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EventA.G. Visser, SA physician and poet, dies in Heidelberg, Transvaal
Andries Gerhardus Visser was born on 1 March 1878 on the farm Zaaifontein, in the district of Fraserburg, South Africa. Visser attended the Huguenot Memorial…
EventTreason Trial of 16 UDF members resumes
Thirty years after the first Treason trial in 1956, 16 members of the United Democratic Front (UDF) were accused of treason in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme…
EventUDF members challenge the government to arrest them on charges of high treason
Boesak and his colleagues were addressing a protest meeting on the night of 27 February 1985. The meeting was attended by more than 5000 people at the Durban…
EventThe South African security police bombed two houses in Manzini, Swaziland
In response to attacks on the Sasol oil refinery in Secunda, the South African security police bombed two houses in Manzini, Swaziland. The attacks claimed the…
EventIdi Amin, Ugandan dictator, flees after a seven year reign
Idi Amin Dada Oumee fled Uganda on 29 March 1979* first to Libya and eventually to Saudi Arabia. Amin began his career as a cook in the King's African Rifles…
EventThe last passenger boat of the Union Castle line, the Windsor Castle, leaves Table Bay
Once part of a vital communications link between Europe and Southern Africa, the RMS Windsor Castle was the last of the Union Castle Line's, "Cape Mail Express…
EventThe National President of the Black People’s Convention, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, declares that riots have lead to a new era of political consciousness
On 27 June 1976, almost two weeks after the Soweto Uprising on 16 June, Kenneth Hlaku Rachidi, the National President of the Black People's Convention (BPC),…
EventMadagascar adopts its second constitution
Madagascar came under the colonial French Protectorate in 1890. By the late 1940's, the Malagasy had started to demand independence. A national uprising took…
EventMembers of the ANC and SACP are detained due to Operation Vula
On 25 July 1990 government security forces detained approximately forty members of the African National Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP)…
EventF.W. de Klerk announces Nelson Mandela will be freed on 11 February
The announcement by President F. W. de Klerk in parliament on 10 February 1990, that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison, unconditionally the next day…
EventSir Patrick Manson, Scottish doctor and founder of tropical medicine is born
On 3 October 1844, Sir Patrick Manson was born in Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was an important physician at the time, and contributed to research…
EventThe Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) disbands
The Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) was the underground military wing of the Pan African Congress (PAC). APLA was formed in the 1960s, after the…
EventAn application to the Pretoria Supreme Court, to declare the Freedom of Choice to Terminate Pregnancy Law unconstitutional, fails.
An application to the Pretoria Supreme Court, to declare the Freedom of Choice to Terminate Pregnancy Law unconstitutional, fails. In 1998 South Africa's…
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…
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…
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…
EventUniversity of Pretoria's 100th anniversary
On 10 February 1908 a new department of the Transvaal University College (TUC), situated in Johannesburg, started its classes in Kya Rosa, a house in Skinner…
EventBasutoland (now Lesotho) becomes British territory
Moshoeshoe is credited as "the father of the Basotho people" as he was responsible for the creation of Lesotho (The Basotho Kingdom), and the drawing together…
EventEdgar Wallace (56), author and newspaper editor in South Africa, dies in Hollywood.
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was born in London in 1875. His mother, unmarried and struggling to make a living, gave him up for adoption when he was nine…
EventFirst United Nations General Assembly opens
The United Nations Organisation (UNO) succeeded The League of Nations which was founded just after the end of World War I. The League of Nations was put in…
EventEugéne Nielen Marais, S.A. poet, writer, lawyer and naturalist, is born
Eugene Nielen Marais began writing at a very young age. By the age of 12, he was a published writer. Marais became famous as an Afrikaans writer, even though…
EventState of emergency declared after Sharpeville Massacre
This was the first such declaration of a State of Emergency by the Apartheid state. During these periods, the government had free reign to suspend civil…
University of York Student Submissions 2015
Joshua Richman Joshua Richman is a final year English and Politics student at the University of York. From October 2015, he will read Law at Hughes Hall,…
ArticleThe Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference can be best understood as the formalisation of the Scramble for Africa. This British coined the term sometime in 1884, and it has since…
ArticleHeritage day, Braai Day or Shaka Day: Whose Heritage is it Anyway?
BackgroundHeritage Day is one of the newly created South African public holidays. It is a day in which all are encouraged to celebrate their cultural…
ArticleLand: dispossession, resistance and restitution
Introduction The history of white colonial land dispossession began at the Cape with the expansion of the Dutch colonial settlement established by Jan van…
EventOne hundred and twenty three people banned following June 16 Student Protest
Three days after the 1976 Students' Revolt the Government banned 123 people for their involvement and put a nation wide ban on public meetings. The protest was…
ArticleReferencing Resources for Historical Research
An example of a reference entry in APA style, highlighting key elements (Author, Date, Title, Source, URL). Mastering such referencing formats is essential for…
Executive summary of the statement of the National Executive Committee of the ANC delivered by President Jacob Zuma at the 100th anniversary of the ANC, Mangaung 8 January 2012
Your Excellencies Heads of States and Government, Former Presidents of the ANC, Isithwalandwe Nelson Mandela at home and Comrade Thabo Mbeki, Former Heads of…
January 8th Statements - Statement of the National Executive Committee on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the ANC - 8 January 2012
Mangaung 8 January 2012 Your Excellencies Heads of States and Government, Former Presidents of the ANC, Isithwalandwe Nelson Mandela at home and Comrade…