1806-1835 History of Southern Africa 1872-1910






The Cape of Good Hope, 1835-1872



Population . In 1835-1843 c.12,000 Boers emigrated, leaving the Cape Colony and settling in the interior. In order to compensate for this massive loss of population, further British settlers were brought in in 1837. Following the Crimean War (1853-1856), members of the German legion were settled in the Cape, followed by another 2,000 settlers from Northern Germany.
In the 1860es, workers from India were brought in to work on the railways.

The Economy . Cape Wool exports expanded strongly in the 1820es to 1840es. Certain areas were declared as reserves, and the hut tax introduced there (from the 1860es onward). In 1867, diamonds were found in Kimberley, Griqualand West; the finding caused a diamond rush. The diamond digger boomtown at Kimberley depended on the Cape Colony for supplies. Ostrich farming was begun in 1869.
In 1863, the railway between Cape Town and Wellington began operation; in 1860 the breakwater protecting the port of Cape Town had been constructed.

Conflicts with the Xhosa; territorial expansion . Border conflicts with the Xhosa occurred in 1846-1847 and in 1850-1853. Then, the Great amaXhosa Delusion of 1856 - following the vision of a girl, the Xhosa killed all their cattle and destroyed all their grain in expectation of the dead Xhosa to return and help them expel the whites from historic Xhosa land - permanently removed the Xhosa threat, causing a severe famine among the tribesmen. In 1865, Great Kaffraria was annexed into the Cape Colony. Griqualandwest was annexed by Britain in 1871, annexed into the Cape Colony in 1880.

Administration . In 1853 the country was given a bicameral Assembly; the voting right was limited to property owners, virtually excluding non-whites. The colony was granted Self-Government in internal affairs in 1872.

Relations with the Boer Republics . The Cape Colony pursued an active external policy, independent from the British Colonial Office, annexing the lands west of the Kei river in 1834, attempting to establish control over the Boer settlements in the Orange River valley and the Transvaal in the 1850es. The independence of Transvaal was recognized in 1852, that of the Orange Free State in 1854. In 1858, Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony, proposed the establishment of a South African Confederation; it was to be realized in form of the Union of South Africa in 1910.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of the Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870, from Wikipedia
Cape Province, History of, from Infoplease
A Brief History of Cape Town, from Cape Town 2004
> Entries Klipdrift Republic, from Footnotes to History, by James L. Erwin
DOCUMENTS Civic Arms, from International Civic Arms
REFERENCE Robert Ross, A Concise History of South Africa, Cambridge Concise Histories, 1999, 219 pp.
Charles H. Feinstein, An Economic History of South Africa, Cambridge : UP 2005
The Rocky Road to Reform pp.126-129, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing pp.130-137, in : Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa, Pleasantville NY : Readers Digest, 1988 [G]
Christopher Saunders and Iain R. Smith, Southern Africa 1795-1910, pp.597-623 in : Andrew Porter (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire, Vol.III : The Nineteenth Century, Oxford : UP 1999, KMLA Lib.Sign. 909.0971241 O98o v.3
Article : Africa, in : The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events 1862 pp.1-4 [G]
Lady L.D. Gordon, Letters from the Cape (1921), posted by Gutenberg Library Online



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on October 28th 2007

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