Historical Timeline

93 key events in South African history

c. 100 000 BCE San hunter-gatherers — the first peoples — Pre-colonial
San (Bushman) peoples inhabit southern Africa for tens of thousands of years, developing rich cultures, languages, and the world's oldest rock art tradition across thousands of sites from the Cape to…
c. 40 000 BCE San rock art — the world's oldest artistic tradition — Pre-colonial
San hunter-gatherers begin painting on rock faces and in caves across southern Africa. The images — animals, human figures, and spiritual beings — record cosmology, ritual, and daily life over 40 000…
c. 8 000 BCE Diverse San communities across the subcontinent — Pre-colonial
Multiple distinct San-speaking language groups — !Kung, ǀXam, Khoe-San, and many others — occupy different ecological zones across the subcontinent. Each community adapts its knowledge of plants, ani…
c. 2 000 BCE Khoikhoi herders settle southern Africa — Pre-colonial
Khoikhoi pastoralists, keeping large herds of long-horned cattle, establish seasonal migration routes across the southwestern Cape and Namaqualand. Their political structures, trade networks with San…
c. 300 CE Bantu-speaking farming communities reach the highveld — Pre-colonial
Iron-age agro-pastoral communities — ancestors of the Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Venda, and Tsonga peoples — spread southward along the eastern escarpment, practising mixed farming and constructing …
c. 700 CE Early Nguni communities settle the eastern seaboard — Pre-colonial
Nguni-speaking communities — ancestors of the Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele peoples — establish themselves along the eastern coastal strip from the Drakensberg escarpment to the Indian Ocean. They …
c. 900 CE Mapungubwe — southern Africa's first kingdom — Pre-colonial
At the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, the kingdom of Mapungubwe becomes the most complex society in southern Africa, trading gold and ivory with Arab and Indian merchants as far away as…
c. 1000–1300 CE Indian Ocean trade connects southern Africa to the world — Pre-colonial
Swahili, Arab, and later Indian merchants establish regular trade routes linking the eastern African coast to the interior. Gold, ivory, copper, and enslaved people flow outward; glass beads, cloth, …
c. 1220 CE Great Zimbabwe reaches its height — Pre-colonial
The stone-walled city of Great Zimbabwe, built without mortar, becomes the capital of a powerful Shona-speaking kingdom controlling the gold trade between the interior and the Indian Ocean coast. At …
c. 1400 CE Decline of Great Zimbabwe — rise of the Mutapa empire — Pre-colonial
Great Zimbabwe declines, possibly due to overgrazing and soil exhaustion. Power shifts northward to the Mutapa (Monomotapa) empire, which continues to control the gold trade along the Zambezi. The Zi…
c. 1450 CE Tswana and Sotho chiefdoms established on the highveld — Pre-colonial
Tswana-speaking communities form large, densely populated towns — some with 10 000 or more residents — across the northern Cape and what is now Botswana, developing sophisticated political, agricultu…
c. 1480 CE Venda and Tsonga kingdoms north of the Limpopo — Pre-colonial
The Venda people establish their kingdom around the Soutpansberg mountains, while Tsonga communities control the trade routes between the Mozambican coast and the interior. Both peoples maintain dist…
1488 Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope — European contact
The Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa, naming it Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). The Khoikhoi who watch from shore are the…
1497 Vasco da Gama passes the eastern Cape coast — European contact
Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape and sails up the east coast, making contact with Khoikhoi communities at Mossel Bay. His voyage inaugurates the Portuguese spice trade and begins a century of violent cl…
1510 Khoikhoi defeat and kill the Portuguese Viceroy Francisco de Almeida — European contact
The Viceroy of Portuguese India, Francisco de Almeida, is killed near Table Bay by Khoikhoi men in retaliation for a cattle raid. It is the first recorded armed resistance by southern Africans agains…
1652 VOC establishes a refreshment station at the Cape — Dutch settlement
Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) arrives at Table Bay to build a fort and garden to supply passing ships. What was intended as a small waystation grows into a permanent colony. …
1658 Enslaved people brought to the Cape Colony — Dutch settlement
The VOC begins importing enslaved people from West Africa, Madagascar, Mozambique, India, and Southeast Asia. By the 1700s enslaved people outnumber free colonists. Their descendants — together with …
1688 French Huguenot refugees settle at the Cape — Dutch settlement
Around 200 French Protestant refugees, fleeing persecution after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settle in the Franschhoek valley. They bring viticulture expertise and are rapidly absorbed int…
