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EventHansi Pauline Pollak, welfare worker and social activist, is born
Hansi Pauline Pollak was born in Johannesburg in 1905. She served as an officer in command of the Women Army Auxiliary Services during the World War II. In…
EventHendrik Witbooi, Chief of the Nama, dies
Hendrik Witbooi was born into a prominent Nama family in 1830. He was educated at a Lutheran Mission and was fluent in a number of European languages, as well…
EventThe mayor of Cape Town, Hyman Lieberman, opens the Great Synagogue in the Gardens, Cape Town
Cape Town has a substantial Jewish community, the majority of who are descendents of Lithuanian immigrants. By 1863, the Jewish congregation in Cape Town had…
EventAlbert Einstein introduces his theory of relativity
In 1905, Albert Einstein had four papers published in the Annalen der Physik, the leading German physics journal. These are the papers that history has come to…
EventBishop Zulu is born
Alphaeus Hamilton Zulu, Anglican bishop of Zululand and Swaziland was born in Nquthu, Natal. He was the only son of Johannes and Miriam Kolo Zulu and was a…
EventNkosi Sikelel’iAfrica composer, Enoch Sontonga dies
Enoch Mankayi Sontonga, writer and composer of the National Anthem Nkosi Sikelel' IAfrica (God Bless Africa) died at the age of thirty-two. He wrote Nkosi…
EventWorld’s largest diamond at the time, the Cullinan, is found in South Africa
On 26 January 1905 miner Frederick Wells extracted a large diamond from the Cullinan mine, a few kilometres outside Pretoria in South Africa's mineral-rich…
EventBeginning of the Waterberg Battle in the Herero Revolt
The German colonisation of Namibia, then German South West Africa, took place in 1884. The Herero, a pastoral and nomadic group, had begun to move into Namibia…
EventPresident Paul Kruger (78), dies of heart failure in Clarens, Switzerland
Paul Kruger (Stephanus Johannes Paulus) was born on 10 October 1825 in the Steynsburg district. When the Great Trek started in 1836, he joined the trek party…
EventArrival of Chinese labourers in South Africa
A labour shortage at the gold mines on the Rand resulted in the importation of Chinese labour in 1904. This situation, in part, was the result of the Anglo…
EventGerman Lieutenant-General Lothar von Trotha lands in Swakopmund, South West Africa
The scorched earth campaign conducted by Germany against the Herero people in South West Africa (now known as Namibia) is considered among the first genocides…
EventPastor Sekano Ntoane is born
Church moderator and pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA), S.G. Sekano Ntoane, was born in Hebron, Pretoria. Ntoane served on what was then the…
EventHerero people defeat German Forces
German forces under Major Von Glasenapp are defeated by Herero people near Okaharui, German West Africa (now Namibia). Herero men in the Okaharui ambushed…
EventGerman action in Herero Revolt is condemned in the Reichstag
August Bebel, representing the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the German Reichstag (Parliament), condemned the "suppression war" against the Ovaherero…
EventViolence escalates in German South West Africa during Herero Revolt
The post offices at Waldau and the Waterberg in German South West Africa (now Namibia) were destroyed during the Herero Revolt. Violence also erupted at…
EventHerero people of South West Africa, now Namibia, begin uprising
Present-day Namibia was once a part of the imperial German empire. As was common during the scramble for Africa in the latter half of the nineteenth century,…
EventFirst aeroplane flight takes place
On the morning of 17 December 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright succeeded in the world's first powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine under complete…
EventNicolaas Johannes Diederichs, South Africa’s fourth state president, is born
Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs South Africa's fourth state president was born on 17 November 1903. After studying for his doctoral degree at the University of…
EventAfrikaans author Mikro is born
Christoffel Hermanus Kahn (Mikro), Afrikaans author, was born at Van Reenensplaas in Williston district, Cape Colony. KÁƒÂƒÂ¼hn attended school at Robertson…
EventJohn Koenakeefe Mohl, SA artist is born
On 29 September 1903, John Koenakeefe Mohl, South African artist and founding member of Artists Under The Sun, was born at Dinokana village in Lehurutshe,…
EventMilner proposes conditional voting rights for ‘non-Whites’ in SA
A year after the Treaty of Vereeniging, which signalled the end of the Anglo-Boer War 2, the British High Commissioner to South Africa, Lord Alfred Milner,…
EventRabbi Israel Abrahams is born
Chief Rabbi of Cape Town and Hebrew scholar Israel Abrahams was born in Vilna, Lithuania. He came to South Africa in 1937 and held the position of chief rabbi…
EventJB Marks is born
John Beaver (JB) Marks, teacher, trade unionist and political activist was born in Ventersdorp, Transvaal (now North West Province) on March 21 1903. He was…
EventFrederick Lugard, British colonial administrator, occupies Kano, West Africa
Frederick Lugard was the British colonial administrator of West Africa from 1895. He was one of the foremost practitioners of the colonial system of indirect…
EventAlan Paton is born
On 11 January, 1903 Alan Steward Paton, author of Cry, the Beloved Country was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province. Paton graduated from Maritzburg…
EventRailway line between Cape Town and Beira in Mozambique is completed
On 6 October 1902 the 3200km long railway line between Cape Town, South Africa and Beira in Mozambique was completed. The construction of the Beira Railway to…
Event15 000 applications for gold mining permits received per week in Johannesburg
The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) transformed South African from an agrarian society at the edge of world trade into a globally integrated…
EventMaude Francis Eyston Sumner, SA painter, is born
On 16 September 1902 Maude Francis Eyston Sumner, SA painter, who lived, worked and exhibited in SA, England and France, was born in Johannesburg. Born in 1902…
EventWorkers embark on strike action
Sixty-one Xhosa-speaking workers, under the leadership of their Headman known as One O'clock, went on strike at the Brakpan Electric Works. The workers marched…
EventDr. Jan Bouws, Dutch composer, is born
On 28 July 1902 Jan Bouws was born in Purmerend, Holland. He trained in Musicology at the University of Amsterdam and on completion of his studies became a…