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EventDavid Livingstone “discovers” Lake Nyasa
Born in Scotland in 1813, Livingston was a renowned explorer, doctor and missionary. Of course, he is most remembered for his exploits as an explorer. In 1858…
EventSir George Gray, governor of the Cape, lays the cornerstone of the New Somerset Hospital
Somerset Hospital. On 18 August 1859, Sir George Gray, governor of the Cape, laid the cornerstone of the New Somerset Hospital in Green Point, Cape Town. The…
EventArthur Conan Doyle, medic during the Second Anglo, is born
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on 22 May 1859. Although Doyle is best known for his writing of the Sherlock Holmes crime novel…
EventJohn Tengo Jabavu is born
John Tengo Jabavu, Bantu newspaper editor, preacher and the second Black matriculant in South Africa was born in Healdtown district, now in the Eastern Cape…
George Grey arranges peace between King Moshoeshoe and the Free State
EventChief Kausobson Kausob is killed
The chief of a group of San that inhabited the area between the Modder, Riet and Vaal Rivers early in the nineteenth century, Kausobson Kausob, was killed in…
EventWalter Benson Rubusana, founding member of the ANC, is born
Walter Benson Rubusana is born in Mnandi in the Somerset East district of the then Cape Colony. He was a founder-member of the African National Congress (ANC)…
EventBaden Powell is born in London, England
Lord Robert Stephenson Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement in 1908 and British hero at the siege of Mafeking, is born in Paddington, London. Baden…
EventNongqawuse’s unfulfilled prophecy
A period of hardship set in for the AmaXhosa after their defeat in the Eighth Frontier War (also called Eighth War of Dispossession). Their political…
EventConclusive Battle of Ndondakusuka takes place
The Battle of Tugela, which was also known as the Battle of Ndondakusuka, was fought between Zulu factions of Cetewayo, eldest son of the Zulu chief Mpande,…
Chief Sekonyela of the Batlokwa dies
David Livingstone reaches the Victoria Falls
EventSouth African author and feminist Olive Schreiner is born
South African author Olive Emilie Albertina Schreiner is born to Gottlob and Rebecca (Rebekah) Schreiner. During her youth she lived in Cradock in the Eastern…
EventMakapane’s Cave is under siege
The nearly month-long siege of Makapane's Cave took place after warriors of the Ndebele chief Makapan (Makapane) massacred 23 Voortrekkers, men, women, and…
Orange Free State promulgates its constitution
EventThe Bloemfontein Convention is signed
The Republic of the Orange Free State was established by the signing of the Bloemfontein Convention (also called the Orange River Convention) between Sir…
EventPieter Jacobs Marais reports discovery of gold
Pieter Jacobs Marais reports his discovery of alluvial gold in the Jukskei River on B.J. Liebenberg's farm, Bultfontein, in 1853. The site was just north of…
EventFirst postage stamp in Africa is issued in the Cape Colony
On 1 September 1853, the first adhesive postage stamp in Africa was issued in the Cape of Good Hope, a British colony at the time. The triangular shaped stamp…
EventVoortrekker leader Andries Pretorius dies
Former Commander-General of the Boers in Natal and later Republican statesman, Andries Wilhemus Jacobus Pretorius, died on his farm in the Magaliesberg area…
EventThe Birkenhead runs aground with 638 passengers
An English troop carrier, the Birkenhead, under Captain Robert Salmond, stranded on a reef opposite Danger Point, the southern point of Walker Bay, at present…
The Sand River Convention, under which Britain renounces all claims to authority beyond the Vaal River, is signed.
Frederick Courteney Selous, traveller, hunter, writer and naturalist is born
Dr John Philip, controversial missionary of the London Missionary Society, dies
EventBattle of Viervoet (Basotho-British war)
In 1851, the British controlled the area between the Orange and Vaal Rivers (the Orange River Sovereignty). Due to border disputes with the Basotho the British…
EventThe Childe Herold is shipwrecked
The Childe Herold is shipwrecked The Childe Herold is shipwrecked off Dassen Island. A 463-ton British wooden ship, the Childe Herold, en route from Bombay to…
EventThe Neptune, with 288* convicts on board, enters Simon’s Bay, with strong resistance from Cape inhabitants
On 19 September 1849, The Neptune entered and anchored in Simon's Bay (now Simonstown) in the Cape, after being met with a furious city population in Table Bay…
EventThe Cape Agulhas lighthouse begins operating
Contrary to popular belief, Cape Agulhas and not Cape Point is the southernmost tip of Africa. The seas around Cape Agulhas - about two hours drive from Cape…
Sir John Barrow (84), explorer of the interior of SA, dies in London
EventVoortrekkers are defeated during the Battle of Boomplaats
The Voortrekkers under Commandant Andries W. Pretorius were defeated during the Battle of Boomplaats (near Bloemfontein) by the British under Cape Governor…