| Portuguese seafarers, who pioneered the sea | | | | across the length of the colonial frontier. |
| route to India in the late 15th century, were | | | | From the 1770s, colonists also came into contact |
| regular visitors to the South African coast during | | | | and conflict with Bantu-speaking chiefdoms some |
| the early 1500s. Other Europeans followed from | | | | 700 km east of Cape Town. A century of |
| the late 16th century. | | | | intermittent warfare ensued during which the |
| In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) set | | | | colonists gained ascendancy first over the Khoisan |
| up a station in Table Bay (Cape Town) to | | | | and then over the Xhosa-speaking chiefdoms to |
| provision passing ships. Trade with the | | | | the east. |
| Khoekhoe(n) for slaughter stock soon | | | | It was only in the late 1800s that the subjugation |
| degenerated into raiding and warfare. Beginning in | | | | of these settled African societies became feasible. |
| 1657, European settlers were allotted farms by | | | | Their relatively sophisticated social structure and |
| the colonial authorities in the arable regions around | | | | economic systems had long fended off decisive |
| Cape Town, where wine and wheat became the | | | | disruption by incoming colonists, who lacked the |
| major products. In response to the colonists' | | | | necessary military superiority. |
| demand for lab our, the VOC imported slaves | | | | At the same time, a process of cultural change |
| from East Africa, Madagascar and its possessions | | | | was set in motion, not least by commercial and |
| in the East Indies. | | | | missionary activity. In contrast to the Khoisan, the |
| By the early 1700s, the colonists had begun to | | | | black farmers were by and large immune to |
| spread into the hinterland beyond the nearest | | | | European diseases. For this and other reasons |
| mountain ranges. These relatively independent and | | | | they were greatly to outnumber the whites in the |
| mobile farmers (trekboers), who lived as | | | | population of white-ruled South Africa and were |
| pastoralists and hunters, were largely free from | | | | able to preserve important features of their |
| supervision by the Dutch authorities. | | | | culture. |
| As they intruded further upon the land and water | | | | A spate of state-building was launched beyond |
| sources, and stepped up their demands for | | | | the frontiers of European settlement. Perhaps |
| livestock and lab our, more and more of the | | | | because of population pressures, combined with |
| indigenous inhabitants were dispossessed and | | | | the actions of slave traders in Portuguese |
| incorporated into the colonial economy as | | | | territory on the east coast, the old order was |
| servants. | | | | upset and the Zulu kingdom emerged as a highly |
| Diseases such as smallpox, which was introduced | | | | centralized State. In the 1820s, the innovative |
| by the Europeans in 1713, decimated the Khoisan, | | | | leader Shaka established sway over a |
| contributing to the decline of their cultures. Unions | | | | considerable area of south-east Africa, and |
| across the color line took place, and a new | | | | brought many chiefdoms under his dominion. |
| multiracial social order evolved, based on the | | | | As splinter groups conquered and absorbed |
| supremacy of European colonists. The slave | | | | communities in their path, the disruption was felt |
| population steadily increased since more labor was | | | | as far north as central Africa. Substantial states, |
| needed. | | | | such as Moshoeshoe's Lesotho and other |
| By the mid-1700s there were more slaves in the | | | | Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms, were established, partly |
| Cape than there were 'free burghers' (European | | | | for reasons of defense. The mfecane or difaqane, |
| colonists). The Asian slaves were concentrated in | | | | as this period of disruption and State formation |
| the towns, where they formed an artisan class. | | | | became known, remains the subject of much |
| They brought with them the Islam religion, which | | | | speculative debate. |
| gained adherents and significantly shaped the | | | | But the temporary disruption of life on the |
| working-class culture of the Western Cape. Slaves | | | | Highveld served to facilitate Boer expansion |
| of African descent were found more often on | | | | northwards from the 1830s, and provided a myth |
| the farms of outlying districts. | | | | of the 'empty land' which whites employed to |
| In the late 1700s, Khoisan bands offered far more | | | | justify their domination over the subcontinent in |
| determined resistance to colonial encroachment | | | | the 20th century. |