The history of South Africa is marked by immigration and ethnic conflict. The Khoisan peoples are the aboriginal people of South Africa who have lived here for millennia. Black South Africans are believed to originate from the Great Lakes region of Africa in prehistoric times. White South Africans, descendants of later European migrations, regard themselves equally as products of South Africa, as do South Africa's Coloureds, Indians, Asians, and Jews.

Ancient and Medieval History

South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world. Extensive fossil remains at the Sterkfontein, Kromdraai and Makapansgat caves suggest that various australopithecines existed in South Africa from about three million years ago. These were succeeded by various species of Homo, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus and modern humans, Homo sapiens.

Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River by the fourth or fifth century (see Bantu expansion), displacing and absorbing the original KhoiSan speakers. They slowly moved south. The earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier KhoiSan people, reaching the Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples, who often had hunter-gatherer societies.

European colonisation

n 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost point of Africa. Initially named the Cape of Storms, The King of Portugal, John II, renamed it the Cabo da Boa Esperança or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the riches of India. Dias' great feat of navigation was later immortalised in Camões' epic Portuguese poem, The Lusiads (1572). In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch transported slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as labour for the colonists in Cape Town. As they expanded east, the Dutch settlers met the south-westerly expanding Xhosa people in the region of the Fish River. A series of wars, called the Cape Frontier Wars, ensued, mainly caused by conflicting land and livestock interests.

Great Britain took over the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795, ostensibly to stop it from falling under Revolutionary French control. Given its standing interests in Australia and India, Great Britain wanted to use Cape Town as an interim port for its merchants' long voyages. The British returned Cape Town to the Dutch in 1803, but soon afterwards the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy.

The British annexed the Cape Colony in 1806. The British continued the frontier wars against the Xhosa, pushing the eastern frontier eastward through a line of forts established along the Fish River. They consolidated the territory by encouraging British settlement. Due to pressure of abolitionist societies in Britain, the British parliament first stopped its global slave trade with the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, then abolished slavery in all its colonies with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.

During the 1830s, approximately 12,000 Boers (later known as Voortrekkers), departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control. They migrated to the future Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics: the South African Republic (Now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces) and the Orange Free State (Free State).

The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior encouraged economic growth and immigration. This intensified the European-South African subjugation of the indigenous people. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor between Europeans and the indigenous population, and also between the Boers and the British.

The Boer Republics successfully resisted British encroachments during the First Boer War (1880–1881) using guerrilla warfare tactics, which were well suited to local conditions. However, the British returned with greater numbers, more experience, and more suitable tactics in the Second Boer War (1899–1902).

Independence

After four years of negotiating, the Union of South Africa was created from the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange Free State and Transvaal, on 31 May 1910, exactly eight years after the end of the Second Boer War. The newly created Union of South Africa was a dominion of Great Britain. The Natives' Land Act of 1913 severely restricted the ownership of land by 'blacks'; at that stage they had control of a mere 7% of the country. The amount of land reserved for indigenous peoples was later marginally increased.

In 1931 the union was effectively granted independence from the United Kingdom with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, which morphed the British king's position within South Africa into that of the distinct King of South Africa. In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between Afrikaners and English-speaking "Whites". In 1939 the party split over the entry of the Union into World War II as an ally of the United Kingdom, a move which the National Party followers strongly opposed.

Apartheid

In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. It intensified the implementation of racial segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule, and subsequent South African governments since the Union was formed. The Nationalist Government systematised existing segregationist laws, classifying all peoples into three races, developing rights and limitations for each, such as pass laws and residential restrictions. The white minority controlled the vastly larger black majority. The system of segregation became known collectively as apartheid.

Not surprisingly, this segregation meant that whites controlled the wealth generated during rapid industrialisation of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. While the White minority enjoyed the highest standard of living in all of Africa, often comparable to First World western nations, the Black majority remained disadvantaged by almost every standard, including income, education, housing, and life expectancy. On 31 May 1961, following a whites-only referendum, the country became a republic and left the (British) Commonwealth. The office of Governor-General was abolished and replaced with the position of State President.

Apartheid became increasingly controversial, leading to widespread sanctions, divestment and growing unrest and oppression within South Africa. A long period of harsh suppression by the government, and at times violent resistance, strikes, marches, protests, and sabotage by bombing and other means, by various anti-apartheid movements, most notably the African National Congress (ANC), followed.

