SAHO global search
208 records
Port Elizabeth an Overview
The first formal settlement of the Algoa Bay region took place in 1776 when a number of farms were allocated to local Dutch graziers. In 1799 the British…
Historical ships and shipwrecks along the South African coast
South Africa’s Maritime History The Suez Canal allows for ships from Europe to travel to the East with ease. Before the canal was opened European ships had…
ArticleSharpeville
On 19 March 1960, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) called on Black South Africans to leave their pass books at home and thereafter gather peacefully at police…
ArticleTswana
(seTswana [language], baTswana [people]) The four major ethnic divisions among Black South Africans are the Nguni, Sotho-Tswana, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda…
Iron Age Kingdoms of Southern Africa
Our ancestors survived by hunting wild animals and gathering berries and roots. The women usually gathered food while the men hunted. Source: museums.ncl.ac.uk…
ArticleDefeat of the Liberation struggle
Following the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, the Government declared a State of Emergency (SOE), in 83 magisterial districts – the first state of emergency…
ArticlePretoria: The Founding of the City
Pretoria’s founder – a man by the name of Marthinus Wessels Pretorius - arrived in Pretoria in 1848 [i]. At the time of his arrival, King Mzilikazi and the…
ArticleBasotho Wars 1858 - 1868
The three Basotho Wars (1858-68) and the formation of Lesotho The conflict between the Basotho people and White settlers in what is now the Free State/…
ArticleHistory Grade 11 - Topic 4 Contextual Overview
… first emerged in Western Europe during 1700s and 1800s. Here, new social classes (inspired by enlightenment …
ArticleGrade 8 - Term 1: The Industrial Revolution in Britain and Southern Africa from 1860
The industrial Revolution has shaped the societies we live in today and more so in Britain and in Southern Africa. It brought about not only changes in…
Doing Oral History
… due to the importation of Indian labourers during the late 1800s to early 1900s to work under the name of sugar cane …
ArticleLouis van Mauritius and the Slave Revolt of 1808
The unique nature of slavery in the Cape Colony hindered many attempts at wide-scale resistance on the part of Cape slaves. Instead many slaves’ attempts at…
ArticleAfrica Timeline
100 000 BC Humans begin to migrate from Africa to other parts of the world 8500 BC – 6500 BC In the Sahara Desert region, the people develop the use…
Bibliography: Missionary settlement in southern Africa
ALBERTI, Ludwig. 1968. Account of the Tribal Life and Customs of the Xhosa in 1807. Translated by Dr William Fehr. Cape Town: AA Balkema. ALEXANDER, James…
ArticlePort Elizabeth Timeline 1799-1986
1799 2 March, British government lands troops in Algoa Bay. Construction begins on the building of Fort Frederick. 1803 Founding of Bethelsdorp. 1804 …
The Cape Northern Frontier
The San © www.safrica.info In the late 17th and early 18th century the Dutch at the Cape Colony only had contact with the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The Dutch…
Prehistory of the Rustenburg area
Prehistory of the Region Pre-history of Southern Africa Africans who worked with copper and iron inhabited the area between 350AD to 600AD. Linguistic and…
ArticleGrade 8 - Term 2: The Mineral Revolution in South Africa
Britain, Diamond mining and increasing labour control and land expansion Before South Africa's vast mineral wealth was discovered in the late nineteenth…
Afrikaner Newspapers and the newspaper industry from 1830
Afrikaner newspapers were essential supports for Afrikaner nationalism, and from the 1870s onwards they were used to mobilise Afrikaners, and after 1914 to…
ArticleThe missionaries
Missionaries arrived in Pondoland in 1830 when Faku, the ruler of the Mpondo Kingdom from 1818 to 1867, allowed Wesleyan missionaries to establish a mission…
Sport, Race, and Liberation Before Apartheid by Dr Peter Alegi
Sport, Race, and Liberation Before Apartheid: A Preliminary Study of Albert Luthuli, 1920s-1952s Dr Peter Alegi, Department of History, Michigan State…
ArticleTransport in the air
Ancient stories tell of people's desire to fly like a bird. The Greek myth about Icarus and Daedalus is one of the most famous stories. According to the story,…
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…
ArticleDecember 16 and the Construction of Afrikaner Nationalism
The date, December 16, holds a special significance in South African history. On this day in 1838, the Voortrekkers fought a battle for survival against…
ArticleThe Zulu kingdom and the colony of Natal
The need for a controlled labour force: Indentured Labourers There is an indentured labour gallery on the SAHO site, webteam please select an image from there…
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,…
ArticleJohn Langalibalele Dube Timeline 1940-1950
1840s John Dube’s grandmother, Dalitha becomes the first convert of the Lindley Mission Station in Inanda. 1871 22 February, John Langalibalele Dube is…
The Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners/Fellowship of True Afrikaners
The Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaners (the GRA, the Fellowship of True Afrikaners) was launched in Paarl, Western Cape on 14 August 1875. The society was…
ArticleThe effects of WW2 in Africa
Africans resisted colonial rule from the outset, trying to hold on to their land, but were not strong enough to defend themselves against European conquest…
ArticleIndian South Africans
From bondage to freedom - The 160th anniversary of the arrival of Indian workers in South Africa The feature on Indian South Africans forms part of our…