Colony of the Cape

The colony of the Cape was located in South Africa and was established starting from the founded city of the Cape in 1652. Colony Dutchwoman officially established starting from 1691, it extended gradually during 18th and 19th centuries to reach 569.020 km ² at the beginning of the 20th century.

Occupied by the British in 1795, then again Dutchwoman in 1803, it definitively passes by again under British house in 1806.

Throughout the 19th century, the colony of the Cape knows an economic development, territorial and demographic policy without precedent.

During the formation of the South African Union in 1910, it loses its political Autonomie to become the the Cape Province, largest of the provinces of the least dense Dominion but.

Into 1994, the Cape Province was divided into 4 new provinces:

Geography

The colony of the Cape was located at the extreme south-west of the Africa, was bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

Constituted starting from the fort of Good-Hope and the city of the Cape in 1652, it extended to the territories Xhosa S with more than 1000 km towards the east then with the Orange river in north.

At the end of the 19th century, it was frontier British colony of the Natal after the annexation of the various territories composing the Transkei.

Chronology

See also: History of the Colony of the Cape

  • 1488 : the navigator Portuguese Bartolomeu Dias, reached the Cape of Good Hope
  • 1497: Vasco de Gama explores the South-African coast.
  • 1647 : shipwreck of the Dutch ship, Nieuwe Haarlem, out of South-African ground.
  • April 6th 1652: Five ships of the Dutch Company of the Eastern Indies (VOC), under the command of the captain Jan van Riebeeck, accost in bay of the Montagne of the Table close to the peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope. Foundation of the city of the Cape.
  • 1657 : Beginning of the Colonization of a territory then occupied mainly by nomads Khoïkhoï (" Hottentots ").
  • 1679 : Foundation of the town of Stellenbosch in homage to the new commander of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, craftsman of the economic development of the small colony.
  • 1688 : Some 238 Huguenot S driven out of France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes join the 800 colonists of the colony to develop the Viticulture to with it on grounds rich in alluvium.
  • 1706 : first demonstration of distrust towards the autocratic government of Willem Adriaan van der Stel. the European Immigration in the colony is stopped.
  • 1713 and 1755: epidemic S of Variole which decimates Khoikhoi.
  • 1730 : Trekboers (wandering peasants of origins Dutchwomen) gain the interior of the continent to flee the Dutch administration of the Cape.
  • 1745 : annexation of Swellendam to the colony of the Cape
  • 1778: Eastern border of the colony fixed at the river Great Fish, the edge of the territories Xhosa S, at a few 1500 km of the Cape on the Atlantic coast.
  • 1779 : first war Kaffir
  • 1786: annexation of Graaff-Reinet, town of border located in full desert of Karoo at more than thousand kilometers at the North-East of the city of the Cape.
  • 1795 : British occupation of the colony of the Cape
  • 1803: Peace of Amiens. The colony of the course is reassigned with the Batavian République
  • 1806: Second occupation of the Cape by the British. The colony of the Cape counts a little more than 60.000 inhabitants including some 20.000 white, 15.000 Khoisans, 25.000 slaves, and thousands of free men (former released slaves of their constraint).
  • 1814 : the colony is definitively yielded to the the United Kingdom.
  • 1816 : the hanging of five Boers in Slachters Neck irremediably reinforces the acrimony of Boers towards the English.
  • 1819 : annexation with the colony of the Cape of the territories located upstream of the Fish river to the Keiskamma river, driving back Xhosas in the north of this border.
  • 1820 : intensification of British colonization in the area border of Zuurveld upstream of the Sundays river and downstream from the river Great Fish. Nearly 4000 English colonists the towns of Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown found.
  • 1822 : the Dutch loses its statute of Official language in the courts and the governmental services. It moves back in the school and religious fields. Anglicisation of the company of the Cape.
  • 1828 : the English becomes the only official language for the administrative and religious businesses. The equality of the races is proclaimed. Hottentots are thus seen recognizing the equal rights with the white.
  • 1834 : Abolition of the Slavery.
  • 1835 : Beginning of the Large Trek of the Boer S towards the interior of the continent. Annexation of the area located upstream of the Keiskamma river and downstream from the Kei river under the name of province of the Queen Adelaide.
  • 1836 : The province of the Queen Adelaide is reassigned in Xhosas.
  • 1843 - 1844: recognition of the Western Griqualand.
  • 1847 : the district of the Queen Adelaide is annexed and takes the British name of Cafrerie. She is separately managed colony of the Cape as a possession of the British Crown.
  • 1853 : the British Cafrerie becomes a colony of the Crown.
  • March 11th 1854: the colony of the Cape is equipped with a Constitution and a representative government.
  • 1854 : the governor George Grey undertakes to modernize the infrastructures and the equipment of the colony.
  • 1856 : " commit suicide national" of Xhosas following the Prophecy S of Nongqawuse. The population of Cafrerie passes in two years of 105.000 to less than 27.000 individuals. The depopulated grounds are allotted to more than 6.000 European immigrants of origin German are.
  • 1866 : annexation of all the territory of the British cafrery to the colony of the Cape to form the districts of King William' S Town and of East London.
  • 1867 : discovered Diamond S with Kimberley.
  • 1869 : the breeding of Autruche S becomes a new prosperous activity of the colony in addition to the Laine of Mouton and takes part in the economic development of the area of Oudtshoorn.
  • 1871 : annexation of the Basutholand and the Western Griqualand with the colony of the Cape.
  • 1875 : beginning of the annexation of the indigenous territories upstream of the Kei river and downstream from Edward Port. They will form the Transkei later.
  • 1882 : beginning of the influence of Afrikaner Jump on the political life of the Cape.
  • 1890 : Cecil Rhodos is Prime Minister.
  • 1899 - 1902: War of Boers
  • 1910: the colony of the Cape is gathered with Griqualand, Stellaland and British Bechuanaland in the news the Cape Province to form, at the side of the provinces of the Natal, the Transvaal and the free State of Orange, the news Union of South Africa.

Prime Ministers for the colony (1872-1910)

The post of Prime Minister for the colony of the Cape was removed the May 31st 1910 when the colony incorporated in the South African Union.

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