In the late 1970s, South Africa began a programme of nuclear weapons development. In the following decade, it produced six deliverable nuclear weapons. The rationale for the nuclear arsenal is disputed.

Democracy

In 1990 the National Party government took the first step towards negotiating itself out of power when it lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other left-wing political organisations. It released Nelson Mandela from prison after twenty-seven years' incarceration on a sabotage sentence. The government repealed apartheid legislation. South Africa destroyed its nuclear arsenal and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. South Africa held its first multi-racial elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since.

In post-apartheid South Africa, millions of South Africans, mostly black, have continued to live in poverty, as it has been difficult to compensate quickly for generations of educational and social neglect. Poverty among whites, previously rare, has increased greatly. While some have attributed this partly to the legacy of the apartheid system, increasingly many attribute it to the failure of the current government to tackle social issues. In addition, the current government has struggled to achieve the monetary and fiscal discipline to ensure both redistribution of wealth and economic growth. Since the ANC-led government took power, the United Nations Human Development Index of South Africa has fallen, while it was steadily rising until the mid-1990s. Some of this could possibly be attributed to the AIDS pandemic and the failure of the government to take steps to address it.

Source: Wikipedia

The Earliest inhabitants of the Camdeboo area were early, middle and later Stone Age people. There is evidence of this in the Stone Age industry sites on the south eastern plains of the Camdeboo National Park. Bored stones, percussion-made hand axes, scrapers, blades and grinding stones are some of the artifacts found at the sites.

Late Stone Age dwellers of the region, Khoisan hunters and herders, left rock paintings in the eastern section of the park.

During the mid 1600’s, the Inqua tribe occupied the park area. They grazed their herds of cattle and on the veld from the Camdeboo River near Aberdeen, across the Sundays River to Agter-Bruintjieshoogte near Somerset East.
In 1770, white farmers settled the Camdeboo Plains and Sneeuberg. They introduced merino sheep, angora goats and exotic plants. Years of overgrazing and the actions of exotic plants have caused soil erosion, more woody species and invasive plants.

The park area was proclaimed as the Karoo Nature Reserve in 1979. Until then, it was used was publicly owned and available for town residents to use. Further grazing led to overgrazing and erosion of some areas. The reserve was managed by the World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA).

In 2005, WWF-SA donated the 14500 hectare Karoo Nature Reserve to be the showpiece of the Camdeboo National Park. Camdeboo National Park was declared as South Africa's 22nd National Park under the management of South African National Parks on Sunday 30th October 2005.

Click here to read more information on the Camdeboo National Park.

The Great Karoo has an area of more than 400,000 square kilometers. From a geological point of view it has been a vast inland basin for most of the past 250 million years. At one stage the area was glaciated and the evidence for this is found in the widely-distributed Dwyka tillite. Later, at various times, there were great inland deltas, seas, lakes or swamps. Enormous deposits of coal formed and these are one of the pillars of the economy of South Africa today. Volcanic activity took place on a titanic scale. Despite this baptism of fire, ancient reptiles and amphibians prospered in the wet forests and their remains have made the Karoo famous amongst palaeontologists.

Western people first settled in the Cape in 1652 but made almost no inroads into the Karoo prior to about 1800. Before that time, large herds of antelope, zebra and other large game roamed the grassy flats of the region. The Khoi and Bushmen, last of the southern African Stone Age peoples, wandered far and wide. There were no Europeans and no Africans of Bantu extraction. (The area was never wet enough for cattle and this is probably the main reason why it was never occupied by the Bantu). The two ethnic groups mentioned above differed substantially in their cultures and lifestyles; the Hottentots were described as graziers of sheep and cattle, while the Bushmen were hunter-gatherers. (These were the original names given to these tribes by the Dutch. The terms may not be regarded as politically correct today). With the occupation of the region by European settlers, sheep gradually replaced the game and the cover of grass degenerated, owing to changes in the pattern of grazing and in the climate.

Starting in the middle years of the 19th century, a railway track was extended into the Karoo from Worcester in the south. This eventually extended its tendrils to Bechuanaland, South West Africa, Johannesburg, Rhodesia and far beyond. The impact of this railroad on the history of southern Africa is difficult to exaggerate.

