1.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
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Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
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Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
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Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
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Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
3.
Monarchy
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The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
Monarchy
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Richard I of England being anointed during his coronation in
Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle.
Monarchy
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Thutmose I, the third
Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.
Monarchy
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King George III of the United Kingdom, Portrait by
Allan Ramsay, 1762
Monarchy
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King
Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
4.
History of South Africa
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The history of South Africa starts more than 100,000 years ago, when the first humans inhabited the region. The discoveries also led to new conflicts culminating in open warfare between the Boer settlers and imperial Britain, fought essentially for control over the nascent South African mining industry. The country became a nation state within the British Empire in 1934 following enactment of the Status of the Union Act. The dominion came to an end on 31 May 1961 in consequence of a 1960 referendum, from 1948 to 1994, South African politics were dominated by Afrikaner nationalism. It was an extension of segregationist legislation enacted in 1960, since then the ANC has dominated the politics of the country in an uneasy alliance with the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. It was inhabited by Australopithecines since at least 2.5 million years ago, Modern human settlement occurred around 125,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, as shown by archaeological discoveries at Klasies River Caves. The first human habitation is associated with a DNA group originating in a area of southern Africa. At the Blombos cave Professor Raymond Dart discovered the skull of a 2.51 million year old Taung Child in 1924, in further research at the Blombos cave in 2002, stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago. This has been interpreted as the earliest example ever discovered of abstract art or symbolic art created by Homo sapiens, many more species of early hominid have come to light in recent decades. The oldest is Little Foot, a collection of footbones of an unknown hominid between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, discovered at Sterkfontein by Ronald J. Clarke. An important recent find was that of 1.9 million year old Australopithecus sediba, in 2015, the discovery near Johannesburg of a previously unknown species of Homo was announced, named Homo naledi. It has been described as one of the most important paleontological discoveries in modern times, the descendants of the Middle Paleolithic populations are thought to be the aboriginal San and Khoikhoi tribes. The San and Khoikhoi are grouped under the term Khoisan, and are distinguished only by their respective occupations. Whereas the San were hunter-gathers, the Khoikhoi were pastoral herders, archaeological discoveries of livestock bones on the Cape Peninsula indicate that the Khoikhoi began to settle there by about 2000 years ago. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Portuguese mariners, later, English and Dutch seafarers in the late 16th and 17th centuries exchanged metals for cattle and sheep with the Khoikhoi. The initial origin of the Khoikhoi remains uncertain, the establishment of the staging post by the Dutch East India Company at the Cape in 1652 soon brought the Khoikhoi into conflict with Dutch settlers over land ownership. Cattle rustling and livestock theft ensued, with the Khoikhoi being ultimately expelled from the peninsula by force, the first Khoikhoi-Dutch War broke out in 1659, the second in 1673, and the third 1674–1677. The disease had brought to the Cape by Dutch sailors
History of South Africa
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Statue of Bartolomeu Dias at the High Commission of South Africa in London. He was the first European navigator to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa.
History of South Africa
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Historical
states in present-day
South Africa
History of South Africa
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Bifacial points, engraved ochre and bone tools from the c. 75,000 to 80,000-year-old M1 & M2 phases at Blombos cave
History of South Africa
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Looking out over the floodplains of the Luvuvhu River (right) and the Limpopo River (far distance and left)
5.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign
Sovereign state
–
Member states of the
United Nations, all of which are sovereign states, though not all sovereign states are necessarily members
6.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
South Africa
–
Mapungubwe Hill, the site of the former capital of the
Kingdom of Mapungubwe
South Africa
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Flag
South Africa
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Arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck, the first European to settle in South Africa, with
Devil's Peak in the background
South Africa
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Depiction of a
Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838
7.
Kingdom of Mutapa
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Its founders are descendants of the builders who constructed Great Zimbabwe. The Portuguese term Monomotapa is a transliteration of the African royal title Mwenemutapa meaning prince of the realm. It is derived from a combination of two words Mwene meaning Prince, and Mutapa meaning Realm, over time the monarchs royal title came to be applied to the kingdom as a whole, and was used to denote the kingdoms territory on maps from the period. The origins of the dynasty at Mutapa go back to some time in the first half of the 15th century. According to oral tradition, the first Mwene was a prince named Nyatsimba Mutota from the Kingdom of Zimbabwe sent to find new sources of salt in the north. Thats the first legend Prince Mutota found his salt among the Tavara, a Shona subdivision, the second says that there was hunger at the Kingdom of Zimbabwe. Mutota then escaped the hunger then found land and they were conquered, a capital was established 350 km north of Great Zimbabwe at Zvongombe by the Zambezi. Mutotas successor, Mwenemutapa Matope, extended this new kingdom into an empire encompassing most of the lands between Tavara and the Indian Ocean, the Mwenemutapa became very wealthy by exploiting copper from Chidzurgwe and ivory from the middle Zambezi. This expansion weakened the Torwa kingdom, the southern Shona state from which Mutota, matopes armies overran the kingdom of the Manyika as well as the coastal kingdoms of Kiteve and Madanda. By the time the Portuguese arrived on the coast of Mozambique and he raised a strong army which conquered the Dande area that is Tonga and Tavara. The empire had reached its full extent by the year 1480 a mere 50 years following its creation, the Emperor Mutope had left the empire with a well-organised religion with a powerful priesthood, something uncommon amongst African Kingdoms outside of Egypt, Kush and Abyssinia. The religion of the Mutapa kingdom revolved around ritual consultation of spirits, shrines were maintained within the capital by spirit mediums known as mhondoro. The mhondoro also served as oral historians recording the names and deeds of past kings, the Portuguese dominated much of southeast Africas coast, laying waste to Sofala and Kilwa, by 1515. Their main goal was to dominate the trade with India, however, as the Portuguese settled along the coast, they made their way into the hinterland as sertanejos. These sertanejos lived alongside Swahili traders and even took up service among Shona kings as interpreters, one such sertanejo, António Fernandes, managed to travel through almost all the Shona kingdoms, including Mutapas metropolitan district, between 1512 and 1516. The Portuguese finally entered into relations with the Mwenemutapa in the 1560s. They recorded a wealth of information about the Mutapa kingdom as well as its predecessor, and while the site was not within Mutapas borders, the Mwenemutapa kept noblemen and some of his wives there. In 1569, King Sebastian of Portugal made a grant of arms to the Mwenemutapa and these were blazoned, Gules between two arrows Argent an African hoe barwise bladed Or handled Argent – The shield surmounted by a Crown Oriental
Kingdom of Mutapa
–
Map by
Willem Janszoon Blaeu showing Monomotapa (Mutapa), dated 1635.
Kingdom of Mutapa
–
A sixteenth-century Portuguese map of Monomotapa lying in the interior of southern Africa.
