History

=History of South Africa=

[|Bantu] Tribes
The Bantu people migrated to the area that is now South Africa about 2000 years ago.

These people were the first to develop ironworking technologies that predated the

European discovery of ironworking by hundreds of years.



European Contact
The first known European contact with South Africa was in 1488. Portuguese explorer

Bartolomeu Dias reached the southernmost point of Africa, but soon turned back due to

stormy conditions.

In 1652, 150 years after the first European contact with South Africa, Dutch explorer Jan

van Riebeeck reached the cape of South Africa and set up a refreshment station there.

This station was located at the Cape of Good Hope, which would later become Cape

Town. The Dutch set up settlements in the area, and began to colonize. They imported

slaves to work for the colonists that were coming to the area. Soon after, gold and

diamonds were discovered in the area, which led to other European countries becoming

interested in colonizing the area. Eventually, the British took over the area. Cape Town

became a British colony in 1806. Wars began to break out between the tribal peoples of

the area, and the British. The British forces were strong, and continued to expand their

colonized territory. In 1833, the British abolished slavery in the colony. After years

of war, the Cape and Natal colonies, along with the republics of Orange Free State and

Transvaal founded the Union of South Africa.

Recent History
The Union of South Africa, although considered independent, was actually a

dominion of the British Empire. In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. After

this, the era of racial segregation known as the apartheid began. In 1961, the country

became a Republic, and gained independence from the British Empire. Despite the new

independence, the apartheid continued. Many groups, such as the African National

Congress fought back against the racial segregation, but the government did everything in

their power to suppress these efforts.

Government Reform
Finally in 1990, the National Party began to change its policies. Nelson Mandela,

a very famous political activist, was released from prison, and many other unjust laws

were repealed. In 1994, South Africa held its first election and the African National

Congress won by a landslide. Nelson Mandela was elected President. Since then, the

country has been making attempts to recover from an era plagued with injustice.