1713 Smallpox epidemic devastates Khoikhoi communities — Dutch settlement
A catastrophic smallpox outbreak kills the majority of Khoikhoi near Cape Town. Loss of cattle, land, and population forces survivors into servitude or flight into the interior. The epidemic accelera…
1760s Trekboers expand deep into the interior — Dutch settlement
Dutch-speaking pastoral farmers (Trekboers) move east and north beyond the Cape mountains, occupying vast tracts of land and displacing Khoikhoi and San communities through violence and seizure of gr…
1779 First Cape Frontier War — Xhosa and colonists clash — Frontier wars
The first of nine Cape Frontier Wars breaks out as Boer settlers and Xhosa chiefdoms clash over land, cattle, and the Fish River boundary. The Xhosa, under successive leaders including Rharhabe, Ndla…
1795 Britain occupies the Cape Colony for the first time — British rule
Britain seizes the Cape from the collapsing Dutch Batavian Republic, returning it in 1803 before retaking it permanently in 1806. British rule brings new language, law, and evangelical Christianity —…
1806 Britain formally annexes the Cape Colony — British rule
After the Battle of Blaauwberg, the Cape Colony permanently becomes British territory. The British bring English common law, the gradual abolition of slavery, and new waves of settlers — transforming…
1815 Slachtersnek Rebellion — Boers resist British authority — British rule
A small Boer rebellion on the eastern frontier is harshly suppressed by British authorities, including a botched public execution. The incident becomes a founding grievance in Boer/Afrikaner historic…
1816 Shaka rises to power and builds the Zulu kingdom — Zulu kingdom
Shaka kaSenzangakhona takes leadership of the Zulu chiefdom and radically reorganises his army into age-grade regiments (amabutho), developing new battle tactics. Over the next twelve years he builds…
1820 4 000 British settlers arrive at Algoa Bay — British rule
The British government sponsors 4 000 settlers to farm the eastern Cape frontier as a buffer against Xhosa communities. The settlers bring English culture, nonconformist religion, and the English-lan…
1820s Mfecane / Difaqane — wars and migrations reshape the interior — Mfecane
A period of widespread warfare, migration, and state-formation sweeps the interior of southern Africa. Displacement of peoples from Natal and the highveld leads to the creation of new kingdoms: Sotho…
1823 Moshoeshoe I founds the Sotho kingdom at Thaba Bosiu — Sotho kingdom
The remarkable Sotho chief Moshoeshoe I gathers refugees from the Mfecane wars at his mountain fortress of Thaba Bosiu, building a kingdom through diplomacy as much as warfare. He defeats Zulu, Boer,…
1828 Ordinance 50 grants Khoikhoi legal equality at the Cape — Legal reform
The landmark Ordinance 50 removes legal restrictions on Khoikhoi movement and labour — the first formal legal equality between white and non-white subjects in southern African history. Boer farmers f…
1828 Shaka assassinated — Dingane becomes Zulu king — Zulu kingdom
Shaka is stabbed to death by his half-brothers. Dingane succeeds him as Zulu king, facing increasing pressure from Voortrekker settlers moving into Natal.
1833 Emancipation of enslaved people at the Cape — Emancipation
The British Emancipation Act frees approximately 36 000 enslaved people at the Cape Colony. Former slave owners receive compensation; formerly enslaved people are bound to four years of 'apprenticesh…
1834–1835 Sixth Frontier War — the War of Hintsa — Frontier wars
A major Xhosa offensive drives colonists back across the Fish River. The British respond with overwhelming force and execute the Xhosa paramount chief Hintsa under controversial circumstances. The wa…
1836 The Great Trek — Boers leave the Cape Colony — Great Trek
Thousands of Boer families (Voortrekkers) begin migrating northeast out of the Cape Colony to escape British authority, land shortages, and the emancipation of enslaved people. The Trek becomes the c…
1838 Massacre at Weenen — Dingane kills Piet Retief and Voortrekkers — Great Trek
After signing a land treaty with Piet Retief, Dingane orders his men to kill Retief's delegation and then attacks several Voortrekker encampments, killing hundreds of men, women, and children. The si…
1838 Battle of Blood River — Voortrekkers defeat Zulu army — Great Trek
A Voortrekker commando defeats a Zulu army at the Ncome River (Blood River). The victory leads to the proclamation of a 'Day of the Covenant' and becomes one of the most contested events in South Afr…
1843 Britain annexes the Colony of Natal — British rule
Britain annexes Natal after the Voortrekker republic of Natalia collapses. Many Boers trek away rather than submit to British rule. Natal is developed as a British colony with a plantation economy th…
1846 War of the Axe — Seventh Cape Frontier War — Frontier wars
The arrest of a Xhosa man sparks a major frontier war. The Xhosa, under Sandile and Maqoma, fight a guerrilla campaign that humiliates the British before being suppressed after two years of fighting.
