A Brief Shorthand History of South Africa
A broad visual overview of South African History and the rich tapestry of early people who made it their home from its first inhabitants, the Khoisan, to the many settlers that followed…the ancestors of the Zulus from North East Africa in 1800 years ago into the northern part of what is now KwaZulu Natal and the Bantu who migrated southwards from Central and East Africa and the Dutch in the 17th century with the arrival of Jan van Riebeck who created a refreshment station at the Cape for ships navigating the southern tip of the continent along the sea route opened by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in the 15th century. The next big wave of settlers came with the arrival of the 1820 English settlers and as these different groups of people vied for land, conflict was inevitable. In the Eastern Cape hostilities broke out between the British settlers and the resident Khosa people paving the way for a 100 years of war. The Dutch migrated inland to escape British rule which gave rise to the 2 Boer Republics, the Free State and the Transvaal, and culminated in the Anglo Boer War when gold was discovered in President Kruger’s Transvaal. General Jan Smuts tried to bring Boer and Brit together after the Anglo Boer War with limited success. He was regarded by his own kind as a traitor to the Afrikaner cause, especially when committing South African Troops to fight on the side of Britain in two World Wars, at a time when many Afrikaners sided with the Germans, a sentiment expressed in the creation of the Ossewabrandwag. All of this contributed in no small measure to the United Party under Smuts’ leadership losing to the National Party in 1948, paving the way for Apartheid Laws and the further disenfranchisement of Blacks who had already suffered through a policy of separate development and the introduction of the Native Land Act in 1913 which in turn led to the creation of the ANC. With the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, South Africa was to experience a democratic government for the first time creating a social environment where it was possible for its people to look beyond racial differences and recognize the common humanity in each other, working together to create a better South Africa for all in a spirit of national unity …. a vision of this great man that has yet to be fulfilled.
For other history videos on South Africa view the
South African History Online Documentaries Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playli....st?list=PLAleUNY7ZZr
Produced by Tekweni Media. @Tekweni
