Important dates in South African History
( 1900 to Present )
1900
6 January - Boers attack Ladysmith
1900
24-25 January - Battle of Spioen Kop
1900
5-7 February - Battle of Vaal Krantz
1900
15 February - Relief of Kimberley
1900
18 February - Battle at Paardeberg first great British victory of the war
1900
28 February - Ladysmith relieved
1900
7 March - Battle of Poplar Grove
1900
13 March - Bloemfontein captured
1900
14 April - First Boere Prisoners of War arrive in St. Helena
1900
11 June - Battle of Diamond Hill
1900
July / August - Burning of farms (scorched earth) policy authorized
1900
Amalgamation of Union and Castle Steamship Lines
1900
Sir Alfred Milner, the governor of the Cape Colony
1901
Bubonic plague in Cape Town
1901-02
200 teachers arrive from England to teach in the British concentration camps, followed by 100 teachers from Canada, New Zealand and Australia
1902
31 May - Treaty of Vereniging signed, ending Anglo-Boer War
1904
Chinese labourers recruited for the Transvaal mines
1907
Asiatic Registration Act passed in Transvaal, Indians oppose it
1908
Second Asiatic Registration Act passed in Transvaal, beginning of passive resistance campaigns
1909
S.S. Waratah lost between Durban and Cape Town
1910
31 May - Union of South Africa established by joining the British colonies and the Boer republics
1910
Laying of foundation stone of Union Buildings in Pretoria
1910-19
Louis Botha serves as first Prime Minister of South Africa
1911
7 May - Census of population taken
1913
Miners' strikes and riots on Witwatersrand. Indian riots in Natal
1913
March of Natal Indians into Transvaal
1913
Natives Land Act restricts black ownership of land
1913
December - consecration of the Vrouemonument
1914
20 December - Cmnt Jopie Fourie executed by firing squad
1914-18
South Africa takes part in World War I
1915
Afrikaans becomes the second official language, after English
1915
South West Africa and South Africa linked by railway line
1916
20 May - First publication of the Huisgenoot
1918
Spanish Influenza Epidemic "Black October"
1919
May - first publication of the Landbou Weekblad
1919
3 September - Gnl Hertzog leades Freedom deputation to Versailes to demand restoration of the Boer- republics
1919-24
Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950) Prime minister of South Africa
1919
10 November - Afrikanns used for the first time in Church
1921
Diamond mines closed down in Kimberley, economic depression
1922
4 October - Inauguration of Witwatersrand University
l923
Platinum discovered in Waterberg district of Transvaal
1924
17 June - General elections
1924-39
Hertzog, James Barry Munnik (1866-1942), Prime minister of South Africa
1925
South Africa reverts to gold standard
1925
Recognition of Afrikaans as an official language of the Union
1930
White women receive the vote
1932
Airmail service between South Africa and Britain started in January
1932
Wireless telephone communication established with Britain in February
1933
South Africa House opened in London
1933
Afrikaans Bible issued
1934
Union Airways acquired by Government
1936
1 August - South African Broadcasting Corporation established
1938
Great Trek Centenary celebrations
1939-48
Jan Christiaan Smuts' second term as Prime minister of South Africa
1939-45
World War II
1941
South African Forces take Mega in Southern Abyssinia
1941
South African Forces arrive in Egypt in April
1941
November - Heroic stand by South African Forces at Sidi Resegh
1944
The black-out in Cape Town is suspended
1944
6th South African Armoured Division leads 8th Army offensive in Italy,South Africans were the first to enter Florence
1945
17 April - 34 people killed and 90 injured in explosion of the Grand Magazine in Pretoria
1945
South African Forces capture Monte Sole and Monte Caprara, which were barring entering into Bologna. Announcement made that as from the beginning of the war until 5 March 1945, more than 1 500 South African soldiers were decorated, 2386 were mentioned in despatches and 330 were commended
1948
National Party elected to Government. Known as the beginning of apartheid era
1948-54
Daniel Francois Malan (1874-1959) prime minister of South Africa
1949
December - consecration of the Voortekkermonument
1958-66
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (1901-1966), prime minister of South Africa
1960
21 March - Sharpeville Massacre, police opened fire on a crowd protesting against apartheid
1961
31 May - South Africa leaves the Commonwealth and becomes a Republic
1965
Rhodesian Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI)
1969
Armstrong becomes first man to step on the moon
1975
South African Forces in Angola
1976-81
The homelands of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei are separated from South Africa and established as independent states
1984
Coloureds and Asians given the vote
1990
The start of repealing apartheid laws
1994
27 April - First democratic general elections. A N C elected to power.Government of National Unity under President Nelson Mandela
1994
Previous homelands re-incorporated into South Africa
1999
2 July - Second democratic general elections. A N C elected to power under Thabo Mbeki
Early Prime Ministers : Taken from Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa Volume 9 page 125
Cape Colony from 1872 to Union in 1910
John Molteno (later Sir John)
J. G. Sprigg (later Sir Thomas)
T. C. Scanlon
T. Upington (later Sir Thomas)
J. G. Sprigg (2nd time)
Cecil John Rhodes
J. G. Sprigg (3rd time)
W. P. Schreiner
J. G. Sprigg (4th time)
Dr L. S. Jameson
John X. Merriman
Natal from 1893 to Union in 1910
J. Robinson (later Sir John)
Harry Escombe
H. Binns (later Sir Harry)
A. H. Hime (later Sir Albert)
G. M. Sutton (later Sir George)
H. Warrington Smyth
F. R. Moor (later Sir Frederick)