During the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, three Republican Commandos, reinforced by the rebels from the Cape Colony, conducted widespread operations throughout the Karoo. Countless skirmishes took place in the region, with the Calvinia magisterial district, in particular, contributing a significant number of fighters to the Republican cause. Fought both conventionally and as a guerrilla struggle over the Karoo's vast expanses, it was a bloody war of attrition wherein both sides used newly developed technologies to their advantage. Numerous abandoned blockhouses can still be seen at strategic locations throughout the Great Karoo; a prime example is located next to the Geelbeks River, 12 kilometres outside the town of Laingsburg.

Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo, with other forms of agriculture established in areas where irrigation is possible. Lately game farms and tourism have also started to make an economic impact.

Source: Wikipedia

Die Khoisan is die Aborigines van Suider-Afrika en leef al hier vir Millennia.

Die Khoi

Die  Khoikhoi of Khoekhoe is ’n histories sytak van die Khoisan etniese groep komend uit Suidwes-Afrika en is familie van die Boesman of San soos die Khoi hulle noem. Hulle leef al sedert die vyfde eeu NC in Suider-Afrika en het reeds met die aankoms van die eerste Europeërs op groot skaal met vee geboer. Groot troppe Ungini was reeds hier te vinde. Argeologie bewys dat die Khoi uit Botswana hierheen gekom het op twee duidelik merkbare roetes waarvan die eerste Wes geloop het teen die Kalahari en dan die Weskus af na die Kaap. Die ander roete was suidoos deur die hoëveld en dan suid na die suidkus. Meeste van die Khoi het egter uitgesterf behalwe vir die grootste groep die Namas.

Benaming

Dei naam Khoekhoe direk vertaal beteken Mens mens. Hulle is deur die Kolonialiste Hottentots genoem ’n naam wat deesdae algemeen as neerhalend beskou word. Die naam Hottentot kom van die manier waarop die Europeërs hulle manier van praat beskryf het. (Hitten titten stotteren) Om te hakkel. Die naam Hottentot leef egter voor in die vernoemings van sekere plante en diere soos die Hottentots vy (Carpobrodus edulis or Ice Plant.) of die Hottentotsgot die “Praying mantis.

Geskiedenis

Die Khoikhoi het as Veeboere getrek en ongeveer 2000 jaar gelede in die Kaap aangekom. Subgroepe sluit die Korana van middel Suide Afrika en die Namaqua aan die weste kant in. Bok skaap en bees het ’n . gesonde dieet te wee gebring wat weer gelei het tot ’n konsentrasie van groter groepe Khoi as die oorspronklike Kleiner San groep.

Ongeveer in die 3de eeu NC word die Khoi uit die vrugbare dele gedryf deur die Bantu stamme wat besig was om suid te trek en vestig die Khoi hulle in meer droë gebiede van die land.

Nomadiese Khoi groepe in die Area vandag bekend as die Kapp ondertrou met San groepe. Die twee groepe jagters bly. Die Khoi kom die eerste keer met Europese handelaars en ontdekker in 1500 NC. Die ontmoetings was baie keer gewelddadig alhoewel die Britte ’n meer vrede hartige manier van onderhandel wou bewerkstellig. ’n Groot groep van die bevolking word deur pokke uitgewis en skermutselinge word hervat toe die Oos Indiese Kompanjie die Khoi se wy gebiede begin afsper vir plase. oor die volgende eeu word die Khoi stelselmatig van hulle land verdryf en lei tot die uitsterf van die tradisionele Khoi leefwyse. Met die afbreek van hulle sosiale struktuur begin die Khoi op plase as arbeiders werk en ander weer begin deel vorm van ander groepe soos die Xhosa. Daar is ook geveg teen Herero veeboere vir tradisionele wy gebied.

Kultuur

In hul godsdienstige mitologie speel die maan ’n groot rol dalk omdat hulle die maan sien as ’n verpersoonliking van ’n goddelike hemelse wese. Tsui-goab is die skepper en bewaker terwyl Gunab oor die algemeen ’n kwaadwillige wese is wat siekte en dood bring. Verskeie Khoi in Namibia het hulself tot Islam gekeer as geloof en maak die grootste deel van die Namibiese Moslem gemeenskap uit. Oorspronklik was die Khoisan  ’n jagter – versamelaar groep wat in tydelike gras skuilings gewoon het. Elke familie het sy eie hut gehad. Ouer kinders het wel ook in hulle eie hut met ander lede van die groep gebly. Die Khoisan beoefen Poligamie. Vrouens woon of saam of in aparte hutte. Kuiergaste word buite die hut om die vuur onthaal.

