1.
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
2.
World Heritage Site
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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
3.
Limpopo
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Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the western and northern borders. The name Limpopo has its origin in the Northern Sotho language word diphororo tša meetse. The capital is Polokwane, formerly called Pietersburg, the province was formed from the northern region of Transvaal Province in 1994, and was initially named Northern Transvaal. An alternate name considered for the province was Mapungubwe, the area where its most ancient gold-using civilization had been discovered a few years earlier. Limpopo has the highest level of poverty of any South African province, in 2011,74. 4% of local dwellings were located in a tribal or traditional area, compared to a national average of 27. 1%. The Northern Sotho language is spoken by more than half of Limpopos population, Limpopo is the link between South Africa and countries further afield in sub-Saharan Africa. On its southern edge, from east to west, it borders with the South African provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng. Its border with Gauteng includes that provinces Johannesburg-Pretoria axis, the most industrialized metropole on the continent, the province is at the centre of regional, national, and international developing markets. Limpopo contains much of the Waterberg Biosphere, a massif of approximately 15,000 km2 which is the first region in the part of South Africa to be named a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The massif was shaped by hundreds of millions of years of riverine erosion yielding diverse bluff, the Waterberg ecosystem can be characterized as a dry deciduous forest or Bushveld. Within the Waterberg, archaeological finds date to the Stone Age, nearby are early evolutionary finds related to the origin of humans. The current premier of Limpopo Province is Stanley Mathabatha, representing the African National Congress and it is also one of the poorest regions of South Africa with a big gap between poor and rich residents, especially in rural areas. However, Limpopos economy and standard of living have shown great improvement, a recent border shift with Limpopos wealthier neighbour, Mpumalanga, was effected to try and bring some wealth into the province. The bushveld is beef cattle country, where extensive ranching operations are often supplemented by controlled hunting, about 80% of South Africas game hunting industry is found in Limpopo. Sunflowers, cotton, maize and peanuts are cultivated in the Bela-Bela, Modimolle is also known for its table grapes. Tropical fruit, such as bananas, litchis, pineapples, mangoes and pawpaws, as well as a variety of nuts, are grown in the Tzaneen, Tzaneen is also at the centre of extensive citrus, tea and coffee plantations, and a major forestry industry. Commodities such as granite, corundum, and feldspar are also found
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
Dutch Cape Colony
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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
10.
Swellendam
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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
11.
Graaff-Reinet
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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
12.
Cape Colony
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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
13.
Griekwastad
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Griekwastad is a country town in South Africa. It is sometimes still called Griquatown, a name which is now considered historical, the town is in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa 168 kilometres by road west from the city of Kimberley. It was the first town to be established in the north of the Orange River. In 1801 William Anderson and Cornelius Kramer, of the London Missionary Society, the site proved too arid for cultivation. In about 1805 they moved the station to another spring further up the valley and their second choice was little better than their first, and for many years a lack of water prevented any further development. The name of the settlement was changed later to Griquatown or Griekwastad in Afrikaans and they lived among a mixed nomadic community of the Chaguriqua tribe and bastaards from Piketberg. Their two leaders Andries Waterboer and Adam Kok II later had a dispute and Kok left for Philippolis, from 1813 to 17 July 1871, the town and its surrounding area functioned as Waterboers Land. Waterboer himself lived in a palace, which in reality was a house with six rooms, a monument for Waterboer was later erected near the towns hospital. Dr. Robert Moffat and his wife Mary, on their way to the town of Kuruman, were residing in Griquatown when their daughter, there is now a museum that is dedicated to her rather than the founder of the town, William Anderson. That Griekwastad was later the capital of British Colony Griqualand West from 1873 to 1880, with its own flag and currency, nowadays, the town is best known for the semi-precious stones found there, particularly tigers eye and jasper. Sheep farming occurs with dorpers, a South African breed, which can now be found in such as Australia. An infamous murder in Griekwastad took place on a farm on Easter Friday,2012, a 15-year-old youth was accused of the murders of Northern Cape farmer Deon Steenkamp,44, his wife Christelle,43, and daughter Marthella,14. The son, Don Steenkamp, aged 17, the surviving member and brother to Marthella. Images of Griquatown taken in 2006 Images of Griquatown taken in 2007 Children of the Mist Griquatown Andersons
14.