Kingdom of Mutapa
–
Towers of Great Zimbabwe.
8.
Dutch Cape Colony
–
The Cape Colony was between 1652 and 1691 a Commandment, and between 1691 and 1795 a Governorate of the Dutch East India Company. Jan van Riebeeck established the colony as a re-supply and layover port for vessels of the Dutch East India Company trading with Asia. As the only permanent settlement of the Dutch East India Company not serving as a trading post, as these farms were labour-intensive, Vryburghers imported slaves from Madagascar, Mozambique and Asia, which rapidly increased the number of inhabitants. Due to the rule of the Company some farmers tried to escape the rule of the company by moving further inland. In order to avoid collision with the Bantu peoples advancing south and west from east central Africa, in 1795, after the Battle of Muizenberg in present-day Cape Town, the British occupied the colony. Renewed Dutch control did not last long, however, as the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars invalidated the Peace of Amiens, in January 1806 the British occupied the colony for a second time after the Battle of Blaauwberg at present-day Bloubergstrand. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Great Britain, traders of the Dutch East India Company, under the command of Jan van Riebeeck, were the first people to establish a European colony in South Africa. The support station gradually became a community, the forebears of the Afrikaners. At the time of first European settlement in the Cape, the southwest of Africa was inhabited by San people, the local Khoikhoi had neither a strong political organisation nor an economic base beyond their herds. They bartered livestock freely to Dutch ships, as Company employees established farms to supply the Cape station, they began to displace the Khoikhoi. Conflicts led to the consolidation of European landholdings and a breakdown of Khoikhoi society, military success led to even greater Dutch East India Company control of the Khoikhoi by the 1670s. The Khoikhoi became the source of colonial wage labour. There they contested still wider groups of Khoikhoi cattle herders for the best grazing lands, by 1700, the traditional Khoikhoi lifestyle of pastoralism had disappeared. The Cape society in this period was thus a diverse one, by the time of British rule after 1795, the sociopolitical foundations were firmly laid. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to get to India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape Colony over to the Batavian Republic in 1803. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg
Dutch Cape Colony
–
Painting of an account of the arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck, by
Charles Bell.
Dutch Cape Colony
–
Flag
Dutch Cape Colony
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Map of the Cape Colony in 1809.
Dutch Cape Colony
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Administrative divisions of the Cape Colony on the eve of the 1795 British occupation.
9.
Swellendam
–
Swellendam is the 3rd oldest town in the Republic of South Africa, a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites most of buildings of Cape Dutch architecture. Swellendam is situated on the N2, approximately 220 km from both Cape Town and George, early travellers and explorers who visited the Cape in the 16th century traded with the Khoikhoi people who lived on these shores and in the interior. When the Dutch East India Company established a replenishment station at the Cape in 1652, in time, a village was established beyond the Drostdy, where artisans including numerous wainwrights and traders settled. Swellendam was the last outpost of Dutch civilisation on the eastern frontier, by 1795 maladministration and inadequacies of the Dutch East India Company caused the long-suffering burghers of Swellendam to revolt, and on 17 June 1795 they declared themselves a Republic. Hermanus Steyn was appointed as President of the Republic of Swellendam, the burghers of Swellendam started to call themselves national burghers – after the style of the French Revolution. But the Republic was short-lived due to the occupation of the Cape by the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Breede River is the only navigable river in South Africa and ships sailed 35 km up river to Malgas to unload and load merchandise. By the middle of the 19th century, the districts had been colonised by the British settlers. The town served as a refreshment station on the long. Today Swellendam is an agricultural area, and has many attractive. The first known sketch of Swellendam was of the Drostdy, by Johannes Schumacher in 1776, today the Drostdy forms part of a museum complex that consist of several heritage sites, namely the Drostdy, the old Goal and Mayville. In June 2011, the Swellendam Municipality area, which includes Barrydale, Suurbraak, Malgas, Infanta and Stormsvlei, there are long summer days in January and February. During February and March, summer draws to a close, with prevailing South Easter winds, april and May are autumnal months, with milder days and occasional showers. June and July bring the Cape winter, with weather, rain. August and September are the start of spring, three nature reserves are situated near Swellendam, Marloth Nature Reserve, Sanbona Wildlife Reserve and Bontebok National Park. Bontebok National Park is where the rare bontebok was protected when it was close to extinction, the population has increased from 17 individuals in 1931 to a sustainable number today. The area is diverse with an abundance of wild flowers. The 250ha indigenous forest at Grootvadersbosch is the most noteworthy in the southwestern Cape, woods like these are rare to find in the Cape this far west of the Knysna forests
Swellendam
–
Swellendam with the Clock Peaks (1710m) of the
Langeberg in the background
Swellendam
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Boer Republic of Swellendam (red) and other Dutch territories around 1795
Swellendam
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The Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve against the
Langeberg Mountains
Swellendam
–
Building of the
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Swellendam
10.
Graaff-Reinet
–
Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the fourth oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and Swellendam. The town was founded by the VOC Dutch East India Company in 1786, being named after the governor of Cape Colony, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff. Similar action was taken by the burghers of Swellendam. Claims that the two independent regions wanted to be independent republics were found to be untrue, before the authorities at Cape Town could take decisive measures against the rebels, they were themselves compelled to capitulate to the British who invaded and occupied the Cape. The burghers having endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to get aid from a French warship at Algoa Bay surrendered to Colonel JO Vandeleur, in January 1799 Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the independent movement in 1795, again rebelled, but surrendered in April following. Prinsloo and nineteen others were imprisoned in Cape Town castle, after trial, Prinsloo and another commandant were sentenced to death and others to banishment. The sentences were not carried out and the prisoners were released, March 1803, in terms of the Treaty of Amiens signed in 1802, the British returned the Cape Colony to the Netherlands in February 1803. It was then renamed the Batavian Republic, in 1801 there had been another revolt in Graaff Reinet, but owing to the conciliatory measures of General F Dundas peace was soon restored. It was this district, where an independent Colonie government in South Africa was first proclaimed, in 1806, a British fleet of sixty-one ships dropped anchor at Robben Island and landed 6000 troops at Blaauwberg. The Battle of Blaauwberg followed and Dutch resistance crumbled, britain agreed on 13 August 1814 to pay five million sterling to the United Netherlands for the Dutch possession at the Cape. This was officially opened on 26 August 1879, Graaff Reinet became the centre of British military operations for the whole Eastern Cape during the Second Boer War. In 1901, a number of captured Boer rebels were tried in the town for crimes ranging from high treason, murder, attempted murder, arson and robbery. Nine were sentenced to death, with eight of these being executed by firing squad on the outskirts of the town, the Burgher Monument in Donkin Street commemorates the fallen Boers. The Dutch Reformed church in the town is a prominent stone building in Church street with seating accommodation for 1500 people, the building is influenced by the architecture of Salisbury Cathedral in England. The college is a centre of some importance, it was rebuilt in 1906. The Graaff Reinet Teachers College was closed down in 1990 after it was used as a centre for educational training for about six years. Graaff Reinet is a market for agricultural produce, the district being noted for its mohair industry, sheep
Graaff-Reinet
–
View from Valley of Desolation to Graaff-Reinet
Graaff-Reinet
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Boer republic of Graaf-Reinet (blue) and other Dutch territories around 1795
Graaff-Reinet
–
An aerial view of Graaff-Reinet's Dutch Reformed Church.
