110,000 BCE: Earliest evidence to date of Homo sapiens in South Africa
C. 8,0000 BCE: The San migrate to areas across southern Africa
C. 1000 CE: Mapungubwe
is founded
1652: Dutch East India Company establishes a settlement in Cape Town
1806: Britain establishes Cape Colony
C. 1816: Shaka founds the Zulu kingdom
1833: Slavery is banned across the British Empire
1835–1840: Boers leave Cape Colony during the Great Trek
1860: Indian indentured servants arrive in Natal
1886: The Witwatersrand Gold Rush begins
1899–1902: The South African War
1910: The Union of South Africa is formed
1912: The African National Congress is founded
1949: The National Party passes the first apartheid law
1961: South Africa leaves the Commonwealth and becomes a republic
1994: Nelson Mandela is elected president