South Africa

675 entries quoted from the Wikipedia articles written per year for South Africa, 1706 CE to 2000 CE. Each century below shows a sample spread across it; the year link on a line opens everything held for that year.

18th century

40 entries, 1706 CE to 1778 CE — 25 shown, spread across the century

1706The VOC officials are forced to relinquish their land, and monopolies are revoked, as the VOC reaffirms its policy prohibiting officials from farming and trading, restricting them to administrative duties.South Africa source
1706Willem Adriaan van der Stel orders the arrest of Adam Tas and 60 signatories, causing the VOC to remove the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Chaplain, and Landdrost from their positions at the Cape.South Africa source
1706Adam Tas' memorandum accuses Willem Adriaan van der Stel and officials of illicit farming, trading, illegal landholding, and monopolies on wine, wheat, and meat.South Africa source
1717The total Cape Colony population is estimated at 744 officials, 2000 burghers, and 2700 slaves.South Africa source
1717The VOC restricts European settlement to address burgher unrest, frontier conflicts, and agricultural overproduction.South Africa source
1717Future land grants become loan farms instead of freehold, requiring farmers to pay rent to the VOC. The 400 freehold farms already granted remain unaffected.South Africa source
1717Assisted European immigration is halted, and future development is to rely solely on slave labor.South Africa source
1721There is a high mortality rate at the VOC post in Delagoa, as two-thirds of the 620 men die in six weeks.South Africa source
1721A slave trading operation is established in Rio de Lagoa, where the VOC trade about 25 slaves annually.South Africa source
1721Ivory is withheld until Dutch ships are prepared to leave, as the locals are suspecting a secret bead stash.South Africa source
1721Drought severely affects South East African gardening efforts, with temperatures too high and no consistent rainy season.South Africa source
1721Elephant herds disappeared from the Delagoa region, affecting the VOC ivory trade.South Africa source
1732The VOC revises land tenure to control Trek Boers and enforce rent on the leningplaatsen.South Africa source
1732Cape Colony farmers are reimbursed for fixed improvements if land is returned after its tenure.South Africa source
1732The Trek Boers settle along the Olifants River.South Africa source
1732Hercules Mahieu, a Cape official, marries Arnoldina Hendrica Pothof from Breda.South Africa source
1737Georg Schmidt, a Moravian missionary, receives permission from the VOC to establish a mission for landless Khoikhoi.South Africa source
1737After only three weeks of serving as the Governor of the Cape Colony, Adriaan van Kervel dies.South Africa source
1739Hendrik Swellengrebel becomes the first Cape-born Governor of the Cape Colony.South Africa source
1739San Bushmen raids in the north force farmers to flee. Acting governor Daniël van den Henghel raises a commando, and offers amnesty to participants.South Africa source
1739The Khoikhoi accuse Olifants River farmers of cattle theft. They are proven right, the cattle are returned, but the farmers defy their summons.South Africa source
1739Etienne Barbier is executed by drawn and quarter as South Africa's first rebel, his remains are displayed as a warning.South Africa source
1778The VOC extends the Cape Colony's eastern border to Greater Fish & Bushmans Rivers, triggering future anti-colonial wars.South Africa source
1778Joachim van Plettenberg departs on an expedition to explore remote areas, encountering Khoikhoi after ten days. He erects a 2m slate beacon at a bay, renaming it Plettenberg Bay.South Africa source
1778Joachim van Plettenberg finds farmers in grassy plains, and notes the Khoikhoi are living on farms. He records the farmers' complaints about livestock theft by "Bushmen-Hottentots."South Africa source

19th century

372 entries, 1800 CE to 1899 CE — 25 shown, spread across the century

1800The Government Gazette started printing in the Cape Colony.South Africa source
180528 April – The Huguenots consecrated the Strooidakkerk (thatched church) in PaarlSouth Africa source
1810Shaka is appointed chief of the army of the AmaMthethwa.South Africa source
1813Cape Town Free School founded for needy white children.South Africa source
1818Xhosas clash with the white settlers on the eastern frontier starting the 5th Cape Frontier War that only ends the following yearSouth Africa source
1822Large group of Griqua join Koranna, form "Bergenaars," and begin to raid cattle and attack communities along the Orange & Vaal Rivers.South Africa source
1828Cape Colony's Ordinance 50 ensures legal equality, limits employer power, exempts Coloureds from carrying passes, and revises apprenticeship laws.South Africa source
1834New Governor Sir Benjamin D'Urban establishes Executive and Legislative Councils. No elections, but debates are allowed, and laws require Council approval.South Africa source
18384 February - The AmaZulu King, Dingane signs a deed of cession to cede land to the voortrekkers led by Piet RetiefSouth Africa source
18411 May - Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin, acting Governor of the Cape Colony who supervised the arrival and settling of the British settlers and who founded Port Elizabeth, dies in Southampton, EnglandSouth Africa source
1846Approximately 103 settlers start arriving in Port Elizabeth from war-torn Buenos Aires, Argentina.South Africa source
1849Military rule introduced in British Kaffraria, with harsh punishments for minor crimes, cattle impounding, and indentured labour of black youths to white farmers.South Africa source
185527 August - Jacobus Boshoff becomes the 2nd president of the Orange Free StateSouth Africa source
18598 September – A small 0-4-0 tank steam locomotive is landed in Cape Town, to be used during construction of the first railway in South Africa.South Africa source
18634 November – Cape Western – Stellenbosch to Wellington, 27 mi.South Africa source
18674 April – Natal – Durban to Umgeni, 3 mi.South Africa source
1873December 26 – HMS Challenger arrives at Prince Edward Islands and contacts survey and charts the islandsSouth Africa source
1875The Molteno Government begins construction of two Midland railway lines from Swartkops in Port Elizabeth and from Uitenhage.South Africa source
1878December 11 – The British present an ultimatum to the Zulu king Cetshwayo, triggering the Anglo-Zulu War.South Africa source
1880The John N Gamewell, a small American brigantine, sinks off the west coast of the Cape Colony near Port Elizabeth.South Africa source
1883Eighteen 3rd Class 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives are delivered to the Cape Government Railways from Neilson and Company and placed in passenger service out of Cape Town, East London and Port Elizabeth respectively.South Africa source
1888October 30 – Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company obtains Matabeleland from Lobengula in the Rudd Concession, named after Charles Rudd.South Africa source
189128 December – Transvaal – Mozambique border near Komatipoort to Malelane, 33 mi.South Africa source
1894October 20 – The railway line between Lourenço Marques and Pretoria is completed at Balmoral.South Africa source
1897April 21 – Sir Alfred Milner becomes High Commissioner of South Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony.South Africa source

