkop, while signalling a victory for the
Boers, demands a great toll on lives on both sides as well as on their stocks
of cattle and trek oxen. Chief Moroka of the Barolong and his missionary
Archibell come to the rescue of the Voortrekkers with food and oxen |
|
| 1836 |
|
|
|
Voortrekker leaders Andries Potgieter
and Pieter Uys, with the aid of the Griqua, Barolong, Koranna and BaTlokwa,
seize the stronghold of Mzilikatsi in Mosega and drive him and his people
out of the region towards the Marico Valley in the north. The Voortrekkers
conclude “friendship” treaties with their allies in the defeat of Mzilikatsi |
|
| 1837 - 1838 |
|
|
|
The forces of Potgieter and Uys
attack Mzilikatsi anew. This time they drive him and his people beyond the
Limpopo River into what is present day Zimbabwe. Potgieter and Uys seize
the land of the AmaNdebele |
|
| 1837 |
|
|
|
The Voortrekker leader and spokesperson,
Piet Retief, sets out in a “Manifesto” the reasons for the Great Trek. One
of the main reasons is the perceived lack of sympathy of the colonial government
to the political and economic demands of the Boers, which is expressed in
the passing of legislation that aims at placing Black and White on equal
footing before the law |
|
| 1837 |
|
|
|
Dissension amongst the Voortrekkers
causes them to split. Piet Retief and his followers trek eastwards to Port
Natal, which will later be known as Durban. Other groups move northwards |
|
| 1837 |
|
|
|
Piet Retief visits Dingane, Chief
of the AmaZulu, to negotiate an apparent claim to the land between the Tugela
and Mzimvubu Rivers in exchange for cattle and rifles. The cattle are delivered
but not the rifles. Dingane orders the execution of Retief and his negotiating
party |
|
| 1837 |
|
|
|
The Voortrekker Republic of Natalia
is established |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
The Voortrekkers, who by now have
settled on the land seized from the various African chiefdoms in battles,
attempt to organise themselves as a state. They draw up the framework of
a Constitution which entrenches the superiority of White over Black and
a racial master-servant social order.
The main institution of the new state is a Volksraad (people’s council or
assembly), a body comprising twenty-four elected men. The Volksraad combines
legislative, judiciary and executive powers. The British colonial government
does not recognise the Republic of Natalia and hence occupy Port Natal,
thereby denying the newly founded republic access to the harbour that is
the potential gateway to the eastern trade routes |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
AmaZulu regiments are defeated
by the military superiority of the Voortrekkers at the Battle of Blood River,
a revenge attack for the murder of Piet Retief and the subsequent attack
on Boer laagers at Weenen. The AmaZulu lose an estimate of three thousand
troops |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
The kingdom of the AmaZulu breaks
into civil war. Mpande, chief military advisor and brother of the King of
the AmaZulu, overthrows Dingane with the assistance of Voortrekkers, who
capture children to work as their servants. Dingane flees into Swazi territory.
Pretorius instates Mpande as king. The Republic of Natalia annexes the southern
region of Zululand |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
The Voortrekkers lift thousands
of head of Mzilikatsi’s cattle and distribute them amongst the Boer farmers |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
Andries Hendrick Potgieter founds
Potchefstroom as the capital of the new Transvaal Republic, north of the
Orange River |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
Louis Trichardt, a Voortrekker
leader moves with his following to Delagoa Bay. He dies there |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
Britain occupies Port Natal. It
is later named Durban |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The “apprenticeship”
of slaves, formally emancipated in 1834, ends. This marks the factual end
of slavery in the Cape, as the “apprentices” are officially no longer slaves |
|
| 1838 |
|
|
|
Civil war of a kind breaks out
in the strife-ridden Griqua confederacy as the various leaders and their
following, each group aided by a missionary, fight each other to establish
who would be the most senior leader of the confederacy. A treaty is concluded
between the two Kaptyne,Adam Kok III and Andries Waterboer, which provided
for a Joint Council to act as a Supreme Court for these two captaincies |
|
| 1838 - 1843 |
|
|
|
The Republic of Natalia recruits
Tsonga men from Moçambique to fill their labour needs |
|
| 1839 |
|
|
|
The town of Pietermaritzburg is
founded. It is named after the Voortrekker leaders Gert Maritz and Piet
Retief. It becomes the capital of the newly established Voortrekker Republic
