History

The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Dias was the first European to see the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. Years later the Dutch set up a colony there as a stopping place on their way to Asia. 

As time went on the Dutch started to move into the interior  parts of the country. At the same time Bantu tribes came southwards from central Africa.  As a result, there was a lot of fighting between the African tribes and the Dutch over farming lands. 

In 1815 the British took over the colony from the Dutch. As more and more British settlers went to the Cape the Dutch Boers moved to the north in what they called the Great Trek. They founded new settlements in Transvaal and the Orange Free State. 

Towards the end of the 19th century two major discoveries changed South Africa.  In 1867 diamonds were discovered near Kimberley and in 1886 large gold deposits were found in the Transvaal. Because of this even more British settlers came to the Cape colony. They tried to take control of the Dutch areas, where these discoveries were made. This led to a war between the British and the Dutch Boers.  The Boers were defeated in 1902 and the leaders of the British and the Dutch colonies decided to form a single state which they called the Union of South Africa. 

Bantu tribes and White settlers meet in South Africa
Image:Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
modified  by Klaus Rosmanitz

Boer family in 1886
Image: Swaziland National Archives, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons