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ArticleThe Early Cape Slave Trade
The year 1658 marks the beginning of the slave trade at the Cape colony. During the first four years of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) settlement at the…
ArticleA history of prison labour in South Africa
Prison labour has a particularly debatable history in South Africa. Historically, South Africa operated on the understanding that prisons were places of…
Article‘Liberated’ Slaves? by Joline Young
While the abolition of the slave trade by Britain in 1808 was haled as a victory by abolitionists like Granville Scott and William Wilberforce,[i] for the…
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…
Segregationist Legislation Timeline 1950-1959
Immorality Amendment Act, Act No 21 of 1950 This Act was one of the most controversial pieces of Apartheid legislation. It prohibited adultery, attempted…
ArticleThe Union of South Africa 1910
Towards Union It is often assumed that the discovery of gold at the Rand was the chief cause of the South African War. This is not completely true, as…
Launch of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK)
Umkhonto we Sizwe logo 16 December 1961 is seen as the date of formation because Umkhonto performed its first acts of violence on this date. Popularly called…
ArticleThe Rivonia Trial Fifty Years later
ArticleTimeline of Land Dispossession and Segregation in South Africa 1900-1947
By the 1900s African people had been dispossessed of their land and colonial rule was still in the process of being entrenched. The formation of the Union of…
ArticleTimeline — Land Dispossession and Restitution in South Africa - 1995-2013
After the advent of democratic rule in 1994, the newly elected ANC led government was faced with the task of dealing with a legacy of centuries of land…
ArticleThe Land Act, Traditional Authorities and the Native Affairs Department (NAD) 1913-1953
Traditional authorities were indispensable in the application of the provisions in the 1913 Natives Land Act in areas of rural South Africa designated as …
ArticleUrban Removals - the Destruction of Sophiatown
Introduction This feature examines the history of forced removals in Johannesburg up to the destruction of Sophiatown. It begins by establishing the link…
ArticleForced removals on Highveld and "black spots", 1912-1991
In the early 1960s the Apartheid government moved swiftly to dislodge numerous Black communities on the Transvaal Highveld occupying land in what was…
ArticlePondoland
Introduction. Pondoland is the traditional area of the Pondo people, one of the Xhosa speaking peoples. Pondoland area is situated on the South African coast…
ArticleDistrict Six is Declared a ‘White Area’
“District Six is a blot which the government has cleaned up and will continue to clear up.”[i] - P.W Botha The memory of District Six, also known as…
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…
ArticleKey People in the June 16 Soweto Youth Uprising
Many people were involved in the historic turning point that 16 June 1976 became. These South African students, parents, activists, government employees, and…
ArticleWestern Cape Youth Uprising timeline 1976
1976 16 June, Extra police patrols are deployed. 24 June, The Principal's office in Hlangisi Primary (Nyanga) was burnt out and the following day the same…
June 17
The second day... was marked by uncontrollable fury and burning hostility...Police also assumed another attitude. They shot at random, and at anyone who would…
ArticleSouth African Students Movement (SASM)
The South African Students Movement (SASM) an organisation of mainly high school students was formed to represent students, articulate grievances and foster…
ArticleSoweto Students’ Representative Council (SSRC)
Before the June 16 student uprising, the Soweto Students' Representative Council (SSRC) was formed. This organisation led the march that the police fired on…
ArticleJune 16 Youth Uprising casualties
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ArticleResponse to the June 16 Soweto Youth Uprising by organisations in exile
June 16 marks the commemoration of National Youth Day in South Africa. This is the day the country reflects on the massacre of school children during the…
ArticleCommemoration, remembering and memorialising June 16 Soweto uprising
Since the early 1990s, June 16, now known as Youth Day, has been remembered, commemorated, and memorialised as public history. There have been different ways…
ArticleSAHO Commemorates 40 Years since Soweto Uprising: Intergenerational Dialogue
South African History Online (SAHO) is hosting an intergenerational dialogue to commemorate 40 years since the Soweto Student Uprising. The dialogue consists…
ArticleTimeline of the Marikana Massacre 2012 - 2013
The events at Lonmin Mine in Marikana in the North West Province were a tragic stain on the history of post Apartheid South Africa. This timeline chronicles…
ArticlePopular resistance and police brutality in democratic South Africa
The apartheid era was characterised by different resistances such as the Sharpeville massacre, Vaal and the East Rand in 1985 and Soweto uprising of 1976. The…
ArticleTreks & Land conflicts 1600s-1800s
Land is a very important commodity. It is used for farming, which provides food, providing living space and can also be seen as a sign of wealth and success…
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…
ArticleDutch Reformed Church (DRC)
When the Dutch settled in South Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries they transplanted their Dutch Reformed theology to the African continent. Jan van…