of Natalia |
|
| 1841 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: Passing of the Cape
Masters and Servants Ordinance which supersedes Ordinance 50 of 1828 by
disqualifying racial distinction between servants. White and coloured servants
as well as ex-slaves are placed on equal legal footing in terms of criminal
sanctions for breach of contract |
|
| 1841 |
|
|
|
After the Battle of Blood River
of 1838 there is considerable movement in the Zululand-Natal region as refugees
enter Natal to return to their homelands that had been absorbed into Shaka’s
kingdom. While the increased number of Africans means that the problem of
labour for Boer farmers was being solved, the Boers perceive the presence
of tens of thousands of Africans in Natalia as a security threat. Hence
the Volksraad determines that all “surplus” Africans, that is, Africans
who are not working for Whites, be moved to the area between the Mtamvuba
and the Mzimvubu Rivers |
|
| 1842 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor George Napier issues
a proclamation against the incursions by Boers of the territories of the
Basotho and Griqua. This is the result of interventions to both the imperial
and colonial governments about Boer aggression against the indigenous population
by Adam Kk III and Dr John Philip of the London Missionary Society |
|
| 1842 |
|
|
|
A severe drought breaks out in
the eastern region of the Cape Colony. This leads to cattle theft by both
settlers and AmaXhosa. It marks the decline of the treaty system introduced
by Stockenström in 1836 and sets the scene for yet another war on the frontier |
|
| 1843 |
|
|
|
British forces of Governor Sir
George Napier annex the Republic of Natalia, which becomes a British colony.
The annexation comes in the wake of a military intervention in 1842 when
British forces attempt to pre-empt a possible occupation of Durban by other
European imperialist powers and when the Voortrekker head of state, Andries
Pretorius, stages a failed siege against the British.
As a result of the strength of British intervention, Mpande agrees to cede
St Lucia Bay to the British. Furthermore he signs a treaty which restricts
the AmaZulu to the region south of the Tugela River |
|
| 1843 |
|
|
|
The entrenchment of merino sheep
farming in the eastern regions of the Cape Colony changes its socio-economic
as well as the political arena. Merino farmers are intent upon gaining access
to more grazing land, despite the fact that the land that they want belongs
to the AmaXhosa.
As Boer merino sheep farmer contingents look to expanding their grazing
areas by violent means and marauding Griqua groups called “Bergenaars” raiding
the region, Moshoeshoe’s kingdom is constantly threatened by these groups.
The Governor, Sir George Napier, supports Moshoeshoe’s claim to his territory,
by concluding a treaty with the Basotho king in which the Basotho territory
is determined as all the land between the Orange and Caledon Rivers. Moshoeshoe
is granted a salary of £75 to maintain order in his newly defined territory |
|
| 1843 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Napier signs an
agreement with the Griqua leader Adam Kok III to maintain order in his territory
in return for an annual salary of £100. Unlike the treaty with Moshoeshoe,
Kok’s treaty does not define the limits of his territory |
|
| 1844 |
|
|
|
Sir Peregrine Maitland becomes
Governor of the Cape Colony. His first action is to rescind the treaty system
introduced by Stockenström in 1836. In its place he places his own treaty
system which fore spells conflict on the eastern frontier because the new
system gives farmers the right to follow up on allegedly stolen cattle and
to demand equivalent compensation if they could not find the cattle. The
treaty system also allows for the erection of military fortifications in
ceded territory. Tribunals at which farmers could lodge complaints against
chiefs and Diplomatic Agents are part of Maitland’s new treaty system. Finally,
African converts to Christianity no longer fall under the jurisdiction of
their chiefs |
|
| 1844 |
|
|
|
Fighting breaks out between the
Boers and the Griqua as the former refuse to accept Kok’s jurisdiction over
them |
|
| 1845 |
|
|
|
The new Governor of the Cape Colony,
Sir Peregrine Maitland, sends troops into the area to counter Boer attacks
on the Griqua in compliance with the treaties Napier had signed with the
Griqua and the Basotho. The Boers are defeated by the British with their
Griqua allies in the Battle of Zwartkoppies. This skirmish marks the first
open shooting exchange between Boers and British |
|
| 1845 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland
concludes a treaty with Adam Kok III. In terms of this “Maitland Treaty”
the land of the Griqua is divided into “alienable” and “inalienable” areas.
