In Case You
Missed It

Image

110,000 BCE: Earliest evidence to date of Homo sapiens in South Africa

Image

C. 8,0000 BCE: The San migrate to areas across southern Africa

Image

C. 1000 CE: Mapungubwe
is founded

Image

1652: Dutch East India Company establishes a settlement in Cape Town

1806: Britain establishes Cape Colony

Image

C. 1816: Shaka founds the Zulu kingdom

Image

1833: Slavery is banned across the British Empire

Image

1835–1840: Boers leave Cape Colony during the Great Trek

1860: Indian indentured servants arrive in Natal

Image

1886: The Witwatersrand Gold Rush begins

1899–1902: The South African War

1910: The Union of South Africa is formed

Image

1912: The African National Congress is founded

Image

1949: The National Party passes the first apartheid law

Image

1961: South Africa leaves the Commonwealth and becomes a republic

Image

1994: Nelson Mandela is elected president