Zulu Kingdom
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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
15.
Philippolis
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Philippolis is a small town in the Free State province of South Africa. The writer and intellectual Sir Laurens van der Post was born here, the London Missionary Society founded Philippolis in 1823 as a mission station for the local Khoi people. The town takes its name from the LMS representative John Phillip, the early establishment makes it the oldest settlement in the Free State. Adam Kok II, a Griqua leader, settled here with his people in 1826, the old church was replaced by a Dutch Reformed Church, which was consecrated in 1871. The pulpit, carved out of wood, has become a tourist attraction. The first school opened in 1873, as of 2014, the town has started to become a popular tourist-destination because of its historical value, architecture and rural lifestyle. The jail in the town was build in the year 1872, after this period is was converted into a police station and several changes was made like turning the cells into charge offices. The SANDF used the jail as army barracks from 1972 -1982, the jail was then abandoned from 1982 to 1998 when it was restored and turned into a bed and breakfast. During the time it was abandoned it was used as a venue for the local secondary schools matric farewell party. The town is the site of a jail that has been turned into a bed
16.
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
17.
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
18.
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
19.
South African Republic
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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
20.
Orange Free State
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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
21.
Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal
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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
22.
Lydenburg
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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
23.
Griqualand East
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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
24.
Griqualand West
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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
25.
Stafford Parker
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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
26.
Stellaland
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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
27.
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
28.
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
29.
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
30.
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
31.
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
32.
Venda
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Venda was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, bordering Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the Limpopo province, Venda was founded as a homeland by the South African government for the Venda people, speakers of the Venda language. The United Nations and international community refused to recognize Venda as an independent state, Venda was declared self-governing on 1 February 1973, with elections held later in the year. Further elections were held in July 1978, the territory was declared independent by the South African government on 13 September 1979 and its residents lost their South African citizenship. In common with other Bantustans, its independence was not recognized by the international community, Venda was initially a series of non-contiguous territories in the Transvaal, with one main part and one main exclave. Its capital, formerly at Sibasa, was moved to Thohoyandou when Venda was declared independent in 1979, prior to independence it was expanded to form one contiguous territory, with a total land area of 6,807 km². In the 1984 elections the ruling Venda Independence Peoples Party lost to the Venda National Party, at independence in 1973, the population of Venda stood at about 200,000 people. The state was cut off from neighboring Zimbabwe by the Madimbo corridor, patrolled by South African troops, to the north, the first President of Venda, Patrick Mphephu, was also a Paramount Chief of the Venda people, he was born and lived in Dzanani in Limpopo. His successor, Frank Ravele, was overthrown in a coup by the Venda Defence Force in 1990. Venda was re-absorbed into South Africa on 27 April 1994, in 1982, the University of Venda was established as an institution of higher learning for the Venda people. Being nominally independent it was able to set up a casino in the early 1980s and this would not have been legally possible in South Africa proper. Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census. Dzanani,123,035 Mutale,244,532 Thohoyandou,136,089 Vuwani,55,141 Heads of State of Venda Venda people, agriculture and Rural Livelihoods in Venda, Routledge
33.