1852 Sand River Convention — Transvaal independence recognised — Boer republics
Britain recognises the independence of Boer settlers north of the Vaal River. Two years later, the Orange Free State also gains independence. The two Boer republics exist uneasily alongside British c…
1856 Xhosa Cattle-Killing — a prophetic crisis — Frontier wars
The young prophetess Nongqawuse tells the Gcaleka Xhosa that if they kill their cattle and destroy their grain, the dead will rise and drive the British into the sea. Tens of thousands obey; the resu…
1860 Indian indentured labourers arrive in Natal — Indian South Africa
The first ship of Indian indentured labourers arrives in Natal to work on British-owned sugar plantations. Over the following decades, more than 150 000 Indians come to Natal under indenture. They fo…
1867 Diamonds discovered near Hopetown — Mineral revolution
The discovery of diamonds near Hopetown triggers a rush of fortune-seekers from across the world. Britain annexes the diamond fields, dispossessing the Griqua, Tswana, and Boer claimants. Kimberley b…
1868 Basutoland becomes a British protectorate — Sotho kingdom
Moshoeshoe I, facing Boer encroachment from the Orange Free State, petitions Britain for protection. Britain accepts. Basutoland (modern Lesotho) becomes a Crown protectorate — uniquely preserving th…
1870s Tswana and Griqua resist colonial encroachment — Tswana & Griqua
Tswana chiefdoms and Griqua communities resist both Boer and British expansion on the northern frontier. The Griqua's claim to Griqualand West is extinguished when Britain annexes the diamond fields.…
1877 Britain annexes the Transvaal — British rule
Britain unilaterally annexes the South African Republic (Transvaal), triggering deep Afrikaner resentment. The annexation is reversed after the First Anglo-Boer War (1880–81), but the episode hardens…
1878–1879 War against the Pedi kingdom (Bapedi) — Frontier wars
The Bapedi kingdom under Sekhukhune successfully resists a Boer attack (1876) and then a British offensive before finally being conquered in 1879. Sekhukhune is captured and imprisoned. The defeat of…
1879 Anglo-Zulu War — Britain invades and defeats the Zulu kingdom — Frontier wars
Britain invades the Zulu kingdom without provocation. After a catastrophic early defeat at Isandlwana, British forces regroup and defeat the Zulu at Ulundi. King Cetshwayo is captured and exiled. The…
1880 Gun War — Sotho resist Cape disarmament — Resistance
The Cape government attempts to disarm the Sotho. The Sotho resist in what becomes the Gun War (Lerotholi's War). They are not fully defeated and retain their weapons — a unique outcome that strength…
1880–1881 First Anglo-Boer War — Transvaal regains independence — Boer republics
Afrikaner forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Majuba Hill. Britain restores Transvaal self-government. Paul Kruger becomes president of the South African Republic. The victory becomes a cor…
1884 Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate — Tswana kingdoms survive — Tswana & Griqua
Britain declares a protectorate over Bechuanaland, partly at the request of Tswana chiefs including Khama III, Sebele I, and Bathoen I. The protectorate (modern Botswana) preserves Tswana political s…
1886 Gold discovered on the Witwatersrand — Johannesburg founded — Mineral revolution
The discovery of the main Witwatersrand gold reef triggers the greatest gold rush in history. Johannesburg grows from a camp to a city of 100 000 within a decade. The mines drive a massive migrant la…
1893 Mohandas Gandhi arrives in Natal — Indian South Africa
Gandhi arrives in South Africa as a lawyer and is thrown off a first-class train at Pietermaritzburg for refusing to move to a lower-class carriage. The experience radicalises him. He spends 21 years…
1894 Glen Grey Act — African land and political rights curtailed — Dispossession
Cecil Rhodes' Glen Grey Act introduces individual land tenure in African areas, breaking up communal land and forcing men to pay a labour tax — effectively channelling Africans into the migrant labou…
1896 Rinderpest epidemic devastates African cattle herds — Dispossession
A catastrophic rinderpest epizootic sweeps southern Africa, killing 90% or more of cattle in some areas. The loss of cattle — the primary form of wealth and social currency — devastates African commu…
1899 Anglo-Boer War begins — Anglo-Boer War
War breaks out between Britain and the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State over British imperial ambitions and control of the gold fields. More than 500 000 British and Imperial tro…
1900–1902 Scorched earth, concentration camps, and African suffering — Anglo-Boer War
Britain adopts a scorched-earth strategy, burning Boer farms and interning families in concentration camps where 26 000 Boer women and children and at least 20 000 Black Africans die of disease and h…
1902 Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Anglo-Boer War — Anglo-Boer War
The Boer republics surrender. Britain promises eventual self-government to the Boer population and agrees not to extend the African franchise to the defeated republics — a concession that will shape …
1910 Union of South Africa formed — Union