Graaff-Reinet
–
The Drostdy Hotel
11.
Cape Colony
–
The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony, was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, the Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province, South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, from 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia. An expedition of the Dutch East India Company led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post, van Riebeecks objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former Scandinavian and German employees as well. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau. There was a degree of assimilation due to intermarriage. Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent, known as Boers, they migrated westwards beyond the Cape Colonys initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers, Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the century the Capes population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic. The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, in 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London. The British started to settle the border of the colony
Cape Colony
–
Map of the Cape of Good Hope in 1809.
Cape Colony
–
Flag
Cape Colony
–
Sir Henry Bartle Frere
Cape Colony
–
Sir John Charles Molteno, first Prime Minister of the Cape
12.
Zulu Kingdom
–
The area was subsequently absorbed into the Colony of Natal and later became part of the Union of South Africa. Shaka Zulu was the son of Senzangakona, King of the Zulus. He and his mother, Nandi, were exiled by Senzangakona, Shaka fought as a warrior under Jobe, and then under Jobes successor, Dingiswayo, leader of the Mthethwa Paramountcy. When Senzangakona died, Dingiswayo helped Shaka claim his place as chief of the Zulu Kingdom, after Dingiswayos death at the hands of Zwide, king of the Ndwandwe, around 1818, Shaka assumed leadership of the entire Mthethwa alliance. Shaka initiated many military, social, cultural and political reforms, the alliance under his leadership survived Zwides first assault at the Battle of Gqokli Hill. The death toll has never been determined, but the whole region became nearly depopulated. Normal estimates for the death toll during this period range from 1 million to 2 million people, by 1825, Shaka had conquered a huge empire covering an area of around 11,500 square miles. Shaka was succeeded by Dingane, his brother, who conspired with Mhlangana, another half-brother, and Mbopa. Following this assassination, Dingane murdered Mhlangana, and took over the throne, one of his first royal acts was to execute all of his royal kin. In the years followed, he also executed many past supporters of Shaka in order to secure his position. One exception to these purges was Mpande, another half-brother, who was considered too weak to be a threat at the time, before encountering the British, the Zulus were first confronted with the Boers. In an attempt to form their own state as a protection against the British, while travelling they first collided with the Ndebele kingdom, and then with Dinganes Zulu kingdom. In October 1837, the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief visited Dingane at his kraal to negotiate a land deal for the voortrekkers. In November, about 1,000 Voortrekker wagons began descending the Drakensberg mountains from the Orange Free State into what is now KwaZulu-Natal. Dingane asked that Retief and his party retrieve some cattle stolen from him by a chief as part of the treaty for land for the Boers. This Retief and his men did, returning on 3 February 1838, the next day, a treaty was signed, wherein Dingane ceded all the land south of the Tugela River to the Mzimvubu River to the Voortrekkers. On 6 February, at the end of the celebrations, Retiefs party were invited to a dance, at the peak of the dance, Dingane leapt to his feet and yelled Bambani abathakathi. Retief and his men were overpowered, taken to the nearby hill kwaMatiwane, some believe that they were killed for withholding some of the cattle they recovered, but it is likely that the deal was a plot to overpower the Voortrekkers
Zulu Kingdom
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King
Shaka Drawing (ca.1824)
Zulu Kingdom
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Location of the Zulu Kingdom, ca. 1890 (red) (borders in flux)
Zulu Kingdom
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Military innovations such as the
assegai, the age-grade regimental system and
encirclement tactics helped make the Zulu one of the most powerful nations in southern and south-eastern Africa.
Zulu Kingdom
–
King
Cetshwayo Photograph (ca.1875)
13.
Winburg
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Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is the oldest proclaimed town in the Orange Free State, South Africa and thus along with Griquatown, Winburg is situated midway between the Orange River and the Vaal River, adjacent to the N1 National Road, which links Cape Town to Johannesburg. The nearest city, Bloemfontein, is 120 km away, when the Voortrekkers reached the area of Winburg, there were no other tribes or inhabitants. The trade of cattle for land between the Vaal and Vet Rivers, undertaken by Andries Pretorius and the Bataung Chief Makwana in 1836, in exchange for continued protection, the Voortrekkers were offered the land between the Vet and Vaal Rivers. The Voortrekker leaders had a disagreement as to where to establish a town. A vote was held under the Burgers and Andries Pretoriuss group won and elected to establish the town in its current position and to call it Winburg, Winburg acted as a settlement and religious centre for Voortrekkers. It carries the names of the Voortrekker leaders, Piet Uys, Andries Hendrik Potgieter, Andries Pretorius, Piet Retief, the lengths of the five tiers are proportional to the distances travelled by the respective settler groups. The monument is built near the site of the birth-house of Martinus Theunis Steyn, the town was the site of a concentration camp for women and children captured by the British Army during their scorched earth campaign during the Second Boer War. 355 children and 132 adults died in camp due to malnutrition and contagious diseases. The famous Boer General Koos de la Rey was born in the district of Winburg on the farm Doornfontein, General De La Rey was the leading Boer General of the Western Transvaal in 1899 –1901. Winburg had an armed commando supporting the British soldiers during the war of 1899 –1901. The first shots of the Maritz Rebellion in 1914, against the involvement in South West Africa, were fired in the district of Winburg. The first President of the Republic of South Africa, when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961, was Charles Robberts Swart, the white community of Winburg is famous for the differences in political heritage. The town was divided into two camps, due to their support to either the South African Party of General Jan Smuts, or the National Party of Dr Daniel François Malan. This led to the division of the Dutch Reformed Church into two congregations, Klip Kerk and which was the original church for the Dutch Reformed Church. Bitter feuds were fought between supporters of the two parties, the Klipkerk supporters demolished the Rietfontein Church project several times. In later years this division was almost erased, the National Partys support and later abdication to the African National Congress, led to a new division in the community. Old feuds were re-ignited and with the town divided along religious lines again, a new church, the communities in Winburg, as in most South African towns, still lead segregated lives, a remnant of apartheid days
Winburg
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Dutch Reformed Church, Winburg
Winburg
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The Concentration camp cemetery
14.