Ciskei
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Ciskei was a nominally independent state – a Bantustan – in the south east of South Africa. It covered an area of 7,700 square kilometres, almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, under South Africas policy of apartheid, land was set aside for black peoples in self-governing territories. Ciskei was designated as one of two homelands or Bantustans for Xhosa-speaking people, ngqika Xhosa people were resettled in the Ciskei, and Gcaleka Xhosa were settled in the Transkei, the other Xhosa homeland. Ciskei had a succession of capitals during its existence, originally, Zwelitsha served as the capital with the view that Alice would become the long-term national capital. However, it was Bisho that became the capital until Ciskeis reintegration into South Africa, the name Ciskei means on this side of the Kei River, and is in contrast to the neighbouring Bantustan of Transkei. By the time Sir John Cradock was appointed governor of the Cape Colony in 1811, early during 1812, on the instructions of the governor, Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham forced 20,000 Xhosa to cross the Fish River. Subsequently,27 military posts were erected across this border, which resulted in the establishment of the towns of Grahamstown. At the end of the 19th century, the known as British Kaffraria between the Fish and Kei rivers had been set aside for the Bantu and was from then on known as the Ciskei. Europeans gave the name Ciskei to the area to distinguish it from the Transkei, after the Union of South Africa formed in 1910, the Bantu rights of occupation remained unclear and differed from colony to colony within South Africa. The Native Lands Act of 1913 demarcated the reserves in the Union, general Hertzog pursued his segregation policy and subsequently passed the Native Trust and Land Act in 1936. This act effectively abolished the right of the Cape Bantu to buy land outside of the existing reserves, in 1961 Ciskei became a separate administrative region and in 1972 was declared self-governing under the rule of Chief Justice Mabandla and then Lennox Sebe. However, there were no border controls between South Africa and Ciskei, in common with other Bantustans its independence was not recognised by the international community. Sebe once claimed that the State of Israel had granted recognition to Ciskei. In 1990 Brigadier Oupa Gqozo deposed Sebe and ruled as a dictator – despite a promise of a swift return to civilian rule. During 1991 and 1992 many of the foundations of apartheid in South Africa were removed. The African National Congress pressed strongly for them to be reincorporated into South Africa and this was opposed by Gqozo and the other homeland leaders. On 7 September 1992 the Ciskei Defence Force fired into a crowd of ANC members demanding the removal of Gqozo,28 people were killed and hundreds injured in the Bisho massacre outside the sports stadium in Bisho, the small capital of Ciskei. Gqozo refused to participate in the negotiations to agree a post-apartheid constitution for South Africa
34.
Shashe River
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The Shashe River is a major left-bank tributary of the Limpopo River in Zimbabwe. It rises northwest of Francistown, Botswana and flows into the Limpopo River where Botswana, Zimbabwe, the confluence is at the site of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area. The Shashe River is an ephemeral river, with flow generally restricted to a few days of the year. The river contributes 12. 2% of the annual runoff of the Limpopo Basin. Major tributaries of the Shashe River include the Simukwe, Shashani, Thuli, Tati, the lower Shashe is a sand filled channel, with extensive alluvial aquifers in the river channel and below the alluvial plains. These supply water for a number of schemes including Sibasa. More than two years ago, the Upper Zambezi River used to flow south through what is now the Makgadikgadi Pan to the Shashe River. There is a bridge and a rail bridge south of Francistown. The lower Shashe River forms the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe and is unbridged, however, at Tuli, both sides of the river are in Zimbabwe and there are two legal crossing points. The Shashi runs through the Shashi Irrigation Scheme and the Tuli Block, the Shashe River is dammed near Francistown at Shashe Dam. The original purpose was to supply water to the city of Selebi-Phikwe. The dam also supplies water to surrounding villages, Phoenix Mine and Mupane Gold Mine, further downstream, the Dikgatlhong Dam impounds the Shashe near the village of Robelela, completed in December 2011. When full it will hold 400,000,000 cubic metres, the next largest dam in Botswana, the Gaborone Dam, has capacity of 141,000,000 cubic metres. A pipeline from the Dikgatlhong Dam will connect to the North-South Carrier pipeline at the BPT1 break pressure tank at Moralane, the NSC will take the water south to Gaborone. Geological changes to the course of the Zambezi River Thuli River Mchabezi River Citations Sources
35.
