SAHO global search
17,861 records
BiographyCyprian Mpho Shilakoe
Cyprian Mpho Shilakoe was born on 3rd August 1946 in Barberton, Eastern Transvaal. Shilakoe spent his childhood on an isolated mission station at Buchbeesreich…
The First Slaves at the Cape
On March 28 1658 the Dutch merchant ship the Amersfoort anchored at Table Bay with 174 Angolan slaves in her hold. These slaves constituted the first shipment…
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…
ArchiveRemembering the Blue Notes: South Africa’s first generation of free jazz by Gwen Ansell, 11 September 2017
“We were all kind of rebels,” drummer Louis Tebogo Moholo-Moholo recalls, “so, like birds of a feather, [we] flocked together.” He’s talking about the Blue…
Tribute to Prof Meer on her 80th birthday by Ari Sitas, 23 August 2008
South African History Online Tribute to Prof Meer on her 80th birthday by Ari Sitas 23 August 2008 Fatima Meer's career at Natal University spanned…
PlaceSaldanha Bay
Saldanha is a seaside village that lies in the Northern most corner of Saldanha bay - the largest and deepest natural bay in the Country. The Saldanha…
PlaceOranjezicht
Oranjezicht is a charming suburb located in the heart of Cape Town’s City Bowl, offering a unique blend of natural beauty, vibrant culture, and stylish living…
Polokwane the Segregated city
Contents The Segregated City, 1910-1948 The Apartheid City A decade of Turbulence, 1976-86 Ructions within Afrikaner Politics Forced removals in the…
Learning about history through objects
Investigating the Toy box: objects Sometimes we do not have written records or pictures to help us find out information about the past, only the objects that…
English Settlement in South Africa
British presence in the Cape between the 1600s and 1795 was largely confined to the shores of the Cape and Table Bay as a halfway stop by the East India…
ArticleHistory of slavery and early colonisation in South Africa
With colonialism, which began in South Africa in 1652, came the Slavery and Forced Labour Model. This was the original model of colonialism brought by the…
Prehistory of the Polokwane/Pietersburg area
Prehistory of Southern Africa Two places are of particular heritage interest in the Polokwane area: the BaKoni Malapa Museum south of the stadium and…
BiographyChauke Family
The Chaukes live in Blinkwater, near Msengi in the Limpopo Province, but very little is known about this family of carvers. They have neither been prolific nor…
BiographyMichael Gagashe Zondi
Michael Zondi was born on 10 March 1926 in Msinga in Greytown, Natal. Zondi spent his childhood at a Swedish Lutheran mission station at Mtulwa, Natal. He…
ArticleSouth Africa and the Olympic Games
BackgroundWhat is today referred to as the “Ancient Olympic Games”, was a sports festival celebrated in honour of the Greek god Zeus in the town of Olympia. As…
ArchiveFrom eNcome over Bloedrivier to eNcome and Beyond by Ben Khumalo-Seegelken
FROM eNCOME OVER „BLOEDRIVIER“ TO eNCOME AND BEYOND Ben Khumalo-Seegelken, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany Conference …
Colonial conquest and resistance, Pre 1900
Several factors seemed to pave the way to apartheid, among them a colonial conquest, land dispossession, economic impoverishment, and exclusion from…
ArticleBritain takes control of the Cape
The arrival of the British at the Cape changed the lives of the people that were already living there. Initially British control was aimed to protect the trade…
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1700s
1700 The first "placaat" (ordinance or statute) restricting the importation of Asian slaves is promulgated. Dlamini chiefdoms move south from Delagoa Bay…
BiographyNerine Constantia Desmond Fial
Nerine Constantia Desmond Fial was born in Constantia, Cape, 1908. She studied graphics at London's Central School of Art in 1938, but was otherwise largely…
BiographyGrace Naledi Mandisa Pandor
Naledi Pandor was born on 7th of December, in 1953 Durban. She received most of her education in exile and matriculated at Gaborone Secondary School in…
ArticleAfrica, Portugal
Portuguese trading stations in West Africa and the slave trade Portuguese expansion into Africa began with the desire of King John I to gain access to the…
ArticlePopular struggles in the early years of Apartheid, 1948-1960
Historians recognise the significance of popular struggles over the past 100 years. But debates among historians about their relationship to formal political…
The Atlantic slave trade
Causes and results of slavery A main cause of the trade was the colonies that European countries were starting to develop. In America, for instance, which was…
ArticleBlack Consciousness and 16 June – The birth of a new generation
The Black Consciousness philosophy gained most of its support in the secondary schools and universities. The role played by the Black Consciousness Movement …
ArticleGeneral South African History Timeline: 1600s
European's settle in South Africa for the first time and begin to further colonize and trade with the Khoikhoi at the cape, by the middle this century the…
ArticleColonial history of Bloemfontein
The area between the Orange and Vaal rivers, originally known as Transoranje, with its abundance of permanent water sources, was the hunting grounds of the San…
ArticleHow Unique was Slavery at the Cape?
The first slaves arrived at the Cape in 1658, despite Jan van Riebeeck's several prior attempts at requesting slaves for the settlement from the Heren XVII. On…
PlaceCenturion, Gauteng
Centurion is an area with 236,580 inhabitants situated between Pretoria and Johannesburg. The area’s proximity to Midrand and Pretoria makes it a popular…
PlacePlettenberg Bay, Garden Route
The Town of Plettenberg Bay lies almost on the border of the Western and Eastern Cape. "Built on the hillside, most of the Town is on a steep slope leading…