Potchefstroom
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Potchefstroom is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University and it is situated on the banks of the Mooirivier, roughly 120 km west-southwest of Johannesburg and 45 km east-northeast of Klerksdorp. There are a number of theories on the origin of the name Potchefstroom, firstly it is said to come from Potgieter + Chef + stroom. This refers to the Voortrekker leader and town father Andries Potgieter, chef being an indication of leader of the voortrekkers, M. L Fick thirdly suggests that Potchefstroom developed from the abbreviation of Potgieterstroom to Potgerstroom which in time became Potchefstroom. However, this doesnt account for the use of Potjestroom which is found as inscription on many documents and photographs. In 2006 the local African National Congress-controlled municipality decided on a change for the city, the municipality. In 2007 the local municipality was changed from Potchefstroom Municipality to Tlokwe Municipality, the town, founded in 1838 by the Voortrekkers, is the second oldest settlement of people of European descent in the then Transvaal. The honour of oldest European settlement belongs to Klerksdorp, situated approximately 40 km to the West and this is sometimes challenged by historians because the first settlement was in the upper regions of the Schoon Spruit, which might be between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom. Potchefstroom however was the first to develop into a functional town, for a short time until 1840, the towns of Potchefstroom and Winburg as well as their surrounding territories were joined in a political entity known as the Republic of Winburg-Potchefstroom. Voortrekker leader Andries Hendrik Potgieter was elected as chief commandant, in October 1840, after a meeting between Potgieter, Andries Pretorius and G. R. van Rooyen it was decided that Potchefstroom would unite with Pieter Mouriets Burg. In 1848 Potchefstroom became the capital of the ZAR, a status which was affirmed by Britain in 1852, over 16 and 17 January 1852, the Sand River Convention was signed between Andries Pretorius representing the Boers and Major W. S Hogge and Mr C. M. According to this convention the British Government would allow the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal river to govern according to their own laws and this signalled the establishment of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek. In May 1860 Potchefstroom became the city of the Republic. On 16 December 1880, the first shots of the First Boer War were fired when the Boers laid siege to the old fort, the siege ended amicably on 23 March 1881. The British built a camp here during the Second Boer War to imprison Boer women, children. At the opening of the City hall in 1909, General Jan Smuts and he replied that the city stood no chance, but said that it should aim at being South Africas biggest educational centre. This has led to the strong inclination of this, the city of expertise. Since 1997 the town has hosted to the annual Aardklop Arts Festival, the Potchefstroom municipality, which encompasses several neighbouring settlements, has a population of 128,357, according to the 2007 community survey
Potchefstroom
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Town Hall, Potgieter Street
15.
Natalia Republic
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The Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic on the coast of Southern Africa, established in 1839 by Voortrekkers shortly after the Battle of Blood River. The area was purchased from the Zulu king Chaka by Piet Retief and his party in 1838 and it was previously named Natália by Portuguese sailors. The republic was annexed by Britain in 1843 to form the Colony of Natal, after the British annexation of the Natalia Republic, most local Voortrekkers trekked north into Transorangia, later known as the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal. Vasco da Gama sighted the bluff at the entrance to what is now the harbour of Durban in 1497, da Gama made no landing here and, like the rest of South Africa, Natal was neglected by the Portuguese, whose nearest settlement was at Delagoa Bay. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the region was inhabited by Xhosa people, the British established small settlements along the coastline, including the town of Durban, established in 1835. The next Europeans to settle the country were emigrant Boers from the Cape Colony and these voortrekkers were led by Piet Retief. Passing through the almost deserted upper regions, Retief arrived at Port Natal in October 1837, during this journey, he chose a site for the capital of the future state which he envisioned. He went to the kraal of the Zulu king, Dingane, Dingane consented on condition that the Boers recover cattle stolen by another chief. Retief managed that and, with the help of the Rev. F. Owen, Dingane and Retief signed it on 4 February 1838. Two days later, Dingane ordered the execution of Retief and all of his party,66 whites and 34 Khoikhoi servants, the Zulu king commanded his impis to kill all the Boers who had entered Natal. Other of the farmers hastily laagered and were able to repulse the Zulu attacks, in one week after the murder of Retief, the Zulus had killed 600 Boers. Hearing of the attack on the Boers, the British settlers at the bay sent a force to help them, robert Biggar commanded 20 British and a following of 700 friendly Zulus and crossed the Tugela River near its mouth. On 17 April, in a fight with a Zulu force. Pursued by the Zulus, the inhabitants of Durban took refuge on a ship then in harbour. After the Zulus retired, fewer than a dozen Englishmen returned to live at the port, the Boers had repelled the Zulu attacks on their laagers, joined by others from the Drakensberg, about 400 men under Hendrik Potgieter and Piet Uys advanced to attack Dingane. On 11 April, they were attacked and with difficulty cut their way out, among those slain were Piet Uys and his son Dirk, aged 15. Toward the end of the year, the Boers received reinforcements, in December 460 men set out under Boer general Andries Pretorius to take on the Zulus. Andries Pretorius selected Jan Gerritze Bantjes as his scribe and secretary in recording events of the campaign, Bantjes wrote in his journal the daily progress of the commando when they started out 27 Nov.1838
Natalia Republic
–
Natal cotton field (c.1885).
Natalia Republic
–
Flag
16.
South African Republic
–
The territory of the ZAR became known after this war as the Transvaal Colony. Constitutionally the name of the country was Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, many people also called the ZAR Transvaal, in reference to the area over the Vaal River including the British press and the press in Europe. In fact the name Transvaal was later so often used later the British objected to the use of the real name. The British pointed out that the Convention of Pretoria of 3 August 1881 referred to the Transvaal Territory and that the Transvaal and the South African Republic did not have the same boundaries. However, in the London Convention dated 27 February 1884, a subsequent treaty between Britain and the ZAR, Britain acquiesced and reverted to the use of the true name and this proclamation was issued during the Second Boer War and whilst the ZAR was still an independent country. On 20 May 1903 an Inter Colonial Council was established, to manage the colonies of the British Government, the name Transvaal was finally changed in 1994, when the ANC government broke up the Transvaal area and renamed the core to Gauteng. In paleolithic times, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years ago, hominids lived within the area of the ZAR. The earliest hominid bones, between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, were discovered at Sterkfontein in 1994, in 1938 Paranthropus robustus bones were found at Kromdraai, and during 1947 several more examples of Australopithecus africanus were uncovered in Sterkfontein. The capital was established at Potchefstroom and later moved to Pretoria, the parliament was called the Volksraad and had 24 members. The South African Republic became fully independent on the 27 February 1884 when the London Convention was signed, the country independently also entered into various agreements with other foreign countries after that date. On 3 November 1884 the country signed a Postal convention with the government of the Cape Colony, on the November 1859 the independent Republic of Lijdenburg merged with the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek. On 9 May 1887, burghers from the territories of Stellaland, on 25 July 1895 the burghers that took part in the battle at Zoutpansberg, were granted citizenship of the ZAR. The constitution of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek has been referred to as interesting for its time. It contained provisions for the division between the leadership and office bearers in government administration. The legal system consisted of higher and lower courts and had adopted a jury system, the laws were enforced by the South African Republic Police which were divided into Mounted Police and Foot Police. Also established was a Municipal Government, Witwatersrand District court and the High Court of Transvaal, initially the State and Church were not separated in the constitution of the ZAR, citizens of the ZAR had to be members of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1858 these clauses were altered in the constitution to allow for the Volksraad to approve other Dutch Christian churches. The Reformed Church was approved by the Volksraad in 1858, which had the effect of allowing Paul Kruger, the Bible itself was also often used to interpret the intention of legal documents
South African Republic
South African Republic
–
Flag
South African Republic
–
Johnston, W. and A.K. - South African Republic. Orange Free State, Natal, Basuto Land, Etc.
