Skip to main content
Menu
♥ Donate
Records
63,407
Biographies
10,763
Events
17,655
Places
1,873
Documents
30,300
Records with sources
19,230

This day in history · 18 October

1952Violence erupts during Defiance Campaign
View more events from this day
What happened on your birthday?

Browse the archive

Biographies10,763Topics2,816Places1,873Events17,655Archive30,300ClassroomLessons in 11 languages

CollectionsDISA Archive · 20,181SALDRU Newspaper Clippings Archive 1974 - 2000 · 1,568Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela · 964

Recently added to the archive

Recently added records
Ref Type Dates Status
R-0153673archive Who is Navi Pillay, the South African judge who won the Nobel prize? We asked her biographer16 Oct 2026New
R-0153672archive How Glasgow helped free Nelson Mandela15 Oct 2026New
R-0153671archive Interview with Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights by Christof Heyns 13 Oct 2026New
A-0153670article The ANC’s MK Special Ops Unit Material - Yunus Carrim Collection - The 1987 attack at the Wits Command12 Oct 2026New
P-0013733place Xamdeboo was called Aberdeen, Eastern Cape7 Oct 2026New
P-0065703place Cape Town Civic Centre and the CBD of Cape Town30 Sep 2026New
P-0066087place Paternoster, West Coast29 Sep 2026New
A-0153666article Brenda Fassie’s 1997 hit song Vulindlela still raises questions about South Africa as a nation 23 Sep 2026New

Featured biographies

These are our featured biographies.

Esdras Lusiba Ntloko

Biography

Esdras Lusiba Ntloko

18 July 1954

Early life and the 1976 uprisingEsdras Lusiba Ntloko was born on 18 July 1954 in Queenstown (now Komani) in the Eastern Cape. He became active in…

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

Feature biographies

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay

23 September 1941

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay was born on 23 September 1941 in Clairwood, Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). She attended the University of Natal (now…

Breyten Breytenbach

Arts & Humanities

Breyten Breytenbach

16 September 1939 – 24 November 2024

Breytenbach was an opponent of the apartheid regime, whose work represented a milestone in the development of Afrikaans poetry, formally and…

Stephen Bantu Biko

Feature biographies

Stephen Bantu Biko

18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977

IntroductionStephen (Steve) Bantu Biko was a popular voice of Black liberation in South Africa between the mid 1960s and his death in police…

Sunny Girja Singh

Feature biographies

Sunny Girja Singh

1939 – 20 November 2025

Sunny Girja Singh was born in Cato Manor (uMkhumbane), Durban, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), in 1939 to a working-class family. His father, Girjabaksh,…

Rajes Pillay

Feature biographies

Rajes Pillay

4 August 1944 – 29 December 2020

Rajaluxmi Pillay (also known as Rajes) was born on 4 August 1944 in Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal – KZN). Her parents were from…

Featured SAHO articles

These are the latest of our articles.

The ANC’s MK Special Ops Unit Material - Yunus Carrim Collection - 6 November 2025

The ANC’s MK Special Ops Unit Material Yunus Carrim Collection  06 November 2025 What is this about?  The material in this collection was...

·
Read more

Brenda Fassie’s 1997 hit song Vulindlela still raises questions about South Africa as a nation

In 1997, South Africa’s most famous music star had a huge hit. Brenda Fassie’s Vulindlela became a national pop anthem, played especially at...

·
Read more

Ambassador Lindiwe Mabuza and her connection with Scotland: An Appreciation by Brian Filling

Born in South Africa in 1938, she spent much of her life in exile from apartheid South Africa at college in Lesotho, teaching in Swaziland, as a...

·
Read more

United Nations and Apartheid Timeline 1946-1994

194622 June, The Government of India requested that the question of the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa be included in the agenda...

·
Read more

Ship list of Indian Indentured Labourers

Approximately 152,184 indentured Indians arrived under the scheme of indenture making a total of 384 trips.

·
Read more

United Democratic Front (UDF)

The United Democratic Front (UDF) was an anti-apartheid body that incorporated many anti-apartheid organisations.

·
Read more

Most Read Content Today

  1. A history of Apartheid in South Africa

    62 views

  2. The Natives Land Act of 1913

    36 views

  3. 16 June 1976 - Soweto Uprising

    35 views

  4. The Group Areas Act of 1950

    34 views

  5. Shaka Zulu

    27 views

History by Grade

Grade 4

INTERMEDIATE PHASE

Grade 4 - Learning about local history through pictures: Cape Town

5 RESOURCES

Grade 5

INTERMEDIATE PHASE

Grade 5 - Term 4: A Heritage trail through the provinces of South Africa

5 RESOURCES

Grade 6

INTERMEDIATE PHASE

Grade 6 - Term 3: Democracy and the Constitution

4 RESOURCES

Grade 7

SENIOR PHASE

Grade 7 - Term 2: The Transatlantic slave trade

4 RESOURCES

Grade 8

SENIOR PHASE

Grade 8 - Term 2: The Mineral Revolution in South Africa

4 RESOURCES

Grade 9

SENIOR PHASE

Grade 9 - Term 1: World War II (1939 - 1945)

4 RESOURCES

Grade 10

FET PHASE

History Grade 10 - Topic 6 Contextual Overview

11 RESOURCES

Grade 11

FET PHASE

History Grade 11 - Topic 4 Contextual Overview

6 RESOURCES

Grade 12

FET PHASE

Grade 12 - Civil Resistance in South Africa 1970s to 1980

5 RESOURCES

From the classroom

Open the classroom
Article

CAPS Documents

Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements for history teaching.

Article

Aids & Resources

Educational aids, teaching tools and classroom resources.

Article

Debates in history education

Perspectives and debates shaping the history classroom.

SAHO Press

Publications

Books, essays, and primary sources curated by South African History Online.

View all publications