Pondering the Past: South African History 101

South Africa has a rich and turbulent history that makes it such a fascinating nation today. For a quick survey of its past, check out the timeline below:

• The 3rd century marks the dawn of the Iron Age, when farming tribes begin making metal tools and weapons. Throughout the African continent, many communities start to trade with each other and grow. As a result, the most successful and larger tribes migrate southward.
  
• 1030-1290: The Kingdom of Mapungubwe prospers atop Mapungubwe Hill, where today’s international borders between South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe meet.
  
• The Portuguese government sends navigators to find a sea-route to India along the South African coast, and they reach Guinea, West Africa in 1460. In 1498, Vasco de Gama reaches India and establishes control of the sea trade route. Tribes in the southern Africa interact with the new European settlers peacefully at first. In the 16th century, Portuguese power declines and many European nations compete for control of the South African coast and the trade route to India.
  
• 1652 marks the first official European settlement in South Africa. Cape Colony—known as Cape Town today—is settled by Jan van Riebeeck, a representative of the Dutch East India Company.
  
• In 1739, tribes indigenous to the southwestern Cape Khoi Khoi violently protest Dutch seizure of their territory with an organized rebellion. The Dutch suppress the revolt and punish the rebels by forcing them into unskilled farm labor.
  
• In the early 1800s, the Zulu tribe battles the Boers, or Dutch settlers. As a result, the Boers leave Cape Town and establish their own colonies, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. During the 19th century, Dutch and British settlers battle for territory and power in the Anglo-Boer Wars, and they finally sign a treaty in 1910 to create the Union of South Africa.
  
• In 1912, the Native National Congress, later known as the African National Congress (ANC), is founded. This political party aims to protect and preserve voting rights for blacks and citizens of mixed race. A year later, the Black Land Act No. 27 is passed that prohibits black Africans from buying and renting territory outside of certain designated regions.
  
• 1948-1952: The National Party takes power and institutes apartheid, an official policy of racial segregation which involves political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites. The government classifies people by race and enacts the Group Passage Laws, which forces non-whites to move from urban to rural regions. These actions meet resistance by the ANC, led by activist Nelson Mandela.
  
• Between 1960 and 1990, several large protests against apartheid break out in the townships. Many protestors are imprisoned and killed. Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison in 1964. International pressure is put on South Africa to end apartheid, including some companies promising to not do business with the country.
  
• Nelson Mandela is released from prison in 1990 and continues his work with the ANC. The first multi-racial election is held in 1994 and, after 27 years of imprisonment for peaceful resistance, Nelson Mandela is democratically elected president. He soon makes the ANC an official political party.
  
• 1996: The new constitution for the democratic republic is passed. “We, the people of South Africa,” it reads, “recognize the injustices of our past.” Under the direction of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) listens to testimony about human rights crimes committed during apartheid.

Sources: www.sahistory.org.za, www.britannica.com, www.africanhistory.about.com, www.factmonster.com

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