South Africa, covering an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles), boasts a population of over 63 million people, making it the 6th largest in Africa. The name "South Africa" is derived from the country's geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation, the country was named the Union of South Africa in English and Unie van Zuid-Afrika in Dutch, reflecting its origin from the unification of four British colonies. Since 1961, the long formal name in English has been the "Republic of South Africa" and Republiek van Suid-Afrika in Afrikaans.
South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human-fossil sites in the world. Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been branded "the Cradle of Humankind". The sites include Sterkfontein, one of the richest sites for hominin fossils in the world, as well as Swartkrans, Gondolin Cave, Kromdraai, Cooper's Cave and Malapa.
Raymond Dart identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the Taung Child (found near Taung) in 1924. These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with Australopithecus africanus, followed by Australopithecus sediba, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo helmei, Homo naledi and modern humans (Homo sapiens). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years.
Early Inhabitants and Migrations
The first known people were the indigenous Khoisan, and Bantu-speaking peoples who migrated, in waves, from west and central Africa to the region 2,000 to 1,000 years ago. Khoisan refers to the indigenous peoples; Sān and Khoekhoen of Southern Africa.
Bantu settlers expanded from West Africa since approximately 3,000 BCE. Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen, were present south of the Limpopo River (now the northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe) by the 4th or 5th century AD. The earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050 AD. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples.
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Around 1220, in the Limpopo-Shashe Basin, the elite of K2 moved to settle the flat-topped summit of Mapungubwe Hill, with the population settling below. Rainmaking was crucial to the development of sacral kingship. By 1250, the capital had a population of 5000 and the state covered 30,000 km2 (11,500 square miles), growing wealthy through the Indian Ocean trade. The events around Mapungubwe's collapse circa 1300 are unknown, however trade routes shifted north from the Limpopo to the Zambezi, precipitating the rise of Great Zimbabwe.
European Contact and Colonization
In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European voyage to land in southern Africa. On 4 December, he landed at Walfisch Bay (now known as Walvis Bay in present-day Namibia). This was south of the furthest point reached in 1485 by his predecessor, the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão (Cape Cross, north of the bay). Dias continued down the western coast of southern Africa.
After 8 January 1488, prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast, he sailed out of sight of land and passed the southernmost point of Africa without seeing it. He reached as far up the eastern coast of Africa as, what he called, Rio do Infante, probably the present-day Groot River, in May 1488. On his return, he saw the cape, which he named Cabo das Tormentas ('Cape of Storms').
In 1595, the Dutch made their first contact with the coast of Southern Africa. With Portugal's maritime power declining in the early 17th century, English and Dutch merchants competed to dislodge Portugal's lucrative monopoly on the spice trade. British East India Company representatives sporadically called at the cape in search of provisions from as early as 1601 but later came to favour Ascension Island and Saint Helena as ports of refuge. Dutch interest was aroused after 1647, when two employees of the Dutch East India Company were shipwrecked at the cape for several months.
In 1652, the Dutch established the first European settlement at Table Bay, Dutch Cape Colony. Its invasion in 1795 and the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806 led to British occupation. The region was further colonised, and the Mineral Revolution saw a shift towards industrialisation and urbanisation.
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The Boer Republics and Conflicts
During the early 19th century, many Dutch settlers departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control, in a series of migrant groups who came to be known as Voortrekkers, meaning "pathfinders" or "pioneers". They migrated to the future Natal, Free State, and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer republics: the South African Republic, the Natalia Republic, and the Orange Free State.
The ZAR was established as a result of the 1852 Sand River Convention, in which the British government agreed to formally recognise independence of the Boers living north of the Vaal River. In 1853 the Volksraad adopted a resolution briefly adopting the name of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic). The same year, the Volksraad renamed the state to the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Benoorden de Vaalrivier (South African Republic to the North of the Vaal River). In 1858, the constitution permanently established the name of the country as the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek.
The ZAR was also commonly referred to as Transvaal in reference to the area beyond (or "trans") the Vaal River, including by the British and European press. The British objected to the use of the name Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek.
The first president of the ZAR was Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, elected in 1857, son of Boer leader Andries Pretorius, who commanded the Boers to victory at the Battle of Blood River. The capital was established at Potchefstroom and later moved to Pretoria.
Relations between the ZAR and Britain started to deteriorate after the British Cape Colony expanded into the Southern African interior, eventually leading to the outbreak of the First Boer War between the two nations. The Boer victory confirmed the ZAR's independence; however, Anglo-ZAR tensions soon flared up again over various diplomatic issues. In 1899, war again broke out between Britain and the ZAR, which was swiftly occupied by British forces. Many Boer combatants in the ZAR refused to surrender, leading British commander Lord Kitchener to order the adoption of several scorched-earth policies.
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By the 1870s, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Carnarvon, adopted a policy of confederating South Africa, in order to solve the problems of a restless frontier and of containing the Boers, which both threatened their colonies of Natal and the Cape of Good Hope. The first issue that prompted the annexation of Transvaal was the prospect that the Boers might gain an outlet to the sea, which the British government was trying to prevent, as shown by the annexation of Natal, which had previously been a Boer republic called Natalia. This annexation happened because the MacMahon award gave the Delagoa bay to the Portuguese, who were friendly to the Boers.
