The military history of South Africa chronicles a vast time period and complex events from the dawn of history until the present time. It covers civil wars and wars of aggression and of self-defense b
Depiction of a Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838
Battle of Rorke's Drift on Jan 22 1879
During the First World War, Smuts (right) and Botha were key members of the British Imperial War Cabinet.
Field Marshal Jan Smuts inspects South African sailors in Alexandria, Egypt, 16 May 1942
History of South Africa
Videos
The first modern humans are believed to have inhabited South Africa more than 100,000 years ago. South Africa's first known inhabitants have been collectively referred to as the Khoisan, the Khoekhoe
Looking out over the floodplains of the Luvuvhu River (right) and the Limpopo River (far distance and left)
Statue of Bartolomeu Dias at the High Commission of South Africa in London. He was the first European navigator to sail around the southernmost tip of Africa.
Replica of an East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company/United East Indies Company (VOC). The Dutch East India Company was a major force behind the Golden Age of Dutch exploration (c. 1590s–1720s) and Netherlandish cartography (c. 1570s–1670s).
View of Table Bay with ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), c. 1683.