South African Republic
–
Statue of
Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, the first President of the ZAR in
Pretoria.
17.
Orange Free State
–
It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. In the northern part of the territory a Voortrekker Republic was established at Winburg in 1837 and this state was in federation with the Republic of Potchefstroom which later formed part of the South African Republic. The new republic incorporated the Orange River Sovereignty and included the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic and it ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Boer War. Following a period of rule by the British, it joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 as the Orange Free State Province, along with the Cape Province, Natal. In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa. The republics name derives partly from the Orange River, which in turn was named in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch. Europeans first visited the north of the Orange River towards the close of the 18th century. At that time, the population was sparse, early in the 19th century Griquas established themselves north of the Orange. Between 1817 and 1831, the country was devastated by the chief Mzilikazi and his Matabele in the known as the Mfecane. Up to this time the few Europeans who had crossed the Orange had come mainly as hunters or as missionaries and they were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left the Cape Colony for various reasons, but all shared the desire to escape from British authority. When Boer families first reached the area discovered that it had been devastated by a section of the Zulu tribe under Mzilikazi and his people. The Matebele had swept the country, destroying the fields, carrying off the cattle, the Boers soon came into collision with Mzilikazis raiding parties, which attacked Boer hunters who crossed the Vaal River. Reprisals followed, and in November 1837 the Boers decisively defeated Mzilikazi, in the meantime another party of Cape Dutch emigrants had settled at Thaba Nchu, where the Wesleyans had a mission station for the Barolong. The emigrants were treated with kindness by Moroka II, the chief of that tribe. In December 1836 the emigrants beyond the Orange drew up in general assembly an elementary form of government. After the defeat of Mzilikazi the town of Winburg was founded, a Volksraad elected, the emigrants already numbered some 500 men, besides women and children and many servants. Dissensions speedily arose among the emigrants, whose numbers were added to
Orange Free State
–
Flag
18.
Republic of Utrecht
–
Utrecht is a town in the foothills of the Balele Mountains, in the northwestern corner of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Newcastle, Kwazulu-Natals third-largest urban center, is 50 km from Utrecht, Utrecht has a population of approximately 32,000. Coal mining and cattle ranching are the predominant economic activities in Utrecht, in 1843, the British annexed the Klip River Republic. Most of the moved to the Free State and Transvaal Province. Klopper and C. J. van Rooyen – traded land east of the Buffalo River for 300 cattle in 1852 from Zulu King Mpande, Van Rooyen, who spoke the Zulu language fluently, was a friend of King Mpande and had assisted him a few years earlier. Prior to 1852, Van Rooyen had permission to use this tract of land for grazing, the majority of northern Natal was intermittently uninhabited, since King Shaka had driven out the resident Hlubi people, the Zulu people inhabited the land generally. In the Transvaal Archive, the settlers who moved there with the trio were called the Buffel rivier maatschappij. In a proclamation dated 27 December 1852 the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republic, in a signed by Commander-General A. W. J. Pretorius. This was due to a fear of antagonizing the English, who would be their neighbors on the Buffalo River after the annexation of the Klip River Republic. This warning was re-issued in December 1853, in a letter written to Phillip Koch and these inhabitants wished to be incorporated into the ZAR, but the ZAR refused. On 8 September 1854 the trio of settlers again traded the land for a further 100 cattle and had a bill of sale signed. The following is a translation from the original Dutch, Permission to graze the land under traditional Zulu land use system did not equate to ownership as understood in Western terms, the Republic of Utrecht existed until 1858, when it joined the Republic of Lydenburg. This republic joined the ZAR in 1860, Utrecht and Vryheid remained part of the ZAR until 31 May 1902, when the ZAR surrendered to Great Britain. After this, both towns were incorporated into the Colony of Natal as spoils of war, in a corner of the Balele Mountains, Utrecht is unique since it lies within a game park. The Utrecht district is the domain of five Amakosi, who today play an active role in the development of the area. The Mangosuthu Arts and Crafts village has a shop with a variety of traditional Zulu articles. In addition to eco-tourism Utrecht is an area, the most important wool-producing area in KwaZulu-Natal. It is also a cattle and mixed-farming region, and farm holidays are available
Republic of Utrecht
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City gate in Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal.
Republic of Utrecht
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Balele Mountains rising behind Utrecht.
19.
Lydenburg Republic
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Lydenburg is a town in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, Mpumalanga, South Africa. Officially known as Mashishing, Lydenburg is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Olifants River at the base of the Long Tom Pass, the name is derived from the Dutch Lijdenburg, or Town of Suffering. Lydenburg has become the centre of the South African fly-fishing industry and is an agricultural, the earliest known forms of African sculpture in southern Africa dating back to AD400 were found in the area in the late 1950s. Lydenburg was founded in 1849 by a group of Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Potgieter when they abandoned their previous settlement Ohrigstad due to a malaria epidemic, Lydenburg became important because it was on the wagon route to the port of Delagoa Bay which was free of British control. In 1871 construction of the road was started by Abraham Espag under the orders of President Thomas François Burgers, the first wagons arrived in Lydenburg from Delagoa Bay in 1874. On 6 February 1873 alluvial gold was discovered and within 3 months the Lydenburg goldfields was proclaimed, the First Boer War broke out between Britain and the Transvaal Republic in 1880. A British garrison under Lieutenant Walter Hillyar Colquhoun Long took control of Lydenburg to control the goldfields and it was from here that the ill-fated 94th Regiment under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Robert Anstruther marched to Pretoria. The remainder of the garrison at Lydenburg was besieged from 6 January 1881, by 1910 the railway reached Lydenburg. In 1927 Lydenburg became a municipality, in June 2006 it was announced that Arts and Culture minister, Pallo Jordan, approved the name change of Lydenburg to Mashishing. However the name still hasnt caught on, road signs still say Lydenburg and businesses and local building such as the Lydenburg Museum have still kept the old name. Jock of the Bushveld Lydenburg heads
Lydenburg Republic
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Dutch Reformed Church, Lydenburg
Lydenburg Republic
–
A side street in Lydenburg
20.