Moreover, the Foreign Office was concerned that the opening of Delagoa Bay could signal the involvement of other nations in the Transvaal, which could threaten the Cape Colony. This concern was intensified by the fact that some German merchants had already approached Bismark with the proposition that he annex the Transvaal, which proposition, although rejected, raised the possibility of the Boers requesting German protection, which in turn raised the possibility of the appearance of a foreign and unfriendly power in the Cape which could threaten Britain's position there.
The second issue that prompted the annexation was native policy and Boer relations with local African kingdoms. The British considered these relations a problem ever since the founding of the ZAR. Only one year after the Sand Rivers Convention, the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, Benjamin Pine, reported that the Boers had interpreted the treaty as having placed Zululand under their exclusive control. Pine stated that such a union of the Zulus and the Boers, who had wanted to create a settlement in the North-West corner of Zululand, would imperil the safety of Natal.
What precipitated action and confirmed the aforementioned fears was that in 1876, war broke out between the Boers and the Bapedi chief Sekhukhune. A.N. Pelzer wrote: "Although Sekhukhune made overtures for peace, he was not defeated and this fact, together with the shaky financial position, gave Sir Theophilus Shepstone the pretext he required to annex the republic [as the Transvaal, a British colony, on 12 April 1877]."
Nonetheless, the situation could not be described as anything but critical. The war had been expensive, leading the government of the Republic to be insolvent, and the desertion of Boer commandos gave the Zulus, the arch-enemies of the Boers, the impression that the Transvaal was weak, as they had been barely able to defeat Sekhukhune, who they considered a minor vassal.
In 1877, Shepstone left Natal for Pretoria. He was warmly received by Burgers, the president of the Transvaal. Thomas Burgers hoped to use the presence of Shepstone to induce the Volksraad to accept, as an alternative to annexation, a reform to the constitution that would strengthen his executive authority and prolong his rule by two more years.
At Pretoria the annexation was received quietly enough. The republican printing press (De Volksstem) made no difficulty over the printing of Shepstone's proclamation. Despite the official protest of the executive council, all but one of its members retained office under the new administration, and no military incidents occurred during or immediately after the annexation.
Sir Garnet Wolseley, High Commissioner for Southeast Africa, declared war on Sekhukhune. With British and allied troops, including the Swazis who had supported Burgers, in 1879 Wolseley defeated Sekhukhune and imprisoned him in Pretoria.
On 13 December 1880, the members of the last Volksraad were summoned to a meeting at Paardekraal. The meeting placed authority in the hands of a triumvirate: Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert, and Marthinus Wessel Pretorius. They declared Heidelberg their seat of government and hoisted the Vierkleur there on 16 December. The war, not officially declared to the occupying British troops, opened with an irregular attack on a British regiment on the march at Bronkhorstspruit.
The Boers defeated the British at Laing's Nek and Ingogo, and on 27 February 1881, at Majuba, General Sir George Pomeroy Colley fell at the head of his troops. While the British would in other circumstances have sent more troops and defeated the rebels, Prime Minister William Gladstone chose to make peace. Drawing up of the detailed peace treaty-the Pretoria Convention-was left in the hands of a royal commission comprising Sir Hercules Robinson, General Sir Evelyn Wood and Justice John de Villiers of the Cape Colony. The ZAR became fully independent on 27 February 1884, when the London Convention was signed. The country independently also entered into various agreements with other foreign countries after that date.
The constitution of the ZAR was legally interesting for its time. It contained provisions for the division between the political leadership and office bearers in government administration. The legal system consisted of higher and lower courts and had adopted a jury system. Initially, the state and church were not separated in the constitution; citizens of the ZAR had to be members of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, a denomination which had broken from the Dutch Reformed Church. The Bible itself was also often used to interpret the intention of legal documents.
Citizenship of the ZAR was legislated by the constitution as well as Law No 7 of 1882, as amended on 23 June 1890. Citizenship was gained by being born in the republic or by naturalisation. The voting age was 16 years. Persons not born in the republic could become citizens by taking the prescribed oath and procuring the letters of naturalisation. The oath involved abandoning, discarding and renouncing all allegiance and subjugation towards foreign sovereignties and in particular their previous citizenship.
To be eligible for citizenship, white foreigners had to have been residing in the Republic for a period of two years, be of good character and have been accepted as member of the Dutch Reformed or Reformed Church. On 20 September 1893 the ZAR Constitution was amended so that two-thirds of the Volksraad would have to agree to changes to the citizenship law.
The language spoken and written by the citizens of the ZAR was a variant of Dutch, locally referred to as Hooghollands. On 3 October 1884, the Volksraad stated that they had reason to believe that in certain schools impure Dutch (in fact an early form of Afrikaans) was being used. These changes to the ZAR laws made the use of all other foreign languages illegal in the ZAR.