Limpopo River
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The Limpopo River rises in central southern Africa, and flows generally eastwards to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is the version of the original Sepedi name diphororo tša meetse. The river is approximately 1,750 kilometres long, with a drainage basin 415,000 square kilometres in size, the mean discharge measured over a year is 170 m3/s at its mouth. The Limpopo is the second largest river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, the first European to sight the river was Vasco da Gama, who anchored off its mouth in 1498 and named it Espiritu Santo River. Its lower course was explored by St Vincent Whitshed Erskine in 1868–69, the Limpopo River flows in a great arc, first zigzagging north and then north-east, then turning east and finally south-east. It serves as a border for about 640 kilometres, separating South Africa to the southeast from Botswana to the northwest, two of its tributaries, the Marico River and the Crocodile River join, at which point the name changes to Limpopo River. There are several rapids as the river falls off Southern Africas inland escarpment, the Notwane River is a major tributary of the Limpopo, rising on the edge of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and flowing in a north-easterly direction. The main tributary of the Limpopo, the Olifants River, contributes around 1,233 million m3 of water per year, other major tributaries include the Shashe River, Mzingwane River, Crocodile River, Mwenezi River and Luvuvhu River. In the north-eastern corner of South Africa the river borders the Kruger National Park, the port town of Xai-Xai, Mozambique is on the river near the mouth. Below the Olifants, the river is navigable to the sea. Rainfall is seasonal and unreliable, in dry years, the parts of the river flow for 40 days or less. The upper part of the basin, in the Kalahari Desert, is arid. The next reaches drain the Waterberg Massif, a biome of semi-deciduous forest, about 14 million people live in the Limpopo basin. The fertile lowlands support a denser population, flooding during the rainy season is an occasional problem in the lower reaches. During February 2000 heavy rainfalls caused the catastrophic 2000 Mozambique flood, the highest concentration of hippopotamus in the Limpopo River is found between the Mokolo and the Mogalakwena Rivers. There is a lot of mining activity in the Limpopo River basin with about 1,900 mines, Vasco da Gama on his first expedition, was probably the first Europeans to sight the river, when he anchored off the mouth in 1498. However, there has been human habitation in the region since time immemorial — sites in the Makapans Valley near Mokopane contain Australopithecus fossils from 3.5 million years ago. St Vincent Whitshed Erskine, later Surveyor General for South Africa, was the first European to travel down the length of the Limpopo river to its mouth in 1868
36.
Great Zimbabwe
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Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the countrys Late Iron Age, construction on the monument began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century. The most widely-accepted modern archaeological theory is that the edifices were erected by the ancestral Shona, the stone city spans an area of 722 hectares which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people. It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have used as the seat of political power. Among the edifices most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high, eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin. The earliest known mention of the Great Zimbabwe ruins was in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, captain of the Portuguese garrison of Sofala. The first confirmed visits by Europeans were in the late 19th century, Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a national monument by the Zimbabwean government, and the modern independent state was named for it. The word great distinguishes the site from the hundreds of small ruins, now known as zimbabwes. There are 200 such sites in southern Africa, such as Bumbusi in Zimbabwe and Manyikeni in Mozambique, with monumental, mortarless walls, Zimbabwe is the Shona name of the ruins, first recorded in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, Captain of the Portuguese Garrison of Sofala. Pegado noted that The natives of the country call these edifices Symbaoe, the name contains dzimba, the Shona term for houses. There are two theories for the etymology of the name, the first proposes that the word is derived from Dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as large houses of stone. A second suggests that Zimbabwe is a form of dzimba-hwe. The majority of scholars believe that it was built by members of the Gokomere culture, a few believe that the ancestors of the Lemba or Venda were responsible, or cooperated with the Gokomere in the construction. The Great Zimbabwe area was settled by the century of the common era. Between the fourth and the centuries, communities of the Gokomere or Ziwa cultures farmed the valley, and mined and worked iron. These are the earliest Iron Age settlements in the area identified from archaeological diggings, construction of the stone buildings started in the 11th century and continued for over 300 years. The ruins at Great Zimbabwe are some of the oldest and largest structures located in Southern Africa, and are the second oldest after nearby Mapungubwe in South Africa
37.