Griqua are permitted to hire farmland in the alienable areas to Boers who
are British subjects for a period of no more than forty years. A British
Resident is placed in the region to oversee the implementation of the conditions
of the treaty |
|
| 1845 |
|
|
|
After the annexation of the Republic
of Natalia by the British in 1843, Natal becomes an autonomous district
of the Cape Colony. The most important government offices are held by Martin
West, who is made Lieutenant Governor, Hendrick Cloete who takes on the
position of Chief Justice and Sir Theophilus Shepstone who is appointed
the “Diplomatic Agent to the Native Tribes” |
|
| 1846 |
|
|
|
Chief Justice Cloete and Sir Theophilus
Shepstone set up the Locations Commission to investigate the feasibility
of segregating black and white in Natal. Seven locations are initially established,
financed in the main by a hut tax imposed on Africans. Shepstone introduces
the system whereby the hereditary chiefs are responsible for the immediate
running of the locations. The system comes under attack from white settlers
who fear that self-sufficient locations would rob them of cheap black labour |
|
| 1846 - 1847 |
|
|
|
The Seventh War of Dispossession
against the western AmaXhosa or AmaNgqika goes down in history as the War
of the Axe as the ostensible reason for the colonial attack on the western
AmaXhosa is the theft of an axe which leads to the detention of the thief
and the subsequent freeing of the thief by his fellow clansmen.
The real reasons for this war are to be found in the persistent efforts
by the colonial government to seize the land of the western AmaXhosa and
the agitation in the Graham’s Town Journal that the Province of Queen Adelaide
be given to the settlers, land that had been seized by the colonial troops
during the Sixth War of Dispossession of 1834, but which Britain had decreed
should be returned to the AmaXhosa.
The conflict is a full-scale war with the western AmaXhosa being the more
victorious side. They adopt the British tactic of a scorched earth policy,
which does not only wreak havoc on the colonial troops but also within the
western AmaXhosa chiefdom. Despite the imminent defeat of the colonial troops,
the AmaXhosa offer to end hostilities. The British colonial troops realising
that the offer of peace was because the AmaXhosa were running out of food
supplies, demand their unconditional surrender and the annexation of all
land west of the Kei River |
|
| 1847 |
|
|
|
The western AmaXhosa resist the
British conditions of peace while simultaneously refusing to engage in warfare.
Maitland thereupon attacks the homes, remaining cattle and crops as well
as the grain bins of these AmaXhosa. Hence the defeat of the AmaXhosa by
the British colonial forces is ultimately not effected on the battlefields
but in the homesteads of a people passively resisting warfare |
|
| 1847 |
|
|
|
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Harry Smith
is appointed Governor of the Cape. He embarks on aggressive expansionist
politics |
|
| 1847 |
|
|
|
With the defeat of the AmaXhosa
in the War of the Axe the Cape colonial government in the person of the
newly appointed Governor and High Commissioner, Sir Harry Smith, extends
the Colony to the Keiskamma River. Smith also creates a new colony on the
land of the AmaNgqika, which he names British Kaffraria. AmaXhosa are allowed
to live in that region as British subjects |
|
| 1847 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith
meets with the Griqua leader Adam Kok. He rescinds the land tenure system
that Sir Peregrine Maitland had negotiated with the Griqua in 1846. The
new agreement is loaded to the advantage of the British Crown and the white
farmers in the region. Smith demands that all rent accrued from white tenant
farmers on Griqua land north of the Riet River be paid to the Crown. Maitland
had demanded half of the rental. Smith also decrees that white farmers be
allowed to settle on Griqua land south of the Riet River which Maitland
had forbidden |
|
| 1847 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith
meets with King Moshoeshoe and the chiefs of the Basotho in Winburg. He
proclaims the sovereignty of the British Crown over all the land between
the Orange and the Vaal rivers, which includes land of the Basotho. White
farmers are not allowed to acquire new land in the region except in Adam
Kok’s territory, Griqualand. At this meeting Moshoeshoe lays claim to the
territories of the chiefs Moroka and Sekonyela. With Smith’s support Moshoeshoe
is able unify the scattered chiefdoms and consolidate these under his sole
rule. He is also able to gain British protection against claims of white
farmers to his land |
|
| 1848 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith,
assuming that he is acting with the popular approval of the trekboer community
in that region that they become British subjects, expands British authority
by annexing the area north of the Orange or Gariep River known as Transorangia.