Griqualand East
–
The territory was occupied by the British Empire and became a colony in 1874, shortly before the death of its founder and only leader, Adam Kok III. A short while later, the territory was incorporated into the neighbouring Cape Colony. Though for a long time overshadowed in history by the story of the Voortrekkers, before the arrival of migrants from the west and north, the area formed part of the Mpondo kingdom under King Faku, who ruled as sovereign of the ethnically Xhosa dynasty from 1815–1867. During his reign, Faku initially welcomed many refugees who came over the territorys north-eastern border, fleeing from the incursions and raids by the army of Shaka. As Faku eventually realised that his warriors could not defend the eastern part of his kingdom against Shaka, he decided to evacuate the area, the British agreed to expel the entire population in exchange for a settlement of a border conflict between the Afrikaners and the Cape colonists. According to the sources, Adam Kok III and his followers only learned about the six years after the official document had been secretly signed. The plans to introduce them never materialised, and, with the exception of a few remaining samples. Confirmation that the Strachan and Co circulated as money in the region from 1874 comes from the local Standard Bank at Kokstad. On the banknote itself, it is flanked to the left and right by a band or ribbon which reads GOUVERNEMENT VAN | NIEUW GRIQUALAND, the actual implied colours are unknown. The Griqua flag is a vertically flipped version of the Vierkleur used by Transvaal, a single source dates its first documented appearance to 1903, but the flag itself might have been in use earlier, whether or not independent Griqualand East actually deployed it is uncertain. In the differing sources and versions of history, the end of Griqualand Easts story is as contested as its beginning, and the reasons for the countrys dissolution remain hazy. British sources also claim that the Griquas then sold much of their land voluntarily, on the other hand, opinion among the Griqua people themselves seems to have been divided. A quote by Adam Kok III, upon learning of the United Kingdoms plans, suggests there was misunderstanding or even deception involved in the British takeover. The British assumed direct control of the territory in 1874, what is known for a fact is that the Griqua leader, whose name still adorns the town he founded, died in December 1875 after being severely injured in a wagon-accident. At his funeral, his cousin commented that with Koks death, after coming under British rule, Griqualand East was administered by the British as a separate colony for several years. During this time, the British Colonial Office put considerable pressure on the government of the neighbouring Cape Colony to annexe the costly, however the Cape, newly under Responsible Government, was reluctant to assume responsibility for Griqualand East due to its considerable expenses and its understandably resentful population. Although initially the Cape had refused to annex the territory, agreement was reached after substantial negotiation, the act was only promulgated two years later on 17 September 1879, when four magistrates were set up, at Kokstad, Matatiele, Mount Frere and Umzimkulu. The Griqua people had ever been a small, ruling minority of the population of Griqualand East
Griqualand East
–
Adam Kok III
Griqualand East
–
Griqua Flag †
21.
Griqualand West
–
Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km² that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people - a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin and it was also inhabited by the pre-existing Tswana and Khoisan peoples. In 1873 it was proclaimed as a British colony, with its capital at Kimberley, when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 Griqualand West was part of the Cape Province, but continued to have its own provincial sports teams. The aboriginal population of the area were the Khoi-khoi and Bushmen peoples, early on they were joined by the agriculturalist Tswana people, who migrated into the area from the north. They comprised the majority of the population throughout the regions history, by the early 19th century the whole area came to be dominated by the powerful Griqua people, who gave the region its name. The Griqua are a people who originated in the intermarriages between Dutch colonists in the Cape and the Khoikhoi already living there. The Dutch East India Company did not intend the Cape Colony at the Southern tip of Africa to become a political entity, as it expanded and became more successful, its leaders did not worry about frontiers. The frontier of the colony was indeterminate and ebbed and flowed at the whim of individuals, while the VOC undoubtedly benefited from the trading and pastoral endeavours of the trekboers, it did little to control or support them in their quest for land. The high proportion of single Dutch men led to their taking indigenous women as wives and companions and they grew to be a sizeable population who spoke Dutch and were instrumental in developing the colony. These children did not attain the social or legal status accorded their fathers and this group became known as Basters, or bastards. The colonists, in their response to insurgent resistance from Khoi and San people. This ensured the men skilled in lightly armed, mounted. The resulting stream of disgruntled, Dutch-speaking, trained marksmen leaving the Cape hobbled the Dutch capability to crew their commandos and it also created belligerent, skilled groups of opportunists who harassed the indigenous populations the length of the Orange River. Once free of the colonies, these groups called themselves the Oorlam, in particular, the group led by Klaas Afrikaner became notorious. He attracted enough attention from the Dutch authorities to him to be rendered to the colony. One of the most influential of these Oorlam groups was the Griqua, in the 19th century, the Griqua controlled several political entities which were governed by Kapteins or Kaptyns and their Councils, with their own written constitutions. The Griqua had also adopted the Afrikaans language before their migrations. Adam Kok I, the first Kaptein of the Griqua and recognised by the British, was originally a slave who had bought his own freedom and he led his people north from the interior of the Cape Colony
Griqualand West
–
A one penny 1879
revenue stamp of Griqualand West.
Griqualand West
–
Historical
states in present-day
South Africa
Griqualand West
–
Griqualand West (in the center of the map) in South Africa, July 1885.
Griqualand West
–
The Griqua Kaptein
Andries Waterboer and his sons
22.
Stafford Parker
–
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived Diggers Republic on the diamond fields of southern Africa. Originally an auctioneer and artist, Parker moved to mining in Griqualand West in southern Africa, the chaotic diamond fields were disputed among several political claimants, such as the local Griqua people, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. On 30 July 1870 at the settlement of Klipdrift, Parker became the first and his government renamed Klipdrift as Parkerton after its new President, and began to collect taxes. The size of mining plots was limited in a move towards economic egalitarianism, when the British authorities arrived and declared their authority over the area, Parker and his government resigned in February 1871. He then moved to Lydenburg in the Transvaal, where he opened the Masonic Lodge and was elected to the Volksraad of the Transvaal Republic and he was widely known for his distinctive and memorable appearance. He always dressed extremely elaborately in a presidential manner and his signature item of clothing was his large white top-hats, that he always wore and that made him immediately recognisable. The journalist R. W. Murray described him as a citizen. He was portrayed by David Farrar in the film Diamond City
Stafford Parker
–
Stafford Parker - Ex President of the Diggers Republic of Klipdrift.
23.