Kingdom of Zimbabwe
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The Kingdom of Zimbabwe was a medieval kingdom located in modern-day Zimbabwe. Its capital, Great Zimbabwe, is the largest stone structure in precolonial Southern Africa, Zimbabwe is the modern name issued to the most prominent pre-colonial civilization in southern Africa. The name is derived from one of two terms, the Shona or Kalanga. Although the Kingdom of Zimbabwe was formally established during the medieval period, in the early 11th century, people from the Kingdom of Mapungubwe in Southern Africa are believed to have settled on the Zimbabwe plateau. There, they would establish the Kingdom of Zimbabwe around 1220, 16th century records left by the explorer João de Barros indicate that Great Zimbabwe appears to have still been inhabited as recently as the early 1500s. The rulers of Zimbabwe brought artistic and stonemasonry traditions from Mapungubwe, the construction of elaborate stone buildings and walls reached its apex in the kingdom. The institution of mambo was also used at Zimbabwe, along with an increasingly rigid three-tiered class structure, the kingdom taxed other rulers throughout the region. The kingdom was composed of over 150 tributaries headquartered in their own minor zimbabwes and they established rule over a wider area than the Mapungubwe, the Butua or the Mutapa. The Kingdom of Zimbabwe controlled the ivory and gold trade from the interior to the southeastern coast of Africa, asian and Arabic goods could be found in abundance in the kingdom. Economic domestication, which had been crucial to the earlier states, was also practised. The Great Zimbabwe people mined minerals like gold, copper and iron and they also kept livestock, as it is explained by its theory of cattle hypothesis. In approximately 1430 prince Nyatsimba Mutota from the Great Zimbabwe travelled north to the Dande region in search of salt and he then defeated the Tonga and Tavara with his army and established his dynasty at Chitakochangonya Hill. The land he conquered would become the Kingdom of Mutapa, within a generation, Mutapa eclipsed Great Zimbabwe as the economic and political power in Zimbabwe. By 1450, the capital and most of the kingdom had been abandoned, the end of the kingdom resulted in a fragmenting of proto-Shona power. Two bases emerged along a north-south axis, in the north, the Kingdom of Mutapa carried on and even improved upon Zimbabwes administrative structure. It did not carry on the tradition to the extent of its predecessor. In the south, the Kingdom of Butua was established as a smaller, both states were eventually absorbed into the largest and most powerful of the Kalanga states, the Rozwi Empire. Great Zimbabwe Kingdom of Mapungubwe History of Zimbabwe Kingdom of Butua Kingdom of Mutapa Khami Danangombe Peters, the Zimbabwe-Monomotapa Culture in Southeast Africa
38.
Rhapta
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Rhapta was a marketplace on the coast of Southeast Africa, which first rose to prominence in the 1st century CE. Its location has not yet been identified, although there are a number of plausible candidate sites. The ancient Periplus of the Erythraean Sea described Rhapta as the last marketplace of Azania, diogenes further describes this river as having its source near the Mountains of the Moon, near the swamp whence the Nile was said to also have its source. Rhapta is also mentioned by the 6th-century author Cosmas Indicopleustes, huntingford dismisses the first two as being too close to Zanzibar and Pemba islands. He observes that there is no river at Msasani, and thus concludes Kisuyu or the Rufiji delta are the most likely candidates, which goods were traded at Rhapta is disputed. The Periplus only states that it was a source of ivory, J. Innes Miller argues that Rhapta formed an important link in the trade route between what is now modern Indonesia and consumers in the Mediterranean region. Miller notes that ancient authorities state that cinnamon and cassia bark were harvested in Africa, Miller points to the well-documented cultural links between Indonesia and East Africa. He then posits that the use of monsoons began far earlier than previously thought, the Early Iron Age on Mafia island and its relationship with the mainland. The Graeco-Romans and Paanchea/Azania, sailing in the Erythraean Sea in Red Sea Trade, presented Sunday 6 October 2002 at the British Museum. Organised by The Society for Arabian Studies, the Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢, A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. See especially Section 15 on Zesan = Azania and notes, in, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire. ISBN 0-19-814264-1 Ray, Himanshu Prabha, ed.1999, archaeology of Seafaring, The Indian Ocean in the Ancient Period. The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, New York, Longmans, Green, and Co. Reprint, New Delhi, Oriental Books Reprint Corporation
39.