20th century

262 entries, 1900 CE to 1991 CE — 25 shown, spread across the century

1900March 13 – A Joint Diplomatic Delegation consisting of Abraham Fischer and C.H. Wessels for the Orange Free State and A.D.W. Wolmarans for the South African Republic, with J.M. de Bruin as secretary, embarks at Lourenço Marques for Europe and the United States, seeking international intervention in the South African War and aid for the beleaguered Boer republics.South Africa source
1901December 22 – On Peace Sunday Charles Frederic Aked (1864–1941), a Baptist minister in Liverpool, says: "Great Britain cannot win the battles without resorting to the last despicable cowardice of the most loathsome cur on earth; the act of striking a brave man's heart through his wife's honour and his child's life. The cowardly war has been conducted by methods of barbarism... the concentration camps have been Murder Camps." A crowd follows him home and breaks the windows of his house.South Africa source
190314 December – Cape Eastern – King William's Town to Middledrift, 33 mi.South Africa source
1904Thirty-six Class 11 2-8-2 Mikado type locomotives.South Africa source
190627 December – Transvaal – Pretoria North to Rustenburg, 60 mi 34 ch.South Africa source
1908March 4 – The Pretoria branch of the Transvaal University College, precursor to the University of Pretoria, is established.South Africa source
1910Witwatersrand gold mine owners come under pressure to improve sanitary conditions since a third of the black miners are dying of pneumonia.South Africa source
1912April – The first eight of forty-six Class 12 4-8-2 Mountain type goods locomotives.South Africa source
1914April 23 – The Afrikaans language receives official recognition when Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven addresses the English caucus of the Cape Provincial Council.South Africa source
191631 July – Free State – Vierfontein to Bothaville, 23 mi 6 ch.South Africa source
1917November – Ten Class 16B 4-6-2 Pacific type passenger steam locomotives.South Africa source
1922November 17 – Rand Rebellion strikers Samuel Long, Herbert Hull and David Lewis are hanged for murder.South Africa source
1925July 1 – The New Cape Central Railway and its 204 mi 69 ch long line between Worcester and Voorbaai is incorporated into the South African Railways (SAR).South Africa source
19281 May – Cape – George to Knysna, 42 mi 7 ch.South Africa source
19313 June – Cape – Molteno to Jamestown, 41 mi 72 ch.South Africa source
1937January 15 – The Empire Exhibition, South Africa closes in Johannesburg.South Africa source
194329 January – Transvaal: New Canada to Phomolong, 2 mi 75 ch.South Africa source
1948March 13 – Dr. K. Goonam leads a batch of twelve passive resisters across the Natal-Transvaal border.South Africa source
1950Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve is proclaimed a protected state forest.South Africa source
19554-5 – The Inaugural Conference of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) is held at the Trades Hall in Johannesburg.South Africa source
1960January 21 – 435 miners die in the Coalbrook mining disaster, the worst mine disaster in South Africa.South Africa source
1965January 8 – Adam Faith, a British pop singer, cancels his tour of South Africa because the South African government prohibited mixed audiences at concerts.South Africa source
1969South Africa's Atomic Energy Board creates a commission to evaluate the technical and economic aspects of peaceful nuclear explosives for use in mines.South Africa source
1977September 23 – The Netherlands suspends its cultural agreement with South Africa.South Africa source
1985May 2 – An explosion rocks the building housing the gold mining companies of Anglo American and Anglovaal in Johannesburg and causes R170,000 in structural damage. Both companies are engaged in mass dismissals of mine workers.South Africa source

21st century

1 entry, 2000 CE to 2000 CE

2000Tropical Cyclone Eline brings heavy rains to Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Madagascar.South Africa source