Bron: Wikipedia

San

Die Boesman, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, of Khwe is almal inheemse volke van Suider-Afrika en is versprei oor meeste gebiede van Suid Afrika, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mosambiek, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia en Angola. Sedert die 195o tot 1990 het hulle oorgeslaan na boerdery hoofsaaklik a.g.v. regerings gedrewe modernifiserings programme en tegnologiese vooruitgang en die probleme wat dit bring.

Die San het ’n groot bydrae to die Antropologiese en Genetiese Wetenskap gelewer. Genetiese bewyse wys daarop dat die San se voorouers die genetiese verandering van die moderne mens voorafgegaan het. Hulle word as die “genetiese Adam” beskou deur Spencer Wells ’n lyn waarvan alle mense hulle genetiese oorsprong kan trek.

Benaming

Die term San is histories deur die Khoikhoi gebruik en beteken buitestander in Nama wat neerhalend is in die lig van die feit dat die Khoi hulle self hierdeur skei van die groep en die Khoi hulle self sien as die eerste mense. Westerse Antropoloë het san aangeneem sedert 1970 en is vandag steeds die aanvaarde wetenskaplike naam. Boesman word steeds wyd gebruik met ’n debat wat steeds voortrol of dit neerhalend is of nie.

Vroegste geskiedenis

Boesmans het ’n vroeë ontwikkelde kultuur gehad volgens argeologiese ontdekkings en inligting. Boesmans het reeds so vroeg as 10 000 tot 20 000 jaar terug uit Botswana gemigreer. Verskeie rotstekeninge in die  Lapala area en Goud rivier  lewer inligting oor hulle lewe en die tydperk. Dit sluit in tekeninge oor renosters, olifante en verskeie boksoorte insluitend impala kudu en eland, almal steeds hiet te vind.

Ongeveer 1000 Ad. word die San egter deur Bantus verdryf en vestig hulle hul in meer droë dele soos die Kalahari.

Bron: Wikipedia

Prehistories voorboere in die Bo-Zeekoei Vallei

C.Garth Sampson

Geïnspireer deur die Boesmans wat die wêreld se oudste DNA dra begin Prof. Garth Sampson die Zeekoei Vallei Argeologiese projek in 1970. Die ZVP is ’n langtermyn grootskaalse projek met die grootste Argeologies ondersoekte area in Afrika. Dit is die grootse en bekendste Argeologiese projek in die Karoo en ondersoek honderdduisende jare van Hominiede geskiedenis. Tot dusvêr is die eerste mens nog nie gevind nie maar dit vat ons terug na die Karoo lank voor Europeërs hier aangeland het.

Klik hier om die volledige artikel af te laai (pdf 670kb).

Eerste Anglo Boere Oorlog

’n Broeiende wrok teen die Britte het oorgekook in ’n volbloed rebellie in die Transvaal wat onder Britse beheer was sedert 1877 en die eerste Anglo boere oorlog ook genoem die Eerste Vryheids oorlog breek uit in 1880. Die oorlog is sommer gou verby toe die Boere die Britte in die slag by Majuba kop verslaan op 27 Februarie 1881. Die Republiek herower sy onafhanklikheid as die Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek of kortweg die ZAR. Paul Kruger een van die leiers van die rebellie word die eerste President in 1883. Die Britte sien die terugslag egter net as ’n struikelblok in hulle pogings om die Suid-Afrikaanse kolonies en republieke in ’n Federale stelsel saam te smelt. Hulle het dit as die enigste opsie gesien om beheer oor die Afrikaners te kry en ook om hulle strategiese posisie in Suider-Afrika te versterk.

Periode tussen die oorloë

In 1879 is Zululand onder Britse beheer geplaas. In 1886 ontdek ’n Australiër goud aan die Witwatersrand en raak die Britse federale droom al hoe groter. Dit word gesien as ’n terugslag vir die Boere en Johannesburg se populasie ontplof tot ’n 100 000 teen die middel 1890’s. Die ZAR sit ewe skielik met groot groepe uitlanders, wit en swart met die boere wat skielik agter in die tou moet staan vir werk en hierdeur verdere ekonomiese uitdrywing in die gesig staar.