The annexed land becomes known as the Orange River Sovereignty. The annexation
is met with hostility and the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius leads
a commando against Smith. The British with the assistance of the Griquas
defeat theVoortrekkers at the Battle of Boomplaats. The region comes under
full British control |
|
| 1848 |
|
|
|
Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith
instructs the British Resident of the newly constituted Orange River Sovereignty,
Major Henry Warden, to set up boundaries between the black and white communities
in the land north of the Caledon River based on their occupation of that
region. He is further instructed not to cede land to the black communities
where there may be overlapping of occupation between Black and White. The
boundaries come to be known as the “Warden Line” and is promulgated in 1849.
Moshoeshoe, the King of the Basotho loses large areas of his territory |
|
| 1848 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The inhabitants of
the Kat River Settlement come under great government pressure when Governor
Sir Harry Smith recommends to his Legislative Council the promulgation of
“vagrancy” legislation to evict “idlers” from the settlement. His intention
is to satisfy the settlers’ demand that the inhabitants of the Kat River
Settlement be forced to work for them. The hostile reaction of the Kat River
inhabitants forces Smith to abandon this scheme |
|
| 1849 |
|
|
|
After the defeat of the western
AmaXhosa in the War of the Axe the Cape colonial governor, Sir Harry Smith,
exercises an extreme form of authoritarian governance over the AmaXhosa.
He introduces military rule in British Kaffraria, which entails severe punishment
for even petty crimes, the impounding of cattle for alleged trespassing
and the indenturing of “kaffir youths” to white farmers. The chiefs of the
AmaXhosa openly defy some conditions of Smith’s rule |
|
| 1850 - 1853 |
|
|
|
Sandile, Paramount Chief of the
AmaNgqika, with the support of the AmaGcaleka and AmaThembu resist Cape
Governor Sir Harry Smith’s harsh rule by launching a series of attacks on
colonial patrols and administrative stations, including an attack on Fort
Beaufort in 1851. These attacks mark the beginning of the Eighth War of
Dispossession.
Sir Harry Smith’s magistrate for the Kat River Settlement, Thomas Holden
Bowker invades the Settlement with AmaXhosa police to evict “squatters”.
During the eviction campaign homes are burned and crops destroyed. Hundreds
of people are left homeless. This attack precedes the outbreak of the Eighth
War of Dispossession by six months. The inhabitants of the Kat River Settlement
join the war on the side of the AmaXhosa hoping for a victory that would
rid them of the threat posed by the settlers\' greed for their land and
labour |
|
| 1851 |
|
|
|
Cape Colony: The Kat River Settlement
rises up in rebellion. Willem Uithalder, the leader of the rebel groups,
launches attacks in the Fort Beaufort district and occupies Fort Armstrong.
The rebellion is successfully crushed by the colonial artillery troops.
Rebels who survive the crushing of the uprisings are found guilty of high
treason. Their death sentences are commuted to life sentences of hard labour,
such as the building of roads. The Settlement slides rapidly into economic
decline. Rebel land is appropriated and given to white farmers who buy up
the remaining arable land.
The promulgation of the “Warden Line” leads to conflict in that region as
the various communities vie for land. When the Basotho and the Kora and
Griqua communities become involved in cattle raiding, Warden musters a force
and attacks the detractors of his division of the territory. He suffers
a crushing defeat at the Battle of Viervoet. He also loses authority over
the Voortrekkers in the region |
|
| 1851 |
|
|
|
The British Government sends two
special Commissioners, WS Hogge and CM Owen to meet with Voortrekker representatives
under the leadership of Andries Pretorius at Sand River to negotiate around
the question of who rules the Voortrekkers. Hogge and Owen sign an agreement
with the Voortrekkers, guaranteeing them the right to rule themselves. The
Voortrekkers have to undertake not to enter into any alliance with the black
communities of the region or to trade in arms and ammunition with them.
Their system of slavery, known as the inboekseling system, is prohibited.
The Sand River Convention, as the agreement becomes known, forms the basis
for the establishment of the republican state north of the Vaal River called
the “Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek” |
|
| 1852 |
|
|
|
Sir George Cathcart becomes Governor
of the Cape Colony. He leads the defeat of the AmaXhosa. Settlers gain the
land of the AmaXhosa in the Amatola Mountains.
