Introduction
Dutch settlers arrived in the area adjacent to the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. At that time, the area was occupied by the Khoikhoi clans. (They were cattle-herding people). The pressure on the Khoikhoi increased as more Dutch and French Hugunots arrived. By the 18th century, most Khoikhoi had lost their land to these European settlers.
Cape Town became a major port as a way station for East Indies trade. The colonists were mostly farmers and cattle herders. They became known as the Boers. They developed their own culture and language (Afrikaans). In the 1770’s, the Boers encountered the Bantu, who were migrating. The Nguni Bantu clans settled between the Drakensberg Mountains and the sea. The Sotho clans settled in the interior, north of the Cape Colony. The 19th century competition for land led to the conflict between the Bantu clans. Hundreds and thousands died during the wars, entire clans disappeared and it resulted in the creation of many Bantu nations.
Early British Settlement
The British forces occupied the Cape region twice, in 1795 and 1806. In 1814, Great Britain purchased the Cape Colony from he Dutch for 6 million pounds. After 1820, thousands of British colonists arrived in South Africa. They demanded that English law be imposed. In 1822, English became the official language, Khoikhoi were given protection and in 1833, slavery was abolished. These measures were resented by the Boers. This resulted in the Great Trek. Thousands of Boers moved northward. They settled across the Orange River, Vaal River and in Natal. They drove the Ndebele tribe across the Limpopo River and defeated the Zulu before establishing some settlements in the area. The British occupied the coastal region of Natal and established a crown lony in 1843. A lot of Afrikaners left Natal and went west and north where they established the Orange Free State and the Transvaal republics. The British along the eastern Cape started to invade the Xhosa lands, which resulted in several wars. The governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Harry Smith, gained control over the Orange River territory in 1848. He had a policy of expansion which was rejected by the British government. Representative government was granted to the British colony of Natal in 1856. In 1872, the Cape Colony received responsible self-government. This meant that the government was independent except in foreign and economic affairs. In 1881, Afrikaners took up arms against British occupation and the South African Republic was allowed semi-independence.
Boer War
The discovery of gold deposits in the southern Transvaal in 1886, was at the same time as Germans occupying Namibia. The mining industry was financed by the British. Thousands of British miners entered the Transvaal. President Kruger refused to grant civil equality to the British miners and taxed foreign companies heavily. Compromise discussions failed, so British financier Cecil Rhodes encouraged the British miners to revolt in 1895. A small invasion force had a raid, which was a failure and Rhodes was forced to resign, as prime minister. British statesman, Alfred Milner became the Cape governor in 1897. After that, relations between the Cape Colony and the two Afrikaner republics worsened. Kruger declared war in October 1899. This put the Brtish Empire against the Afrikaners. Initially the Afrikaners were successful, but British forces occupied all the major urban centres by mid-1900. The Afrikaners waged a costly war, until 1902. In the Treaty of Vereeniging (May 31st, 1902), the Trans al and Orange Free State became British crown colonies. In 1906 and 1907, they were given constitutions as self-governing colonies. In the South Africa Act of 1910, British Parliament established the dominion of the Union of South Africa with four colonies as its provinces. The South Africa party won the first elections and the former Boer army commander, Louis Botha became prime minister. As a reaction to the policies of the government, Black African leaders organized in 1912, what became the ANC.
World Wars
Botha pledged Britain full support at the outset of WWI, in 1914. Botha led the South African forces that conquered German South West Africa. Botha died in 1919 and was succeded as prime minister by Jan Christiaan Smuts. Barry Hertzog became the prime minister in 1924 and remained the prime minister until 1939. During the economic depression of the 1930’s, a coalition was formed with Smuts and Hertzog, as dual leaders of the United party. The coalition was split by Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in 1939. Hertzog tried to keep South Africa neutral and was replaced as prime minister by Smuts. The Union declared war on Germany on September 6, 1939. There was a pro-German feeling among the Boers, so there wasn’t a draft law. The members of the Union’s armed forces were volunteers and their combat action was in East and North Africa and in Italy.
Apartheid
The word "Apartheid" comes from the Afrikaans word "apartness". Racial discriminaton didn’t start with apartheid. It was a systematic program that influenced all aspects of South Africa’s social, political, economic and cultural relations.
It consisted of four laws:
The leader of the National party (prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd from 1959-1966) presented apartheid as a solution to South Africa’s cultural and ethnic complexity. The government thought of this complexity as a clash between competing nationalisms. The white nation was fully developed and the non-white nation wasn’t. Whites would need total political power to keep order. Most whites associated black nationalism with Communism and thought that apartheid was a defense. The policy has also been call "separate development". In theory it would have allowed blacks to prosper as the government allowed it. Once separated the competing nationalisms could avoid clashes and stability would be preserved. Another reason for apartheid was that South Africa's prosperity was largely due to the activity of whites and this group needed to protect its accomplishments from what it thought would be destruction, if the country were in black hands. Supporters of apartheid argued that if blacks came to power, they will discriminate against the whites. The land that blacks got wasn’t enough for the amount of them, had too few significant natural resources, poor soil and very little industry. Therefore the blacks that lived in homelands, lived in poverty. These facts led the critics to think that the real reason for apartheid was to preserve white supremacy and a cheap supply of black labor. Blacks couldn’t earn much money with apartheid. According to some calculations, many Africans earned too little to sustain life. South Africa was expelled from the United Nations and many countries imposed economic sanctions which prohibited some kinds of business dealings.
Eventually on November 13, 1993 an agreement for a nonracial, nonsexist, unified and democratic South Africa was reached. Elections were held at the end of April 1994. There was some "preelection turmoil" but the elections were relatively calm and orderly. The ANC won with a clear victory and Nelson Mandela became the country’s first black president on May 10, 1994. In June 1994, South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations.