Die enorme rykdom uit die myne grotendeels deur Europese “Randlords” beheer was net ’n te groot wortel voor die Imperialisties neus. In 1895 onder leiding van Kaptein Leander Starr Jameson probeer ’n groep huurlinge ’n protes aksie van stapel stuur in die Witwatersrand . Hulle doel was om Britse Administrasie daardeur te bewerkstellig. Die inval raak bekend as die Jameson inval. Dit eindig egter in totale chaos maar blyk tog vir Pres Kruger asof die Britse regering self daar agter sit. Om sy slaankrag te versterk sluit Kruger ’n ooreenkoms met die Vrystaatse Republiek en vorm so ’n Alliansie.

Tweede Anglo-Boere oorlog

Die situasie kom tot ’n punt toe die Britse regering stemreg eis vir die 60 000 uitlanders in die Witwatersrand. Tot en met hierdie tyd het geen uitlander stemreg in die ZAR gehad nie. Kruger weier stemreg en eis die onttrekking van Britse troepe van die landsgrense af. Die Britte weier en  Kruger verklaar oorlog. Die oorlog duur langer as die 1ste Vryheids oorlog en die Britte was beter voorberei as by Majuba kop. Teen 1900 gee Pretoria die laaste van die groot boere dorpe oor. Bittereinders veg egter voort vir 2 jaar met guerilla taktiek wat deur die Britte beantwoord is met die verkoolde aarde en konsentrasiekamp taktiek. Teen 1902 is, het meer as 26000 boere vrouens en kinders reeds gesterf in Konsentrasiekampe Op 31 Maart 1902 is ’n oppervlakkige vrede by Vereeniging onderteken. Volgens die terme sou die Boere Britse heerskappy aanvaar inruil vir die heropbou van areas onder Britse  beheer.

Bron: Wikipedia

In 1875, a commission appointed by the Graaff-Reinet Dutch Reformed Church, purchased portion of the farm, Uitkyk, from A.S. & J.P. Pienaar for ₤4000. Plots were sold off to interested parties and the Dutch Reformed congregation was established in 1878. The first minister, Ds. H.F. Schoon, was appointed in 1882. Services were initially held in the house of Mr B.J. Pienaar. Later his old wagon house was converted into a church and then into the church hall, eventually falling into disuse. Recently renovated, this building is available for weddings, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, etc.

A municipality was established in 1880 and given administrative rights while the church obtained ownership rights. This meant that the inhabitants were heavily burdened, having to pay rates to both the church and the municipality. The church, not wishing to prosecute members of the congregation, apparently had to write off considerable arrear rates. Only in 1951, was the property rights of the erven sold and transferred to the municipality.

During the term of office of Ds. A.A. Weich (1890-1908), a new church was built. The corner stone was laid by Mrs Weich and the edifice consecrated on 11 Feb 1905. Stones for building the church, some almost 2,5m long, were obtained from the town commonage. The problem of transporting the long beams by ox wagon was solved by the well-known blacksmith and transport rider, Freddie Lehman, by placing bales of straw on the wagon so that the beams protruded over the hind oxen.

The church cost ₤5600 to build and, at the date of consecration, R7330 was still owing. To raise funds, the Church Council decided to subdivide 46 morgen of its irrigable ground into erven of around 1.5 morgen each and to sell these by public auction. Only on 1 July 1929, was the debt finally settled.

There is some fine wooden carving on the old church pews and the original chandeliers are quite unique. The antiquated carbide gas generator for the gas lighting is no longer operational, but once a year, early in Dec, an evening Christmas service is held with conventional gas used to light the lamps.

There had not been a permanent minister since 1961, but on most Sunday mornings a service is held by a minister from Graaff-Reinet.

The church can be viewed by arrangement.

Nieu-Bethesda is deur Ds. Charles Murray die Nederduits Gereformeerde dominee van Graaff Reinet gestig. By aanskoue van die vrugbare vallei het hy blykbaar gesê:” Laten wy deze plaats nu Bethesda noemen.” Laat ons die plek Bethesda noem met verwysing na die Bybelse poel in Joh. 5:2. Ironies het die dorp bekend geraak as Nu Bethesda en is die naam later offisieel na Nieu-Bethesda verander.