Kilwa Kisiwani
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Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an island off the southern coast of present-day Tanzania in eastern Africa. Historically, it was the center of the Kilwa Sultanate, a medieval sultanate whose authority at its height in the 13th-15th centuries AD stretched the length of the Swahili Coast. Kilwa Kisiwani has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the nearby stonetown Songo Mnara, Kilwa Kisiwani is an archaeological city-state site located along the Swahili Coast on the Kilwa archipelago. It was occupied from at least the 8th century AD and became one of the most powerful settlements along the coast, the seasonal wind reversals would affect trade circulations. Many of the Swahili settlements showed complex layouts that reflected social relations between groups, however at Kilwa, there are many questions left unanswered about the town layout. The cemeteries were located on the edge of the town, which was common for the region, an important city for trade, around the 13th century there were increased fortifications and a greater flow of goods. For these to take place, there would need to be a form of political administration overseeing the city, much of the trade networks were with the Arabian peninsula. Kilwa Kisiwani reached its highest point in wealth and commerce between 13th and 15th centuries AD, evidence of growth in wealth can be seen with the appearance of stone buildings around the 13th century AD, before which all of the buildings were wattle-and-daub. The socio-economic status of the individuals residing there could be seen in the type of structure they were living in. Among Kilwas exports were spices, tortoise shell, coconut oil, ivory, at around this time, Kilwa had seized control over the trade of gold at Sofala. The wealthy also possessed more commercial goods than the individuals who were of lower class did, luxury cloths and foreign ceramics were among a few of the items they would have owned, though some items, such as luxury cloths, do not preserve in the archaeological record. For approximately 500 years, Kilwa was minting coins and this lasted from about A. D 1100-1600 and the coins have been found across the region, including Great Zimbabwe. Marine resources were abundant and utilized for food, food sources would also come from the surrounding land. But because of the impact the sea, with all of the resources and trade opportunities, had on Kilwa. The soil at Kilwa that was found over the limestone was of poor quality, however, the soil in the Kilwa region would have been suitable for growing cotton, which could be used in sail manufacture. 12th century spindle whorls have been found, indicating that cotton was used and processed in this area, at first, most of the focus was placed on the archaeology of Kilwas ports and harbors, however, more and more emphasis is being placed on Kilwas hinterlands. Ceramic artifacts are plentiful at the site and can be divided into two groups, regional and coastal, all of the ceramics with regional distribution were locally produced, but the area of distribution is limited. These unglazed ceramics were referred to as Kitchen Wares, though their uses were not necessarily just as cooking vessels and it is important to note that all of the varieties of locally produced pottery found in the region were also uncovered at the site of Kilwa itself
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Mapungubwe Collection
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It is here along these major rivers that the rise of complex Iron Age societies first began at the site of Schroda, a Zhizo/Leokwe community. Thereafter, a shift in economic and socio-political changes gave rise to the new nearby settlement of K2. A ruling class emerged and thus the first southern African state came into being at Mapungubwe Hill and these sites collectively form the core area of a World Heritage Site, recognised for both its natural and cultural landscape that are considered to be of outstanding universal value. The discovery in 1932 was first attributed to the van Graan family, Mapungubwe Hill however had already been discovered in the early 1890s by an explorer named François Lotrie. Local knowledge of Mapungubwe has also recorded from oral histories, thus supporting ethnographic. Evidence suggests that Mapungubwe therefore cannot be regarded as belonging to any single individual, large-scale excavations were undertaken between 1933 and 1940, until research was disrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Intermittent excavations followed in the 1950s, which were continued by more thorough stratigraphic excavations throughout 1960s up to the late 1990s. Over decades, these excavations and scientific findings were held within academia. In 2003, with the declaration of Mapungubwe by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, a suspension was placed on all excavations at Mapungubwe, a decision which is still in place as of 2016. Only a small percentage of the Mapungubwe finds, which are curated by the Museum, part of the collection is loaned to the Mapungubwe Interpretation Center in Mapungubwe. The collections most famous artifacts is known as the golden rhinoceros of Mapungubwe, kingdom of Mapungubwe Mapungubwe National Park SA National Parks Pretoria University collection