The four colonies — Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River — unite as the Union of South Africa. African, Coloured, and Indian people are largely excluded from political rights outside the Cape. Th…
1912 South African Native National Congress (ANC) founded — African political awakening
Lawyers, ministers, and chiefs meeting in Bloemfontein form the South African Native National Congress (later the ANC) — the first national political organisation representing Black South Africans, c…
1913 Natives Land Act — Africans barred from owning most South African land — Dispossession
The Natives Land Act reserves 7% of South Africa's land for African occupation and prohibits Africans from buying, leasing, or sharecropping land outside these 'native reserves.' The Act displaces hu…
1919 Industrial and Commercial Workers Union — first mass African union — Labour & resistance
Clemens Kadalie founds the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), which by the mid-1920s has more than 100 000 members across southern Africa. It is the first mass movement of Black workers i…
1922 Rand Revolt — white miners strike against use of Black labour — Labour & resistance
White miners on the Witwatersrand go on strike under the slogan 'Workers of the world, unite and fight for a white South Africa.' The episode reveals the racial fault lines within the South African w…
1930 White women gain the vote — Black women still excluded — Women
The Women's Enfranchisement Act grants the vote to white women in South Africa. African, Coloured, and Indian women — and most Coloured and Indian men outside the Cape — remain excluded. The act deep…
1936 Native Representation Act — Africans removed from the Cape voters roll — Dispossession
The Hertzog government removes African men in the Cape from the common voters roll — the only franchise they had retained since Union. They are offered a separate 'Natives Representative Council' wit…
1948 National Party wins — apartheid policy begins — Apartheid
The Afrikaner National Party, under Daniel François Malan, wins the general election on a platform of 'apartheid' (separateness). The NP will hold power for 46 years. Within months, new legislation b…
1949 Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act — Apartheid
The first major apartheid legislation prohibits marriage between people of different racial classifications. The Immorality Act (1950) further criminalises sexual relations across the colour line. Th…
1950 Population Registration Act and Group Areas Act — Apartheid
Every South African is classified into one of four racial groups. The Group Areas Act then assigns each group separate residential and business areas. The forced removals that follow displace hundred…
1952 Defiance Campaign — mass civil disobedience against apartheid — Resistance
The ANC and South African Indian Congress launch a coordinated campaign of nonviolent resistance. More than 8 000 volunteers — Black, Coloured, and Indian — deliberately break apartheid regulations a…
1953 Bantu Education Act — separate and unequal schooling enforced — Apartheid
The Bantu Education Act transfers African schools from the churches and provinces to the state, explicitly designing an inferior curriculum to prepare Africans for manual labour. Verwoerd states that…
1955 Freedom Charter adopted at the Congress of the People — Resistance
More than 3 000 delegates from the ANC, SAIC, Coloured People's Congress, and Congress of Democrats adopt the Freedom Charter — a vision of a non-racial, democratic South Africa. 'South Africa belong…
1956 Women's March on the Union Buildings — 20 000 women protest pass laws — Women
On 9 August 1956, more than 20 000 women of all races march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the extension of pass laws to women. Led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams, and …
1959 Pan Africanist Congress breaks from the ANC — Resistance
A breakaway faction under Robert Sobukwe forms the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), rejecting the ANC's non-racial alliance and the Freedom Charter. The PAC's Africanist ideology attracts younger milit…
1960 Sharpeville Massacre — 69 protesters killed by police — Apartheid
On 21 March 1960, police open fire on a peaceful anti-pass demonstration at Sharpeville, killing 69 people and wounding 180, most shot in the back. The massacre provokes worldwide outrage and a natio…
1961 South Africa becomes a republic and leaves the Commonwealth — Apartheid
Following a whites-only referendum, South Africa becomes a republic and is effectively expelled from the Commonwealth due to opposition to apartheid. For Black South Africans, it marks the closure of…
1961 Umkhonto we Sizwe founded — ANC begins armed struggle — Resistance
After the banning of the ANC, Nelson Mandela and others form Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK, 'Spear of the Nation') as the ANC's armed wing, launching a sabotage campaign targeting infrastructure rather than …
1963–1964 Rivonia Trial — Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island — Resistance
Police raid the secret MK headquarters at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, and arrest most of the ANC underground leadership. Mandela's closing statement — 'I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and fr…
