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Event200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act
The 25 March 2007 saw the 200-year-celebration of the abolishment of the slave trade in the British Empire. The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed by…
PlaceRiebeeck Square, Cape Town.
Riebeeck Square developed during the 18th century, when the town began to expand laterally into the Table Valley, and marks the point where incoming farmers…
EventXhosa Chief Sandile is killed
Xhosa Chief Sandile, born in the Ciskei in 1820, was killed in Denge Forest in a skirmish with the Fingos under Captain J. Lonsdale. Sandile was a son from the…
BiographyWendy Heather Woods
Wendy Heather Woods (neè Bruce) was born on 5 February 1941 in Mthatha (formerly Umtata), Transkei (now Eastern Cape Province). An outstanding pupil in school,…
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…
PlaceBaviaanskloof Region and Pass, Eastern Cape
There is a Gorge that lies in the Valley, stretching for over 100 kilometres, between the Baviaanskloof Mountains to the North and the Kouga Mountains, to the…
ArticleSlave Resistance
Slavery was introduced to the Cape Colony by the VOC in its desire to boost the agriculture and food supply while retaining control in the new settlement. As…
PlaceBelvidere, Knysna
Captain Thomas Henry Duthie emigrated to the Cape in 1826. In 1830 he visited Knysna, where he was the guest of George Rex, whose daughter Caroline he…
PlaceFordsburg and the Oriental Plaza, Johannesburg
… and Syrian cultures. Fordsburg’s history dates back to the 1800's, when gold miners were housed there. It was also the …
PlaceCairo, Capital City of Egypt
… Mohammed Ali Mosque (AS SEEN IN PICTURE) . Built in the 1800's, the mosque is one of the first buildings visible when …
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…
PlacePrince Alfred's Guard Museum, Port Elizabeth
The Prince Alfred's Guard Museum, located in Central Port Elizabeth's Prospect Road, was formed through the amalgamation of a Military Museum formerly housed…
PlaceAll Saints Anglican Church, Durbanville
The All Saints complex, which includes the original church and the old parsonage, as well as a church hall and a garden of remembrance, dates from 1860 and is…
PlaceRooihuiskraal Battlefield, Pretoria
This property forms part of the Rooihuiskraal Battlefield. where the Battle of Rooihuiskraal took place, on 12 February 1881 during the First War of…
EventMalawi switches over to a new decimal currency, the Kwacha
Malawi officially replaced the Malawian pound with the Kwacha on 28 August 1970. The country had circulated the Pound sterling, the Rhodesian Dollar and the…
PlaceClaremont, a Suburb of Cape Town
… The first Estates emerged in Claremont in the early 1800's when predominantly British settlers purchased …
UCT Summer School 2020
Please note the following history related courses will be offered at the 2020 UCT Summer School. Local and South African History MASSACRE ON THE…
ArticleBecoming human in southern Africa
Human settlement in South Africa Modern humans have been inhabiting South Africa for more than 100 000 years. As a matter of fact, the Cradle of Humankind, or…
PlaceValkenburg Hospital, Observatory
The Building, originally designed in a Cape Dutch style and is one of the oldest Farmhouses surviving along the Liesbeek River. Its original construction dates…
PlaceFort Beaufort
Initially the division of Fort Beaufort fell under the district of Albany, and was proclaimed a separate division on 8 March 1848. At that stage its area also…
EventThe British attack in the battle of Colenso
During Anglo-Boer War 2, the British troops under General Redvers Buller launched a frontal attack in the Battle of Colenso with the intention to relieve the…
BiographyDr Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo
Dr Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo played an outstanding role in the South African liberation movement for over half a century - in persuading the Indian community to link…
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…
PlaceFraserburg
The division of Fraserburg was originally part of the district of Worcester and was proclaimed a separate division on 12 December 1853. In about January 1890…
EventEquatorial Guinea gains Independence from Spain
The colonial history of Equatorial Guinea dates back to 1471 when Portuguese explorers descended on the country. On their way to India, Portuguese explorers…
EventSir John Robinson forms Natal’s first ministry as Prime Minister
On 10 October 1893, Natal's first ministry was formed, with Sir John Robinson as Prime Minister, Minister of Education, and Colonial Secretary. Robinson, who…
EventPresident Paul Kruger lays the foundation stone of the Raadsaal on Pretoria’s Church Square
Church Square, which was initially called Market Square, was home to the first church built in Pretoria, which burnt down in 1882. The square's current layout…
EventFirst Tramway Company in Cape Town commences operations, with a horse
Public transport in South Africa commenced in Cape Town in May 1801, when a weekly coach service from Cape Town to Simon's Town was announced. Many years later…
BiographyLillian Diedericks
Lillian Diedericks was born in 1925 in the oldest part of New Brighton township, Red Location (near the railway line), in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape. Her…
PlacePort Alfred
One of the many difficulties faced by the 1820 Settlers, was accessibility to the outside World. In 1821, the first ship entered the Kowie River and the…