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Turning-point elections in South Africa, 1910 - 2009
Regular elections have been a feature of South Africa’s political landscape since the establishment of Union of South Africa in 1910. With the adoption of the…
ArticleGrade 12 - The Cold War
How did the Cold War period shape international relations after the Second World War? After the Second World War, there was a struggle between two world…
Claremont Histories
Claremont Histories will be hosting an information and small photographic exhibition stand in conjunction with South African History Online at the 2015…
Book 2: The Impact and Limitations of Colonialism - Bibliography
From the book: Book 2: The Impact and Limitations of Colonialism commissioned by The Department of Education Bradford, Helen, Women, Gender and Colonialism:…
ArticleForced Removals in South Africa
Forced removals refer to the moving of people from their homes against their will. This may not always involve physical threat or force, but sometimes coercion…
PlaceMuseum Africa
Museum Africa, Johannesburg's major history and cultural history museum, is housed in the Newtown Cultural Precinct's old fruit and vegetable market - which…
Book 3: Migration, Land and Minerals in the Making of South Africa - Introduction
From the book: Book 3: Migration, Land and Minerals in the Making of South Africa commissioned by The Department of Education The nineteenth century deserves…
ArticleThe Empty Land Myth
The Empty or Vacant Land Theory is a theory that was propagated by European settlers in nineteenth-century South Africa to support their claims to land. Today…
Biography of George Hallett by Hunter Kolon
George Hallett—More than Mandela Abstract George Hallett, a South African photographer is an artist who spent several decades living in exile. He left the…
ArticleRuth First timeline 1925-2012
1925 4 May, Ruth Herloise First is born in Johannesburg to Julius and Matilda First, Jewish immigrants (from Latvia and Lithuania, respectively) who helped…
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…
Remembering the enslaved in Cape Town by Sam North
As a city, Cape Town sits on top of an uncomfortable history of colonialism, slavery, and formal racial segregation. This history has an uneasy relationship…
BiographyRobert Gabriel Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on 21 February 1924, in Katama, a Jesuit mission station in the Zimbambe district, about 60km from Harare. He was the son of…
ArticleWomen and the struggle against Apartheid
Introduction Full feature on the History of Women’s struggle in South Africa will give a broader view of the role played by women in the struggle for freedom…
ArticleAfrikaans: the Language of Black and Coloured Dissent
IntroductionAfrikaans, one of the official languages, together with English, during South Africa’s Apartheid era, often occupies a politicised space as the …
The CASA Conference
The Anti-Apartheid Beweging Nederland (AABN), which was part of the Dutch Anti-Apartheid Movement, organised the Culture in Another South Africa (CASA)…
The National Flag
The national flag was designed by a former South African State Herald, Mr Fred Brownell, and was first used on 27 April 1994. The design and colours are a…
Conference: One Hundred Years of the ANC - Debating Liberation Histories and Democracy Today
One Hundred Years of the ANC: Debating Liberation Histories and Democracy Today 20-23 September 2011 The 100th anniversary of the African National…
ArticleSotho (South Sotho or Basotho)
Sotho (South Sotho or Basotho) people are concentrated in the Free State, Gauteng and Eastern Cape Provinces, with small groups in Namibia and Zambia. While…
ArticleYoung Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA)
The history of the Young Communist League (YCL) dates back to 1921, although the organisation observes 25 May 1922 as the date of its official formation…
The Role of the Missionaries in conquest - Introduction
From the book: The Role of the Missionaries in conquest by Nosipho Majeke FOR A PEOPLE engaged in a liberatory struggle it is necessary to rewrite the…
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…
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 110 of 1983
Background Before P W Botha came to power in 1978, the government of John Vorster had begun a process for constitutional reforms. A commission headed by…
ArticleGrade 7 - Term 1: The Kingdom of Mali and the City of Timbuktu in the 14th Century
Timbuktu, French Tombouctou, is a city in the western African country of Mali. Often used as a popular term to describe a distant and mystical place, the city…
Bibliographical note and further reading
From the book: A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai For the serious researcher investigating any aspect…
![B J Vorster [John Vorster] portrait](/sites/default/files/styles/saho_medium/public/bio_pics/vorster_bj.jpg?itok=ySN_t7b3)
BiographyB J Vorster [John Vorster]
Overview Balthazar Johannes Vorster (also known as BJ Vorster or John Vorster) was the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978, after having served…
PlaceCity Hall and Francis Farewell Gardens, Durban
Click on image to enlarge Declared a National Monument under old NMC legislation on 12 December 1975. Diagonally opposite - in West Street, corner of…
PlaceOld Court House, Victoria Embankment, Durban
The building was designed by architect Stanley Hudson and was erected in 1911 as the Old Court House, and is the oldest public building in the central business…
Message from the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology
In 2002 the South African Society of Artists, the oldest surviving organisation of its kind in our country, marks its centenary. It is perhaps not generally…
Grade 12 - Topic 4 - The end of the Cold War and a new global world order 1989 to present
There were many reasons why apartheid collapsed. You can read about the crisis of Apartheid in the 1980s in section 5 of the grade 12 material. The collapse of…