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Pretoria
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Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the three capital cities, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government. Pretoria is the part of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality which was formed by the amalgamation of several former local authorities including Centurion. There have been proposals to change the name of Pretoria itself to Tshwane, the elder Pretorius had become a national hero of the Voortrekkers after his victory over Dingane and the Zulus in the Battle of Blood River. The elder Pretorius also negotiated the Sand River Convention, in which Britain acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal and it became the capital of the South African Republic on 1 May 1860. The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers settlement movements of the Great Trek, during the First Boer War, the city was besieged by Republican forces in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at the Pretoria Convention. The Second Boer War resulted in the end of the Transvaal Republic, the city surrendered to British forces under Frederick Roberts on 5 June 1900 and the conflict was ended in Pretoria with the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902. The Pretoria Forts were built for the defence of the city just prior to the Second Boer War, though some of these forts are today in ruins, a number of them have been preserved as national monuments. The Boer Republics of the ZAR and the Orange River Colony were united with the Cape Colony, Pretoria then became the administrative capital of the whole of South Africa, with Cape Town the legislative capital and Bloemfontein served as the judicial capital. Between 1910 and 1994, the city was also the capital of the province of Transvaal, on 14 October 1931, Pretoria achieved official city status. When South Africa became a republic in 1961, Pretoria remained its administrative capital and it lies at an altitude of about 1,339 m above sea level, in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg range. Pretoria has a subtropical climate with long hot rainy summers and short cool to cold. The city experiences the typical winters of South Africa with cold, clear nights, although the average lows during winter are mild it can get bitterly cold due to the clear skies, with nighttime low temperatures in recent years in the range of 2 to −5 °C. The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C, rain is chiefly concentrated in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is a rare event, snowflakes were spotted in 1959,1968 and 2012 in the city. During a nationwide heatwave in November 2011, Pretoria experienced temperatures that reached 39 °C, similar record-breaking extreme heat events also occurred in January 2013, when Pretoria experienced temperatures exceeding 37 °C on several days. The year 2014 was one of the wettest on record for the city, a total of 914 mm fell up to the end of December, with 220 mm recorded in this month alone
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Khoikhoi
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The Khoikhoi or Khoi, spelled Khoekhoe in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography, are a group of Khoisan people native to southwestern Africa. Unlike the neighbouring hunter-gatherer San people, the Khoikhoi traditionally practised nomadic pastoral agriculture, when European immigrants colonised the area after 1652, the Khoikhoi maintained large herds of Nguni cattle in the Cape region. The Dutch settlers labelled them Hottentots, in imitation of the sound of the sounds that are characteristic of the Khoekhoe language. The Khoikhoi, originally part of a culture and language group to be found across Southern Africa. Southward migration of the group was steady, eventually reaching the Cape approximately 2,000 years ago. Khoikhoi subgroups include the Namaqua to the west, the Korana of mid-South Africa, advancing Bantu in the 3rd century AD encroached on the Khoikhoi territory, forcing movement into more arid areas. There was some intermarriage between migratory Khoi bands living around what is today Cape Town and the San, however the two groups remained culturally distinct as the Khoikhoi continued to graze livestock and the San to subsist on hunting-gathering. The Khoi first encountered Portuguese explorers and merchants around AD1500, the ongoing encounters were often violent. Local population dropped when the Khoi were exposed to smallpox by Europeans, warfare against