As a result of their defeat during the Eighth War of Dispossession thousands
of AmaXhosa and Coloureds are rendered landless, and impoverished, their
political and social systems largely destroyed. Thus dislocated, they are
forced to work on white farms as grossly underpaid labourers and at conditions
set by white settlers and farmers |
|
| 1852 |
|
|
|
King Moshoeshoe is given to believe
that the terms of the Sand River Convention means that the Basotho nation
would have authority of the land to the south west of the new Zuid Afrikaansche
Republiek. His soldiers hence attack white farmers still occupying those
areas in order to re-establish Moshoeshoe’s sole authority and further the
cause of the building of a unitary state of Basotho. The Basotho lift thousands
of cattle in the attacks. The Cape Governor enters the region with a force
of 2 000 soldiers and artillery. He sends Moshoeshoe an impossible ultimatum
to deliver 10 000 head of cattle and 1 000 horses within three days, failing
which he would attack the Basotho. Cathcart launches the attack and loses
more men than the Basotho do. They lift several thousand cattle of the Basotho.
In order to prevent further fighting that might destroy his kingdom, Moshoeshoe
concedes “defeat” in a diplomatically worded letter to Cathcart |
|
| 1853 |
|
|
|
British Under-Secretary of State,
Sir George Clerk, is sent to Bloemfontein in the Orange River Sovereignty
to manage the withdrawal of the British troops after Moshoeshoe’s “defeat” |
|
| 1853 |
|
|
|
Moshoeshoe uses the fact of British
withdrawal to drive Sekonyela of the BaTlokwa and his allies the Kora and
Griqua from their strongholds that fall within what he regards as territory
of the Basotho. Moshoeshoe thereby effectively places all southern Basotho
who remain in the Caledon River region under his control. The BaRolong are
an exception |
|
| 1854 |
|
|
|
Sir George Clerk enters into negotiations
with the Voortrekker leaders and Whites loyal to the British Crown in the
region. The agreement reached leads to the establishment of another Boer
republic, namely the Orange Free State. The agreement called the Bloemfontein
Convention transfers the government of the Orange River territory to the
signatories of the Convention. The Convention document declares that no
alliances with black political entities, except with Adam Kok of the Griqua
is permitted. Furthermore Kok would be forced to abrogate his treaty with
the British. The Convention makes no mention of the boundaries of the new
state, and together with forcing Kok to abrogate his right to land in East
Griqualand, the way is paved for more conflict in the region |
|
| 1854 |
|
|
|
The establishment of the republican
Orange Free State marks the beginning of the disintegration of East Griqualand
which had depended for the presence of the British in that region for their
right to holding land |
|
| 1854 |
|
|
|
The British government grants
the Cape Colony representative government. A Constitution is drawn up with
provides the Colony with a non-racial but qualified franchise. The franchise
is restricted to men only. All male citizens over the age of twenty-one
years who own property valued at £25 per annum, or who receive an annual
salary of £50, or whose annual salary is £25 but who receive free board
and lodging, enjoy the franchise |
|
| 1854 |
|
|
|
Despite the fact that slavery
is outlawed in the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek as a condition for independence
from Britain, the Republic continues the systematic raiding African homesteads
to capture African children and youth as slaves, as slavery had become an
entrenched part of the Boer economies. The captives are called inboekselingen.
The most notorious slave raider for the “black ivory”, as the children and
youths are also known, is Hermanus Potgieter who terrorises the AmaNdebele
leaving many adults dead in his wake.
In an attempt to stop these raids AmaNdebele troops under the leadership
of Chiefs Mokopane and Mankopane attack Boer settlements. 42 Boers are killed.
