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Dealing with the past and facing the future
The text that follows is a brief summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. You can read far more detail by going to SAHO's TRC feature In an…
Formation and launch of the UDF
UDF launch at Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town. Source: http://www.nelsonmandela.org In the late 1970s moves to form united front against apartheid were set in…
ArticleAfrican National Congress Timeline 2011 - 2020
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS TIMELINE — 2011 – 2020 2011 8 January 2011 African National Congress (ANC) President Jacob Zuma delivers the traditional ANC…
ArticleHistory Grade 11 - Topic 4 Contextual Overview
Figure 1.1. With his call to put “America First”, Donald Trump is the latest recruit to a dangerous nationalism. Flagrantly authoritarian figures like Donald…
ArticleThe African Union (AU)
Context As the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), founded in 1963, was established as a loose association of African states with limited mechanisms for…
ArticleHistory Grade 11 - Topic 2 Glossary
American Dream: The ideal by which equality of opportunity is available to any American, allowing the highest aspirations and goals to be achieved.[1] …
ArticleUnited Nations and Apartheid Timeline 1946-1994
1946 22 June, The Government of India requested that the question of the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa be included in the agenda of…
South African and World leaders
South African leaders South Africa has a long and very rich history. Many different cultures and communities live side by side and even together in South…
ArticleThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
Relations between Russia and South Africa In the late-19th century, Russia was engaged in rivalry with the British Empire, especially in Asia, and sought to…
ArticleCongress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was launched on 1 December 1985, at the height of the struggle against apartheid. As a federation, it…
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…
ArticleBoipatong massacre - 17 June 1992
On 17 June 1992 the Joe Slovo Informal settlement in Boipatong outside Vereeniging was attacked by a group of about 300 armed men from Kwa Madala Hostel in…
ArticleThe history of labour movements in Namibia
Background During the 1930s and 1940s, there were few black workers organisations in Namibia (then known as South West Africa). However, there were a number…
ArticleGrade 10 - Topic 1: The world around 1600
Topic 1: The world around 1600 What was the world like around 1600? Europe is considered as one of the world’s major super powers which played a…
ArticleThe Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. It lasted until the 20th century. …
ArticleHistory of Africa Day - 25 May
After World War II, the process of decolonization of the African continent gathered momentum as Africans increasingly agitated for more political rights and…
ArticleIndian South Africans timeline 1930-1939
1930 The Durban Municipality was a major employer of Indian labour, employing an average of 2 000 workers through the 1930s and 1940s. Municipal workers…
The people armed, 1984-1990
Introduction 1985, Desmond Tutu, armed only with the bible under his arm, confronts the SA forces during their attempts to break up a demonstration…
Article1960 - 1994: Armed Struggle and Popular Resistance
1984-1990:- The people armedIntroductionNumerous factors characterised the intensification of the freedom struggle against the National Party government in the…
ArticleArts and Cultural Organisations
South Africa History Online has embarked, with the support of the NIHSS, on researching the role of the arts under apartheid. We hope that our work will…
ArticleSouth West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO)
The South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) was founded in Windhoek, South West Africa (presently Namibia) on 19 April 1960 by Herman Toivo ja Toivo…
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…
The search for Peter Johnson’s story
In 1975, Peter Johnson, joined the ranks of the uMkhonto we Sizwe and disappeared into exile. Nearly a decade later, on the 26 October 1984, Johnson, now known…
ArticleImperialism and socialism in the context of Africa
Please note: This topic's content was written in 2003 and is part of the old curriculum content, we have modified it slightly to fit the new curriculum but we…
A Chronological look (1943 to 1986) at the Life and Times of Mr George Ponnen
GANGEN-GEORGE PONNEN - SPEAKS OF HIS LIFE AND INVOLVEMENT IN THE TRADE UNION, POLITICAL AND NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS IN HIS COUNTRY, SOUTH AFRICA. I was…
ArticleInfecting the City Public Arts Festival
Infecting the City is an annual arts festival that takes place in communal areas of Cape Town and Mbombela, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The festival aims to…
ArticlePan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is the belief that people of African descent have common interests and should be unified. Historically, Pan-Africanism has often taken the shape…
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…
ArticleSS Mendi
The sinking of the SS Mendi was caused by the reckless action of the captain of the SS Darro. It remains the greatest wartime maritime disaster ever suffered…
ArticleTransport on water
Transport on water Ships and boats are as old as the desire to travel over and across water, and to fish. Boats are smaller than ships. They can be powered by…