Stellaland
–
The Republic of Stellaland was from 1882 to 1883 a Boer republic located in an area of Bechuanaland, west of the Transvaal. After unification with the neighbouring State of Goshen, it was the United States of Stellaland from 1883 to 1885. During its short history, the state became a focal point for conflict between the British Empire and the South African Republic, the two major players vying for control of the territory. After a series of claims and annexations, British fears of Boer expansionism led to its demise and, among other factors, set the stage for the Second Boer War. Two of the groups were under the leadership of chiefs Mankoroane and Montsioa, whom the British regarded as friendly. When a feud erupted between Mankoroane and another chief, each side resorted to recruiting volunteers, promising them land in return for their assistance, the town of Vryburg was founded and declared its capital. At its founding, the new country covered an area of 15,500 km2 and was home to a population of 20,500 individuals,3,000 of whom were of European ancestry. Goshen had an population of 17,000, of whom approximately 2,000 were of European origin. On 6 August 1883, Stellaland and Goshen united to form the United States of Stellaland, whether or not the independence of any of these states was ever recognised by another country is not clear. Only later did Warren realise that his wording could be interpreted as an acknowledgment of Stellalands legality, in February 1884, Great Britain unilaterally declared the area a British protectorate. Stellalands laws and constitution were practically identical to those of the South African Republic and these fears were fuelled when, on 10 September 1884, President Paul Kruger of Transvaal declared the area to be under the protection of the South African Republic and annexed it six days later. Beginning in 2008, the political group Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging started lobbying for the area to be re-established as an independent Boer republic. Eugène TerreBlanche has since been murdered, on 4 May 2014 the Front National political party said they want to call for restitution of the Republic of Stellaland. Postage stamps and postal history of Stellaland Republic Flag of Stellaland Coat of arms of Stellaland
Stellaland
–
Stellaland with its capital
Vryburg on a contemporary map prior to unification with Goshen to the northeast
Stellaland
–
Flag
24.
Nieuwe Republiek
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The Nieuwe Republiek was a small Boer republic, which existed from 1884 to 1888 in present-day South Africa. The Niewe Republiek or legally Nieuwe Republiek Zuid Afrika was a Boer Republic which was recognised only by the German Empire and its independence was proclaimed on August 16 of 1884 with land donated by the Zulu Kingdom through a treaty. It covered 13,600 square kilometres and the capital was Vryheid or Vrijheid, the founder and president until it requested incorporation by Transvaal on 20 July 1888 was Lucas Johannes Meijer, as Secretary of State acted in the same period Daniel Johannes Esselen. On August 5,1884 the Boers formed the Nieuwe Republiek with recognition by Germany, ZAR, British annexation of the Zulu territory resulted in a revolt, led by Dinizulu who was defeated by the British and king Dinizulu was tried for high treason in Eshowe, and sentenced. The annexation of Zululand did not leave much hope for security in the Nieuwe Republiek against British imperialism, on July 20 of 1888 the New Republic was incorporated with the Transvaal on its own request, although enjoying considerable autonomy. The relations between the Boers and the Zulu continued stable until the break-out of the Second Anglo-Boer War, in June 1900 the British forces entered Vryheid, the capital. In March 1901 he declared martial law in the region, after the Second Boer War the territory was transferred to the British Colony of Natal
Nieuwe Republiek
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President Lucas Johannes Meijer (1846-1902)
Nieuwe Republiek
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Nieuwe Republiek
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Postage stamp of Nieuwe Republiek (1886)
25.
Klein Vrystaat
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From around 1876, a group of Boers lived on land bought from the Swazi king Mbandzeni. In 1886, a government was formed, following the adoption of a constitution. King Mbandzeni sold the land, but kept his kingdom and he was another son of Mswati II, ruling from 1875 to 1889. This state existed until 1891, when it was incorporated into the South African Republic, the flag of the Klein Vrystaat has identical relations to the Transvaal Vierkleur which is the four colors of, a horizontal red-white-blue with a vertical green stripe near the hoist. The width of the stripe was equal to the height of the horizontal stripes in the Klein Vrystaat flag and 1.25 times this height in the Vierkleur flag. The land consisted of 36,000 acres northeast of the present town of Piet Retief, what Mbandzeni thought he had granted was in the nature of a permanent grazing concession, but Ferreira and Maritz opened up the territory to Afrikaner settlement and subdivided into small farms. In 1886, the settlers declared their independence as the Little Free State and were able to rebuff Mbandzenis halfhearted attempts to evict them on the grounds that they had exceeded his mandate. In 1888, Ferreira and Maritz requested that the South African Republic incorporate them into the Transvaal, at that point, Mbandzeni reasserted his sovereignty over the territory and demanded an annual rental payment of £21, but, by then, it was too late. By the terms of the first Swaziland Convention, the Little Free State was incorporated into the ZAR, with the accord of the British, as part of the Piet Retief, Mpumalanga district. However, the creation of the Nieuwe Republiek Zuid Afrika in 1884, in addition, the Europeans arrived in greater numbers throughout the 1880s, after the discovery of gold in neighboring Transvaal and at Piggs Peak and Forbes Reef in Swaziland. After their victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War, Britain assumed control of the territory, the Swazi saw the Zulus refusal to allow white farmers, traders and missionaries to penetrate their land, leading to Britains destruction of the Zulu monarchy in 1879. In the 1880s, King Mbandzeni granted numerous concessions to Boer graziers and this amounted to a paper conquest of Swaziland. After the Zulu War, the Swazis aided the British in dismantling the Pedi Kingdom, in gratitude, Britain promised the Swazis they would retain their independence. This was despite the scramble for Africa in the 1880s, in 1886 the discovery of gold made the Transvaal the prime force in southern Africa. The Boers demanded British agreement to their expansion either north across the Limpopo or east through Swaziland, Britain reversed its position on Swazi independence and by 1894 had allowed the Transvaal to establish control over Swaziland. Historical Dictionary of Swaziland Second Edition, land Policy in Southern Africa During the Nineteenth Century. Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabet, the Rough Guide to South Africa. Swazi History Olden Times to 1900, Klein Vrystaat at Flags of the World
Klein Vrystaat
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Flag of Klein Vrystaat, almost identical to that of
Transvaal
26.