1968 Steve Biko founds the Black Consciousness Movement — Resistance
Steve Biko founds the South African Students Organisation (SASO) and articulates Black Consciousness — a philosophy insisting that Black people must reject the psychological damage of white supremacy…
1976 Soweto Uprising — students rise against Bantu Education — Resistance
On 16 June 1976, thousands of Soweto school students march against the enforced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. Police open fire; Hector Pieterson, 13, is among the first killed. The upr…
1977 Steve Biko killed in police custody — Resistance
Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko dies from brain injuries sustained during interrogation by Security Police in Port Elizabeth. He is 30 years old. His death provokes international outrage. The U…
1983 United Democratic Front formed — internal resistance intensifies — Resistance
More than 400 civic, church, student, and worker organisations form the United Democratic Front (UDF) to coordinate resistance to apartheid inside South Africa. The UDF works closely with the ANC in …
1985 States of Emergency and township uprisings — Apartheid
As township uprisings spread across South Africa, the government declares a State of Emergency. Thousands are detained without trial. The South African rand collapses after international banks refuse…
1986 International sanctions intensify — US passes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act — Apartheid
The US Congress passes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act over President Reagan's veto, imposing sweeping economic sanctions. Combined with exclusion from international sport and capital markets, t…
1989 FW de Klerk becomes State President — Transition
FW de Klerk replaces PW Botha as State President. Recognising the unsustainability of apartheid, he opens secret talks with the ANC and begins dismantling the apartheid legal framework. His announcem…
1990 Nelson Mandela released after 27 years in prison — Transition
On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela walks free from Victor Verster Prison. Billions of people watch on television. De Klerk also unbans the ANC, PAC, and South African Communist Party. Negotiations t…
1991 Apartheid laws repealed — CODESA negotiations begin — Transition
The Population Registration Act, Group Areas Act, and other pillars of apartheid are formally repealed. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) brings together 19 parties to negotiate a…
1993 Chris Hani assassinated — Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Mandela and de Klerk — Transition
ANC and SACP leader Chris Hani is shot dead on Easter Saturday. The assassination nearly derails negotiations. Mandela's address to the nation urging calm arguably does more to avert civil war than a…
27 April 1994 First democratic elections — Nelson Mandela elected President — Democracy
For the first time in South African history, all adults regardless of race cast votes in a national election. Millions queue for hours, many for the first time in their lives. The ANC wins 62.6% of t…
1995 Truth and Reconciliation Commission established; Springboks win the Rugby World Cup — Post-apartheid
The TRC, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, begins hearing testimony from victims and perpetrators of apartheid-era crimes. In the same year, South Africa hosts and wins the Rugby World Cup — a mome…
1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa enacted — Post-apartheid
South Africa's Constitution — widely regarded as one of the most progressive in the world — is signed into law. It enshrines equality before the law, freedom of expression, sexual orientation, and so…
1999 Thabo Mbeki elected President — Mandela retires — Post-apartheid
Thabo Mbeki succeeds Mandela as President after the ANC's second election victory. His presidency is marked by economic growth and African Renaissance rhetoric, but a disastrous AIDS denialism policy…
2005 Antiretroviral treatment rollout — the world's largest — Post-apartheid
Following pressure from the Treatment Action Campaign and a Constitutional Court ruling, the government begins a national antiretroviral treatment programme. South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic — the la…
2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa — the first on African soil — Post-apartheid
South Africa hosts the FIFA World Cup, the first time the tournament is held on the African continent. The tournament is a logistical success and a moment of continental pride, accompanied by the ubi…
2012 Marikana Massacre — 34 miners killed by police — Post-apartheid
On 16 August 2012, South African Police open fire on striking platinum miners at the Marikana mine, killing 34. It is the deadliest use of force by South African security forces since Sharpeville, ex…
2018 Cyril Ramaphosa becomes President — Post-apartheid
Cyril Ramaphosa succeeds Jacob Zuma as ANC leader and State President following years of corruption scandals ('state capture') under Zuma. Ramaphosa inherits a country with one of the highest inequal…