SAHO global search
1,008 records
Prehistory of the Rustenburg area
Prehistory of the Region Pre-history of Southern Africa Africans who worked with copper and iron inhabited the area between 350AD to 600AD. Linguistic and…
EventPhakisa Freeway opens
The Phakisa Freeway located in Welkom, Free State, opened on 10 October 1999.[i] The Phakisa Freeway was constructed by means of combining the traditional oval…
EventThe Alabama, American raider of the Southern States during the American Civil War, arrives in Saldana Bay for provisions
On 29 July 1863, The Alabama, an American raider belonging to the Southern States during the American Civil War arrived in Saldana Bay, on the west coast of…
EventBambatha Rebellion
The Bambatha Rebellion took place near Greytown in KwaZulu-Natal. The first signs of discontent started at the end of 1905, when government introduced a new £1…
EventBritish establish first ‘refugee’ camps during the South African War
The first 2 'refugee' camps were established in Pretoria and Bloemfontein during South African War (Second Anglo-Boer War) by a military notice. The initial…
PlaceuKhahlamba Drakensberg Park
The Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park has exceptional Natural beauty in its soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts…
Countdown to the elections July 1993 – April 1994
From: A Crime Against Humanity - Analysing the Repression of the Apartheid State edited by Max Coleman In July 1993, the date for South Africa's first non…
PlaceReneen, Northern Cape
Reneen is a populated place and is located in Northern Cape, South Africa. The estimate terrain elevation above seal level is 271 metres. It has 60 odd…
ArchiveAppendix 1: Time Line of South African history by Denis Goldberg
In pre-colonial times South Africa was occupied by Khoisan people in the west and Bantu speaking people in the east. 1652 Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape…
BiographyDr. Abu Baker Asvat
This article was written by Michelle Hayman and forms part of the SAHO Public History Internship The ‘People’s Doctor’ ‘He struggled to liberate…
ArticleThe National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU)
Introduction The National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) is South Africa's second largest trade union federation with more than 400 000 members. Its largest…
ArticleAftermath: Sharpeville Massacre 1960
International responsesThe Sharpeville massacre was reported worldwide, and received with horror from every quarter. South Africa had already been harshly…
ArchiveWho was Albert Luthuli? The murdered South African leader who put his people above himself
South African liberation leader Albert Luthuli died on 21 July 1967 near his home in Groutville, in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. A government…
The Nkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History Competition 2014
FINAL PROGRAMME FOR THE NKOSI ALBERT LUTHULI ORAL HISTORY COMPETITION MULDERSDRIFT, 03-06 OCTOBER 2014 DAY ONE (Friday 03 OCTOBER 2014) Afternoon…
EventCastro decides to send troops to Angola to fight South Africa
The president of Cuba Fidel Castro decides to send Cuban troops to Angola in response to South Africa's invasion of the country. After attaining its…
PlaceGreat Fish River, Eastern Cape
The Great Fish River, distinguishable from the Namibian Fish River by the word ‘great’, that runs through the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, flows for…
ArticleA Short History of ESKOM, Part 1 (1923-2001)
This short history of Electrical Supply Commission (ESKOM) aims to provide an overview of the history of the power utility over its first seventy-eight years…
PlaceSeal Island
Hout Bay has now become well known as the port of departure for scenic day trips to Seal island or Duiker Island, home to a colony of thousands of Cape Fur…
EventSouth Africa closes its borders with Lesotho
On 1 January 1986 the South African Government closed its borders with Lesotho, cutting off fundamental food and fuel supplies. The relationship of the South…
ArticleA History of the South African Film Industry timeline 1895-2003
1895 The Kinetescope (invented by Thomas Edison) was a box in which people could see a moving image. The first Kinetescopes in South Africa were opened…
A lighthouse for African womanhood': Inanda Seminary, 1869-19451 by Heather Hughes
From the book: Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945 edited by Cherryl Walker Founded in 1869 by American Board Missionaries, Inanda Seminary was the…
PlacePietermaritzburg, Umgungundlovu District Municipality
Pietermaritzburg is the Capital and second-largest City, in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and named after two leaders of…
PlaceVan Riebeeck’s Hedge, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town.
These trees are a remnant of the hedge planted in 1660 by Jan van Riebeeck as a Boundary to the newly established Settlement at the Cape. Jan van Riebeeck, an…
EventLord Charles Henry Somerset, governor of the Cape Colony, is born in Badminton, England
Lord Charles Somerset, who became the British Governor at the Cape from 1814 to 1826, was born in Badminton England on 12 December 1767. Under his term as…
EventA United Nations team finally arrives in Mbandaka, Congo, to investigate alleged massacres of refugees
Following the Rwandan genocide of 1994, thousands of Hutu refugees fled to the neighboring Congo (DRC), previously known as Zaire. This was in an attempt to…
EventThe full citizenship of Coloured people is called for
During apartheid, the term "Coloured" was used to refer to group of people generally considered to be of mixed race origin. Coloured people, throughout the…
ArticleTimeline of the German and Herero, Nama War and Genocide
1904 6 January, The settler Frau Sonnenberg tells German soldiers stationed at the Waterberg, including the Sergeant in charge, Sergeant Rademacher, that…
ArticleHighlights for 2013
South African History Online believes that history is made every day and to that effect we have compiled what we feel are the key historical events of 2013. We…
ArticleThe 1913 Women’s anti-pass campaign in the Orange Free State
When the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, there was already a foundation for pass system. However, over time men and women resisted the…
The Durban Strikes of 1973 and the End of a Cycle of Struggle by Mondli Hlatshwayo
This paper was submitted to the 1973 Durban Strikes Celebrating 50 Years Conference The Durban strikes of 1973, and the subsequent struggles waged by…