Union of South Africa
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The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies, Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony and it included the territories formerly part of the Boer republics annexed in 1902, South African Republic and Orange Free State. The Union of South Africa was a dominion of the British Empire and it was governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with the Crown represented by a governor-general. The Union came to an end when the 1961 constitution was enacted, on 31 May 1961 the country became a republic and left the Commonwealth, under the new name Republic of South Africa. Unlike Canada and Australia, the Union of South Africa was a state, rather than a federation. A bicameral parliament was created, consisting of a House of Assembly and Senate, during the course of the Union the franchise changed on several occasions always to suit the needs of the government of the day. Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg were given financial compensation, the Union initially remained under the British Crown as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire. With the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the Union and other dominions became equal in status to the United Kingdom, the Monarch was represented in South Africa by a Governor-General, while effective power was exercised by the Executive Council, headed by the Prime Minister. Louis Botha, formerly a Boer general, was appointed first Prime Minister of the Union, heading a coalition representing the white Afrikaner, prosecutions before courts were instituted in the name of the Crown and government officials served in the name of the Crown. Some extremist Nationalist organisations, like the Ossewa Brandwag, openly supported Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the Afrikaner-dominated Government consequently withdrew South Africa from the Commonwealth. Natal, which had an English-speaking majority, voted against, following the referendum result, some whites in Natal even called for secession from the Union. Five years earlier, some 33,000 Natalians had signed the Natal Covenant in opposition to the plans for a republic, subsequently the National Party Government passed a Constitution that repealed the South Africa Act. The features of the Union were carried over with little change to the newly formed Republic. The decision to transform from a Union to Republic was narrowly decided in the referendum, the South Africa Act dealt with race in two specific provisions. Second it made native affairs a matter for the national government, the practice therefore was to establish a Minister of Native Affairs. Several previous unsuccessful attempts to unite the colonies were made, with proposed political models ranging from unitary, Sir George Grey, the Governor of Cape Colony from 1854 to 1861, decided that unifying the states of southern Africa would be mutually beneficial. He believed that a united South African Federation, under British control and his idea was greeted with cautious optimism in southern Africa, the Orange Free State agreed to the idea in principle and the Transvaal may also eventually have agreed. However, he was overruled by the British Colonial Office which ordered him to desist from his plans and his refusal to abandon the idea eventually led to him being recalled
Union of South Africa
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The first Union cabinet
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Union of South Africa
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South-West Africa stamp: princesses
Elizabeth and
Margaret on the 1947 royal tour of South Africa
27.
Transkei
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The Transkei, officially the Republic of Transkei, was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa. Its capital was Umtata, which was renamed Mthatha in 2004, in 1994, it was reintegrated into its larger neighbour and became part of the Eastern Cape province. The South African government set up the area as one of the two homelands for Xhosa-speaking people in Cape Province, the other being Ciskei, it was given autonomy in 1963. Of the 109 members in the parliament, only 45 were elected. Chief Kaiser Daliwonga Matanzima was Transkeis Prime Minister until 1979, when he assumed the office of President, South African prime minister B. J. A press release by the African National Congress at the time rejected the Transkeis independence, an article published in Time Magazine opined that though Transkei declared independence theoretically as a free Black state, Matanzima ruled as the dictator of a one-party state. He banned local opposition parties and bought farmlands for himself and his family offered by the South African government at subsidised prices, throughout its existence, Transkeis economy remained dependent on that of its larger neighbour, with the local population being recruited as workers into South Africas Rand mines. This created the situation of a country refusing to deal with the only internationally recognised nation it was recognised by. Matanzima soon backed down in the face of Transkeis dependence on South African economic aid, on 20 February 1986, faced with South African evidence of corruption, Matanzima was forced to retire as President. He was succeeded by his brother George, Holomisa became the Head of State, and the Transkei was from that point onwards effectively in alliance with the African National Congress and provided a relatively safe area for the ANCs activities. In 1990, Holomisa himself evaded a failed attempt to be ousted from his post, and it was later found that those deemed responsible for the foiled coup had only suffered minor injuries, but were subsequently executed without trial. The Transkei government was a participant in the Codesa negotiations for a new South Africa, the territory was reincorporated into South Africa on 27 April 1994, and the area became part of the Eastern Cape province. Nominally, the Republic of Transkei was a democracy which allowed for a multi-party system. During its existence, six different parties registered to compete in elections at different points of its history, until the military coup of 1987, the TNIP remained the ruling party, while the Transkei Peoples Freedom Party constituted the official opposition. Other parties that existed never did gain any representation in parliament, according to the Constitution of Transkei, parliament consisted of the president in joint session with the National Assembly and its laws and legislative decisions were immune to judicial review. Seventy-five of its members were elected by popular vote from the various districts Transkeis territory was divided into, the remaining members were unelected Paramount Chiefs and ex officio chiefs whose number per district was enshrined in the constitution. With the establishment of the republic, the citizenry consisted of all those who had been holding the citizenship of the territory of Transkei. Individuals were given no choice in this matter as the Transkeian constitution was a binding act, for the future
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28.
Bophuthatswana
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Bophuthatswana, officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana, was a Bantustan and nominal parliamentary democracy in the northwestern region of South Africa. Its seat of government was Mmabatho, Bophuthatswana was the first area to be declared an independent state whose territory constituted a scattered patchwork of individual enclaves. During its last days of existence, events taking place within its borders led to the weakening, in 1994, it was reintegrated into South Africa, and its territory was distributed among the new provinces of the Orange Free State, Northern Cape, and North West Province. The area was set up as the homeland for Tswana-speaking people in 1961. It was given nominal self-rule in 1971, and elections were held the following year, following the 1977 elections, Lucas Mangope became president after his Bophuthatswana Democratic Party won a majority of seats. The territory became independent on 6 December 1977. In the 1982 elections, the Democratic Party won all 72 elected seats and it also won a large majority in the 1987 elections. Bophuthatswanas independence was not recognized by any government other than those of South Africa and Transkei, in addition, it was later internally recognized by the two additional countries within the TBVC-system, Ciskei and Venda. Its the price we are prepared to pay for being masters of our own destiny, Bophuthatswana maintained an unofficial embassy in Israel during the 1980s, located next to the British embassy in Tel Aviv. The Israeli Foreign Ministry objected to the presence, as Israel did not recognize Bophuthatswana as a country. The bantustans president, Lucas Mangope, was able to meet with prominent figures such as Moshe Dayan during visits to Israel. On 10 February 1988 Rocky Malebane-Metsing of the Peoples Progressive Party became the President of Bophuthatswana for one day when he took over the government through a military coup and he accused Mangope of corruption and charged that the recent election had been rigged in the governments favour. A statement by the defence force said serious and disturbing matters of concern had emerged. During the subsequent invasion by the South African Defence Force, Mangope was reinstated and continued his term unabated. P. W. Botha, president of South Africa at the time, human Rights Watch put the number of protesters at 150,000. In the beginning of 1994 with South Africa heading for democratic elections, forty people were wounded when Bophuthatswana Defence Force troops opened fire on striking civil servants. They themselves were shot at by members of the Bophuthatswana Defence Force, one member of the AWB travelling back in a blue Mercedes Benz shot at some people along the road and members of Bophuthatswana police opened fire at the car. The driver, Nicolaas Fourie, and his two passengers promptly surrendered and were disarmed, after allowing the media to photograph the badly injured prisoners, they were then executed at point blank range by an ANC-supporting Bophuthatswana policeman, Ontlametse Bernstein Menyatsoe
Bophuthatswana
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Bophuthatswana in 1977
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