| Portuguese seafarers, who pioneered the sea route | | | | intermittent warfare ensued during which the |
| to India in the late 15th century, were regular visitors | | | | colonists gained ascendancy first over the Khoisan |
| to the South African coast during the early 1500s. | | | | and then over the Xhosa-speaking chiefdoms to the |
| Other Europeans followed from the late 16th | | | | east.It was only in the late 1800s that the |
| century.In 1652, the Dutch East India Company | | | | subjugation of these settled African societies became |
| (VOC) set up a station in Table Bay (Cape Town) to | | | | feasible. Their relatively sophisticated social structure |
| provision passing ships. Trade with the Khoekhoe(n) | | | | and economic systems had long fended off decisive |
| for slaughter stock soon degenerated into raiding and | | | | disruption by incoming colonists, who lacked the |
| warfare. Beginning in 1657, European settlers were | | | | necessary military superiority.At the same time, a |
| allotted farms by the colonial authorities in the arable | | | | process of cultural change was set in motion, not |
| regions around Cape Town, where wine and wheat | | | | least by commercial and missionary activity. In |
| became the major products. In response to the | | | | contrast to the Khoisan, the black farmers were by |
| colonists' demand for lab our, the VOC imported | | | | and large immune to European diseases. For this and |
| slaves from East Africa, Madagascar and its | | | | other reasons they were greatly to outnumber the |
| possessions in the East Indies.By the early 1700s, the | | | | whites in the population of white-ruled South Africa |
| colonists had begun to spread into the hinterland | | | | and were able to preserve important features of |
| beyond the nearest mountain ranges. These relatively | | | | their culture.A spate of state-building was launched |
| independent and mobile farmers (trekboers), who | | | | beyond the frontiers of European settlement. |
| lived as pastoralists and hunters, were largely free | | | | Perhaps because of population pressures, combined |
| from supervision by the Dutch authorities.As they | | | | with the actions of slave traders in Portuguese |
| intruded further upon the land and water sources, | | | | territory on the east coast, the old order was upset |
| and stepped up their demands for livestock and lab | | | | and the Zulu kingdom emerged as a highly centralized |
| our, more and more of the indigenous inhabitants | | | | State. In the 1820s, the innovative leader Shaka |
| were dispossessed and incorporated into the colonial | | | | established sway over a considerable area of |
| economy as servants.Diseases such as smallpox, | | | | south-east Africa, and brought many chiefdoms |
| which was introduced by the Europeans in 1713, | | | | under his dominion.As splinter groups conquered and |
| decimated the Khoisan, contributing to the decline of | | | | absorbed communities in their path, the disruption |
| their cultures. Unions across the color line took place, | | | | was felt as far north as central Africa. Substantial |
| and a new multiracial social order evolved, based on | | | | states, such as Moshoeshoe's Lesotho and other |
| the supremacy of European colonists. The slave | | | | Sotho-Tswana chiefdoms, were established, partly |
| population steadily increased since more labor was | | | | for reasons of defense. The mfecane or difaqane, as |
| needed.By the mid-1700s there were more slaves in | | | | this period of disruption and State formation became |
| the Cape than there were 'free burghers' (European | | | | known, remains the subject of much speculative |
| colonists). The Asian slaves were concentrated in the | | | | debate.But the temporary disruption of life on the |
| towns, where they formed an artisan class. They | | | | Highveld served to facilitate Boer expansion |
| brought with them the Islam religion, which gained | | | | northwards from the 1830s, and provided a myth of |
| adherents and significantly shaped the working-class | | | | the 'empty land' which whites employed to justify |
| culture of the Western Cape. Slaves of African | | | | their domination over the subcontinent in the 20th |
| descent were found more often on the farms of | | | | century.Gerald Crawford was born in South Africa, |
| outlying districts.In the late 1700s, Khoisan bands | | | | studied electronics, telecommunication, eco-travel and |
| offered far more determined resistance to colonial | | | | african travel concepts. He taught responsible tourism |
| encroachment across the length of the colonial | | | | in South Africa. If you have any questions or |
| frontier.From the 1770s, colonists also came into | | | | comments please e-mail me on. E-mail Address: |
| contact and conflict with Bantu-speaking chiefdoms | | | | southafricantravelarticles@12234455.co. |
| some 700 km east of Cape Town. A century of | | | | |