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Jun 4, 1488
European exploration
The first European to explore Africa was Bartolomue Dias. In the 1480's Dias was sent from Portugal to find a sea- route to the spice islands in the Indian Ocean. During the search for the new sea- route Dias got pushed off his original path by forcful winds near the coast of Africa. Dias began to travel south and dcsided to continue on his new path. Dias traveled past the southern tip of Africa and back north to the Great Fish River. -
The Zulu Empire
The Zulu Empire was ruled by Shaka Zulu, an African chief who created a great empire by bringing together a hundred of the small tribes. Zulu used guerrilla warfare tactics to fight off the British and any other countries that wanted to claim their valuable land. The Britians tried to move into Natal, a land claimed by the Zulu Empire, the British had little respect for the Africans, so Shaka battled the Britians, killing the British leader and 70 of his men. This Started Boers war. -
Diamonds in Kimberly
The first dicovery of diamonds was during 1867 in Witswatersrand Africa. This and the discovery of gold changed the mostly agricultural economy into a modernized, industrulized, prospering economy as diamond mines were created. The mineral revolution sparked a large colonization of Europeans. But this also made the country lose their Economic and political independence, by the end of the 19th century. -
Britian Annexes the Transvaal
The Transvaal was a boer ruled country formed was a result of the Great Tek. The boers where trying to avoid British jurisdiction in the 1830s. In 1877 the British had to annex the Transvaal because they were trying to resolve the border conflict between the Boers and the Zulus. The British also annexed the Transvaal because Transvaal was slowly going in to financial ruins because the government was completely out of money. -
The British defeat the Zulus
On Januarary 22, 1879, a small british post of 140 men went to the Roke's Drift on the border of Natal. Many of the men were sick or already wounded from a previous battle,fought for twelve hours against 3,000 men in the Zululand army. After twelve hours of continuous fighting, the British the defeated the Zulu's in Natal. Once the soldiers returned home, they were given at least 11 Victoria crosses by Queen Victoria. -
Anglo-Boer War
Tensions between the Boers and the British began to intensify. The Boers were not happy with British rule, despite their actually helping the British. In 1880, war broke out. The Boers used guerilla warfare tactics against the British. The British retaliated by burning down Boer farms, and taking Boer women and children captive. By 1881, they came to negotiated peace. -
Formation of the Union of South Africa
On 31 May 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed under British power. The Treaty of Vereeniging, ended the Second Anglo-Boer War. In the treaty, each of the four unified states agreed to British rule and was allowed to keep its equalifications . The Cape Colony was the only one which permitted voting by non- whites. -
Aparteid
Aparteid was a racial segregation policy of the government of South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Under the apartheid system, non-whites classified as Bantu (black), colored (mixed), or Indian, did not share full rights of citizenship with the white minority. This came into effect when the Nation Party took over the Union of South Africa. -
Nelson Mandela becomes president
Nelson Mandela, who was a leader in abolishing aparteid,became president in 1994. He was South Africa's first black president after more than three centuries of white rule. Nelson Mandela also won the nobel peace prize in1993 right before becoming president of South Africa.