On 31 May 1902, the Treaty of Vereeniging was signed with the government of the South African Republic, the Orange Free State government, and the British government, ending the war, and converted the ZAR into the Transvaal Colony. Following the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the Transvaal Colony became Transvaal Province.
Key Figures in the ZAR
| Position | Name | Years |
|---|---|---|
| President of the Executive Council | Marthinus W. Pretorius | 1857-1860 |
| President of the Executive Council | Stephanus Schoeman | 1860-1862 |
| President of the Executive Council | W. C. J. van Rensburg | 1862-1864 |
| President of the Executive Council | Marthinus W. Pretorius | 1864-1866 |
| State President | Marthinus W. Pretorius | 1866-1871 |
| State President | Thomas F. Burgers | 1872-1877 |
The Union of South Africa and Apartheid
Following the Second Boer War, the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 after the amalgamation of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies, becoming a republic after the 1961 referendum. The union was a dominion that included the former territories of the Cape, Transvaal and Natal colonies, as well as the Orange Free State republic. The Natives' Land Act of 1913 severely restricted the ownership of land by blacks; at that stage they controlled only 7% of the country.
In 1931, the union became fully sovereign from the United Kingdom with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, which abolished the last powers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to legislate in the country. Only three other African countries-Liberia, Ethiopia, and Egypt-had been independent prior to that point.
In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between Afrikaners and English-speaking whites. In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. It strengthened the racial segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule.
Taking Canada's Indian Act as a framework, the nationalist government classified all peoples into three races (Whites, Blacks, Indians and Coloured people (people of mixed race)) and developed rights and limitations for each. The white minority (less than 20%) controlled the vastly larger black majority. The legally institutionalised segregation became known as apartheid.
On 31 May 1961, the country became a republic following a referendum (only open to white voters) which narrowly passed; the British-dominated Natal province largely voted against the proposal. Elizabeth II lost the title Queen of South Africa, and the last Governor-General, Charles Robberts Swart, became state president. As a concession to the Westminster system, the appointment of the president remained by parliament and was virtually powerless until P. W. Botha's Constitution Act of 1983, which eliminated the office of prime minister and instated a unique "strong presidency" responsible to parliament. Pressured by other Commonwealth of Nations countries, South Africa withdrew from the organisation in 1961.
Despite opposition to apartheid both within and outside the country, the government legislated for a continuation of apartheid. The security forces cracked down on internal dissent, and violence became widespread, with anti-apartheid organisations such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Azanian People's Organisation, and the Pan-Africanist Congress carrying out guerrilla warfare and urban sabotage. The three rival resistance movements also engaged in occasional inter-factional clashes as they jockeyed for domestic influence.
Apartheid became increasingly controversial, and several countries began to boycott business with the South African government because of its racial policies.
The Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith, signed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Harry Schwarz in 1974, enshrined the principles of peaceful transition of power and equality for all, the first of such agreements by black and white political leaders in South Africa.
APARTHEID 46 YEARS IN 90 SECONDS - BBC NEWS
The End of Apartheid and a New South Africa
In 1990, the National Party government took the first step towards dismantling discrimination when it lifted the ban on the ANC and other political organisations. It released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years of serving a sentence for sabotage. A negotiation process followed.
With approval from the white electorate in a 1992 referendum, the government continued negotiations to end apartheid. South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since.
In post-apartheid ANC-governed South Africa, unemployment skyrocketed to over 30% and income inequality increased. While many black people have risen to middle or upper classes, the overall unemployment rate of black people worsened between 1994 and 2003 by official metrics but declined significantly using expanded definitions. Poverty among white South Africans, which was previously rare, increased.
The government struggled to achieve the monetary and fiscal discipline to ensure both redistribution of wealth and economic growth. One of the main causes of instability in South Africa is land distribution, black South Africans own 4% of the land despite making up 80% of the population, while white South Africans control 75% of privately owned land. This is a remnant of the apartheid Bantustan system where black Africans were forced into reservations. Since 1998, the South African government has settled 80,000 land claims from people who had been evicted from land by the previous government.
On 14 February 2018, Jacob Zuma resigned the presidency. On 15 February, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa became President of South Africa. On 16 March 2018, just over a month after President Jacob Zuma resigned from the presidency, National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams announced that Zuma would again face prosecution on 16 criminal charges - 12 charges of fraud, two of corruption, and one each of racketeering and money laundering, just as in the 2006 indictment. A warrant was issued for his arrest in February 2020 after he failed to appear in court. In 2021, he was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.
South Africa went through a period of political and economic crisis since 2020, with some international institutions, businesses and political figures stating that the country is heading towards failed state status. Due to high unemployment, low business investment, de-industrialisation, political corruption, and state capture. The country has been undergoing an energy crisis since 2007, resulting in routine rolling electricity blackouts due to loadshedding. According to the International Monetary Fund, South Africa is suffering from "massive corruption" and state capture.
The Zondo Commission, established in 2018 in order to investigate allegations of corruption and state capture released its findings in 2022, found corruption at every level of government.
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