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ArticleSilverton Siege
On 25 January 1980 three MK Cadres – Stephen Mafoko, Humphrey Makhubo and Wilfred Madela – were allegedly on their way to carry out a planned MK sabotage…
Grade 6 term 1 classroom support
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ArticleTswana
(seTswana [language], baTswana [people]) The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda…
Learning about local history through pictures
In this lesson we will investigate the history of different local areas and local events using these different sources.Let’s see if you can guess which local…
ArticlePretoria (Tshwane): The Naming of a City
Introduction Pretoria is located in the north east of South Africa, to the north of Gauteng, and 60 Kilometres away from the north east of Johannesburg [i] …
Kingdoms of southern Africa: Thulamela
The city of Thulamela from the air. It has walled areas like the ruins at Great Zimbabwe, which separate royalty from commoners. Source: www.chico.mweb.co.za …
Contact, conflict and dispossession on the Cape eastern or northern frontiers in the nineteenth century
The situation in the Eastern Cape in the early late 18th and early 19th century (approximately1780 - 1850) was as follows: There were three groups of people: …
ArticleCuba and the struggle for democracy in South Africa
The revolution in Cuba, culminating in Fidel Castro’s seizure of power on 1 January 1959, was from the beginning based on a non-racial ethos, and revolutionary…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1940s
1940 Dr. A.B. Xuma is elected President-General of the African National Congress (ANC). Walter Sisulu joins the African National Congress. The population…
ArticleSouth African Defence Force (SADF)
Early years The history of the South African Defence Force (SADF) can be traced to the 1660s. When Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape in 1652, he had with…
ArticleNelspruit Timeline 1815-1996
1815 Louis Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg cross the Oranje/Gariep river. June 1836, Van Rensburg leaves Trichardt while Potgieter goes on an expedition to…
The National Arts Festival
In 1974, an inaugural festival titled the 1820 Settlers National Monument was opened as a memorial to the British immigrants in South Africa. They established…
ArticleJune 16 Soweto Youth Uprising timeline: 1976-1986
1976 According to the government-appointed Cillie Commission of Enquiry 575 people died. Police action resulted in 451 deaths. 3 907 people were injured…
ArticleEarly African Civilisations: Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Swahili
Ancient Egypt The ancient Egyptian civilisation grew for thousands of years intact because the Nile River Valley and Mediterranean and Red Sea border kept…
ArticleThe spread of these ideas to Europe and Australia
The indigenous inhabitants of Australia The continent of Australia was settled about 60,000 years ago. Before European settlement, most of the inhabitants of…
ArticlePolitical changes from 1750 to 1835
The section below on the Mfecane can be used as an introduction to this section. It is important to note that CAPS 2011 does not require it to be covered in…
ArticleEuropean trading systems in the Middle Ages - fourteenth to sixteenth centuries
Expanding European frontiers The Trek Boers, with their servants and slaves, move inland From the late 1600s and into the 1700s, the Cape settlers moved…
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…
ArticleIndenture: A new system of slavery?
Was the system of indentured Indian labour "a new system of slavery"?as Hugh Tinker entitles his book? The answer would depend on how the reader defines the…
ArticleThe Khoisan
In around 2300 BP (Before Present), hunter-gatherers called the San acquired domestic stock in what is now modern day Botswana. Their population grew, and…
The War
The flag of the Boer Republic of the Orange Free State On 9 October 1899 the SAR issued an ultimatum to Britain and two days later, on 11 October the war was…
Afrikaans community 1820-1899
The first white inhabitantsBetween 1820 and 1826, Afrikaner trekboer (migratory farmer) J.N. Brits trekked from the Cape Colony, crossed the Orange River and…
ArticleThe Dutch Settlement
The region of the Western Cape which includes the Table Bay area (where the modern city of Cape Town is located) was inhabited by Khoikhoi pastoralists who…
ArticleRustenburg Timeline 1850-2001
1850 The Nederduitsch Hervormde Church (Nederduitsch Reformed Church) establishes a congregation in Rustenburg. 16 November, A Hervormde congregation is…
ArticleNamibian Timeline
Introduction Since independence, English has been Namibia’s only official language. This was a controversial policy and remains contested. This timeline…
Robben Island
Unesco declared Robben Island in the Western Cape a World Heritage Site in 1999. Robben Island is located in Table Bay, some 6km west of Bloubergstrand, and…
Article2016 in Review
In 2016 South Africa History Online celebrates 15 years of being a public open source heritage site. What a journey it has been. At the end of the first week…
ArticleNelson Mandela Timeline 1970-1979
1970 16 February, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and 21 others, who were detained under the Suppression of Communism Act, in May 1969, are acquitted. Three are…
Sierra Leone’s Pre-colonial and Colonial era military and security forces
The study of armed forces in Africa tend focus on the contemporary peculiarities with little understanding of or regarding for the history of the nations,…
Rustenburg the Segregated city
Rustenburg the Segregated city Towards Union The Afrikaner character of the town persisted after Union in 1910, and there was little to attract other…