10,000 BCE

For thousands of years before South Africa existed, this southernmost part of the African continent was populated by hunter-gatherer people known collectively as the San.

c. 100 CE

The Khoikhoi people and many Bantu-speaking peoples began migrating from the north into present-day South Africa, bringing with them iron technology, agriculture, and cattle herding. As more and more migrants arrived, the San retreated further south.

1652

The first Dutch settlement is established at the Cape of Good Hope to be a provisioning station for ships of the Dutch East India Company. Initially the Dutch planned to keep their settlement small and rely upon trade with the indigenous population to obtain cattle, sheep, and vegetables. When it grows apparent that the native peoples are not interested in sustained trade, the Dutch turn to farming, importing Asian and African slaves to perform the necessary labor. These settlers became known as the "Boers," the Dutch word for farmer.

1659-77

Wars between the Khoikhoi and the Dutch end with the Dutch greatly expanding into what were previously Khoikhoi pasture lands.

1700

In response to European expansion by the Dutch, and later, the French, most of the San and some of the Khoikhoi migrate north to inaccessible, arid regions to avoid the settlers. Intermarriage of Europeans and Khoikhoi produces what South Africa will later label its "Colored" population.

1730

By 1730, repeated smallpox epidemics have killed most of the Khoikhoi and destroyed their cattle economy. European settlers expand further to meet their own farming and herding needs. Land titles were vague or non-existent as both the remaining Khoikhoi and white cattle herders migrated seasonally in search of pasturelands.

1750

The Boers move into areas in the east occupied by the Xhosa, a Bantu-speaking people, who had been living there for at least 250 years.

1805

The latter part of the 18th century and most of the 19th century, saw numerous Frontier Wars fought between the Xhosa and the Europeans. The result of these wars was further expansion of Dutch claims on territory.

1806

As a result of wars being fought in Europe, the British permanently take over Cape Province from the Dutch and begin actively encouraging immigration from England.

1818

The great military leader Shaka unites the Zulu Kingdom using revolutionary fighting techniques. Large numbers of people migrate to escape the fighting. The Ndebele move to present-day Zimbabwe, the Sotho to Zambia, and the Nguni to Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania. The Mfengu people flee west into the British Cape Colony.

1834

In a migration that becomes known as the "Great Trek," 12,000 Boers depart Cape Province, traveling east and north to escape British rule. As they move beyond the Orange River, the trekkers battle with the black people living there. Major battles with the Zulu occur at the Blood River and with the Ndelebele at Marico. The trekkers establish the independent republics of Natal, the Orange Free state, and the Transvaal, and assign black Africans separate reserves within the states, where they live separately from the white settlers, but are still available to work for them when the need for labor arose.

1867

Diamonds are discovered in South Africa. In 1870, gold is discovered there as well. Mineral wealth greatly increases the value of southern African lands in the eyes of colonial powers and spurs three decades of great economic development. This development vastly increases the demand for cheap, unskilled, and semi-skilled African labor. The majority black population was forced to give up independent farming.

1899

From 1899 to 1902, the British and Boers fight the Boer War (also called the South African War). Since the 1870's, Britain had stepped up efforts to control the land and resources of the southern African region, battling the Boers, Xhosa, and Zulu peoples. With British victory, all the former Boer territories are combined with British colonial territories to form the Union of South Africa. At the turn of the century, the population of European ancestry living in South Africa numbers one million.

1910

The Union of South Africa becomes an independent nation. Afrikaners (descendents of Dutch settlers) form the majority white population within this new majority black nation. In the first national elections, the overwhelming majority of black citizens are not allowed to vote. Blacks and coloreds, with large enough property holdings, who reside within the former Cape Colony, do however temporarily retain voting rights. Over the years, the amount of land owned in order to vote steadily increases as the black population's ability to own land decreases. In 1911, the first national census finds that 21.3% of the population of South Africa is white. That percentage has declined steadily ever since.

1913

Following the formation of the Union of South Africa, the dispossession of the black population from their traditional lands was increasingly effected by law rather than by warfare. The Natives' Land Act set aside a tiny fraction of South Africa's territory as the only places where blacks could own land. It also forbade blacks from renting land, except in exchange for their labor.

1948

The Afrikaner National Party came to power in South Africa and intensified the forced relocation of black South Africans to all black homelands, called "Bantustans." Under this policy, known as apartheid, the few black freehold farming communities that still held legal deeds to their land were destroyed in a massive police operation. This policy continued for nearly 50 years, with black Africans being forcibly removed from their lands and crowded onto small land reserves which were often poorly suited for agriculture, resulting in impoverishment. These black South Africans formed a large pool of cheap labor for white-owned industrial and agricultural enterprises.