In retaliation Boers attack Mokopane. He and his people take refuge in a
network of caves where they are besieged by hundreds of Boer commandos and
300 BaKgatla allies. The siege lasts 25 days. About 1 000 AmaNdebele, including
Mokopane, die either of thirst or are shot as they try to escape from the
caves or surrender. The victorious Boers take 700 women and children captive |
|
| 1856 |
|
|
|
Promulgation of the Masters and
Servants Act by the Cape Government. The Act is designed to regulate labour
relations and conditions of labour to the advantage of the white moneyed
settlers over against their black labour force |
|
| 1856 |
|
|
|
Natal is granted limited responsible
government. The Natal Constitution, unlike that of the Cape Colony, introduced
a franchise system which made it effectively impossible for Blacks to gain
the franchise. During the period in which Natal exercised responsible government
only three black males enjoyed the franchise. Theophilus Shepstone is appointed
Secretary for Native Affairs |
|
| 1856 |
|
|
|
The Natal Legislature passes rulings
on the employment of indentured labour imported from India to satisfy the
labour needs of coastal sugar planters |
|
| 1856 |
|
|
|
Civil war breaks out in the kingdom
of the AmaZulu as Cetshwayo and his brother, Mbuyazi, vie to build up power
bases to clarify who would eventually succeed Mpande as the King of the
AmaZulu. Cetshwayo defeats and kills his brother at the Battle of Ndondakusuka |
|
| 1856 - 1857 |
|
|
|
In the wake of the devastation
of the Eighth War of Dispossession the AmaXhosa experience extreme hardship:
the loss of their land and widespread political fragmentation as a result
of the land loss. Their economic misery is exacerbated by the spread of
lung disease amongst their remaining livestock. In their search to find
meaning in their despair, the AmaXhosa accept the apparently prophetic message
of a young woman, Nongqwase of the independent AmaSarhili. She promises
them a reversal of their fortunes if they purge themselves of their cattle
and crops and refrain from sowing. According to her vision this purge would
resurrect fallen heroes and other dead, and the AmaXhosa would be assured
of healthy cattle and crops. The white settlers would be swept away into
the sea. The Paramount Chief Sarhili supports her in her prophecy. The prophecy
causes bitter internal conflict. Sarhili orders the mass slaughter of cattle
and the burning of crops. Famine follows. Fifteen months later when Sarhili
rejects the prophecy, with civil war imminent the AmaXhosa are all but decimated.
This act of desperation seals the fate of the AmaXhosa as defeated people,
people already ravished by centuries of colonial wars of dispossession and
their belief and philosophical systems undermined by missionary intervention |
|
| 1858 |
|
|
|
The First Free State – Basotho
War breaks out as Free State commandos attack Moshoeshoe in a bid to seize
more arable land. Moshoeshoe, who is able to retrieve some land in terms
of the peace agreement known as the Treaty of Aliwal North, defeats the
Free State commandos |
|
| 1859 |
|
|
|
Natal Act No.14 of the Colony
of Natal is passed. It regulates the immigration of Indians as indentured
labourers with the option of returning to India at the end of a five-year
indenture. The Law also provides for labourers to re-indenture for a further
five-year period, which would make them eligible to settle permanently in
the Colony.
The indentured Indian labourers who arrive in the early period are also
entitled to a gift of crown land and full citizenship rights. This provision
is withdrawn after 1891 to discourage the settlement of Indians in Natal |
|
| 1880 |
|
|
|
The first keeper of the Colonial
Archives of the Cape Colony is appointed |
|
| 1880 - 1904 |
|
|
|
Fietas, Johannesburg: Pageview is still
known as the ‘Malay Location’. The population is largely ‘coloured’, ‘cape
coloured’ and Malay |
|
| 1880 |
April |
|
|
Paul Kruger and Joubert travel to the
Cape to campaign for support and to put pressure on Cape Afrikaner parliamentarians
to reject the Cape draft act that envisions federation. The mission is a
success and Kruger is confident that Gladstone will cancel the annexation.
His refusal to even grant self-rule, leads to great dissapointment |
|
| 1880 |
December |
|
|
The Volksraad is called to Paardekraal,
south-west of Pretoria, on the advice of Paul Kruger. Here the government
of the republic is placed, consisting of Kruger, P.J. Joubert and M.W. Pretorius.
Kruger's base is to be in Heidelberg and armed forces take up position on
the Natal border, while others surround the British garrison in the Transvaal.
Kruger realises that the British forces will be too powerful, thus decides
to continue with negotiations |
|
| 1881 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger writes a letter to request
that a British royal commission be set up to make an honest investigation.
He promises that fighting will stop if this happens. When the First Anglo-Boer
war is successfully concluded, a triumph in Kruger's career, the republic
is reinstated |
|
| 1881 |
August |
|
|
The Pretoria convention is signed and
the Vierkleur is flown once again |
|
| 1882 |
|
|
|
For the first time in ten years, an
election is held and Paul Kruger won |
|
| 1883 |
9 May |
|
|
Paul Kruger is sworn in as president
and he subsequently announces a policy that is based on Christian principles.