Europeans flared when the Dutch East India Company enclosed traditional grazing land for farms. Over the following century, the Khoi were steadily driven off their land, Khoikhoi social organisation was profoundly damaged and, in the end, destroyed by colonial expansion and land seizure from the late 17th century onwards. As social structures broke down, some Khoikhoi people settled on farms and became bondsmen or farm workers, others were incorporated into existing clan, like many Khoikhoi and mixed-race people, the Griqua left the Cape Colony and migrated into the interior. Responding to the influence of missionaries, they formed the states of Griqualand West, by the early 1800s, the remaining Khoi of the Cape Colony suffered from restricted civil rights and discriminatory laws on land ownership. The more cynical motive was probably to create a buffer-zone on the Capes frontier, the settlements thrived and expanded, and Kat River quickly became a large and successful region of the Cape that subsisted more or less autonomously. The people were predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Gonaqua Khoi, but the settlement also began to attract other Khoi, Xhosa, the Khoi were known at the time for being very good marksmen, and were often invaluable allies of the Cape Colony in its frontier wars with the neighbouring Xhosa. In the Seventh Frontier War against the Gcaleka Xhosa, the Khoi gunmen from Kat River distinguished themselves under their leader Andries Botha in the assault on the Amatola fastnesses. However harsh laws were implemented in the Eastern Cape, to encourage the Khoi to leave their lands in the Kat River region. The growing resentment exploded in 1850, when the Xhosa rose against the Cape Government, large numbers of Khoi for the first time joined the Xhosa rebels. However, this principle was eroded in the late 1880s by a literacy test
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Ivory trade
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The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, mammoth, and most commonly, African and Asian elephants. Ivory has been traded for hundreds of years by people in such as Greenland, Alaska. The trade, in recent times, has led to endangerment of species. Elephant ivory has been exported from Africa and Asia for centuries with records going back to the 14th century BCE. Throughout the colonisation of Africa ivory was removed, often using slaves to carry the tusks, to be used for keys, billiard balls. At the peak of the trade, pre-20th century, during the colonisation of Africa. World wars and the subsequent economic depressions caused a lull in this luxury commodity, Japan, relieved from its exchange restrictions imposed after World War II, started to buy up raw ivory. This started to put pressure on the forest elephants of Africa and Asia, both of which were used to supply the hard ivory preferred by the Japanese for the production of hankos, or name seals. Prior to this period, most name seals had been made from wood with a tip, carved with the signature. Softer ivory from East Africa and southern Africa was traded for souvenirs, jewelry, China, yet to become the economic force of today, consumed small amounts of ivory to keep its skilled carvers in business. In 1979, the African elephant population was estimated to be around 1.3 million in 37 range states, although many ivory traders repeatedly claimed that the problem was habitat loss, it became glaringly clear that the threat was primarily the international ivory trade. Throughout this decade, around 75,000 African elephants were killed for the ivory trade annually, about 80% of this was estimated to come from illegally killed elephants. The debate usually rested on the numbers of elephants, estimates of poached elephants, activists such as Jim Nyamu have described current ivory prices for poached ivory and the dangers such activists face from organized poaching. Solutions to the problem of poaching and illegal trade focused on trying to control international ivory movements through CITES, although poaching remains a concern in areas of Africa, it is not the only threat for the elephants who roam its wilderness. Fences in farmlands are becoming more common, this disrupts the elephants migration patterns. Some CITES parties, led by Zimbabwe, stated that wildlife had to have economic value attached to it to survive and this was widely accepted in terms of non-lethal use of wildlife, but a debate raged over lethal use as in the case of the ivory trade. Most encounters between CITES officials and local bands of poachers erupted in violent struggle, killing men on each side and it was recognised that the sustainable lethal use of wildlife argument was in jeopardy if the ivory trade could not be controlled. In 1986, CITES introduced a new control system involving CITES paper permits, registration of huge ivory stockpiles, in 1986 and 1987, CITES registered 89.5 and 297 tonnes of ivory in Burundi and Singapore respectively