Introduces concession policy as the country is in financial difficulty.
He also introduces a new education policy that is more acceptable to the
public. Kruger leaves for England again to persuade the British government
to revise the Pretoria convention, as means of establishing a rail link
with the east coast |
|
| 1884 |
|
|
|
Otto von Bismarck chairs the Berlin
Conference to stem the scramble for Africa. Only Morocco, Ethiopia, and
Liberia are recognized as independent entities. Partition of West Africa
and East Africa |
|
| 1884 |
27 July |
|
|
The old Pretoria convention is replaced
with a new one, the London convention. Hollanders grant permission for the
construction of the Delagoa Bay railway and the establishment of trade ties
with European powers |
|
| 1884 |
October |
|
|
Paul Kruger allows the proclamation
of authority by the republic over an area that falls within Bechuanaland,
a British protectorate at the time |
|
| 1885 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger reaches a compromise with
Sir Charles Warren to avoid a possible war over territory with the British |
|
| 1886 |
|
|
|
Proclamation of the first gold fields
in the Witwatersrand. Soon there is an increase in the number of foreigners
residing in the Transvaal, creating a political problem for Paul Kruger |
|
| 1888 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger is re-elected as president,
making it possible for him to extend his limitations on the political representation
of the uitlanders (foreigners) |
|
| 1889 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger persuades volksraad to pass
a legislation to create a second volksraad with limited authority, where
the uitlanders would have representation |
|
| 1890 |
|
|
|
Paul Kruger's proposal for a second
volksraad is put into effect - this ofcourse remained an uitlander grievance
against the Kruger government |
|
| 1890 |
March |
|
|
Paul Kruger is publicly
insulted during a visit to Johannesburg. Subsequently, he guarantees Britain
that he has no ambitions to the north, however he states his interest in
Swaziland, to the east |
|
| 1892 |
|
|
|
First train steams into JOHANNESBURG |
|
| 1893 |
|
|
|
Presidential elections, Paul Kruger
wins |
|
| 1893 |
|
|
|
Fietas, Johannesburg: The first ‘locations’
are established under the Kruger government. Locations are ‘non-white’ areas.
Three exists namely the ‘Coolie Location’, the ‘Kaffir Location’ and the
‘Malay Location’ |
|
| 1893 |
May |
|
|
Paul Kruger sworn in as president for
the third time |
|
| 1894 |
October |
|
|
First train reaches Pretoria from the
east |
|
| 1895 |
|
|
|
Jameson raid |
|
| 1896 |
|
|
|
Chamberlain invites Paul Kruger to London
to discuss the safety of the Transvaal |
|
| 1896 |
|
|
|
Ethiopia, under Emperor
Menelik II, defeats invading Italian army in the Battle of Adwa |
|
| 1896 |
|
|
|
Lumière brothers' demonstration
of projected moving photographic images in Alexandria |
|
| 1897 |
January |
|
|
J.G. Kotze, the chief justice challenges
the legality of the volksraad |
|
| 1897 |
February |
|
|
Paul Kruger obtains special right to
dismiss judges who claimed testing right. Kruger regarded chief justice
Kotze's stand as an infringement of the authority of the volksraad |
|
| 1898 |
|
|
|
After a lengthy correspondence, Paul
Kruger dismisses chief justice Kotze |
|
| 1898 |
May |
|
|
Paul Kruger is sworn in as president
after a crushing victory in the election |
|
| 1898 |
September |
|
|
The Orange Free State president, Dr.
W.J. Steyn visits Pretoria, resulting in a treaty between the his province
and the Transvaal |
|
| 1899 |
|
|
|
Lord Milner uses the uitlander movement
as means of denouncing the Kruger administration |
|
| 1899 |
May |
|
|
Lord Milner recommends British intervention
to Chamberlain |
|
| 1899 |
May - June |
|
|
Conference is held in Bloemfontein,
both Paul Kruger and Lord Milner are invited by president Dr.W. Steyn to
attend. Milner insists that immediate steps need to be taken to grant the
uitlanders a vote on a basis of five-year residency. Kruger is not willing
to fix the residential qualification to less than seven years. The conference
doesn't reach a conclusion |
|
| 1899 |
September |
|
|
Paul Kruger decides, with support from
Jan Smuts, that it would be better to take military action. This leads to
the dispatch of an ultimatum to Britain on the 9th of September 1899 |
