Map of European presence in 1652

The Cape Colony was a part of South Africa under British occupation during the 19th century. It stretched from the Atlantic Ocean eastwards: the final eastern boundary, after several wars against the Xhosa, stood at the Fish River. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served for a long time as the boundary, although some land between the river and the southern boundary of Botswana was later added to it.

Map of European presence in 1750

The history of Cape Colony started in 1652 with the founding of Cape Town by Dutch commander Jan van Riebeeck, working for the Dutch East India Company, known in Dutch as the "Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie" (VOC).

Napoléon occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands in 1795, or the mother country of the Dutch East India Company. This prompted Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a tactic in the Napoleonic Wars. The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798 and ceased to exist in 1799. The British handed Cape Colony back to the Batavian Republic in 1803.

In 1806, the Cape, now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British in the Battle of Blauberg in order to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes.

They set up a British colony on 8 January 1806. Cape Colony remained under British rule until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it became the Cape of Good Hope Province, better known as the Cape Province.

References

• The Migant Farmer in the History of the Cape Colony.P.J. Van Der Merwe, Roger B. Beck. Ohio University Press. 1 January 1995. 333 pages. ISBN 0821410903.
• History of the Boers in South Africa; Or, the Wanderings and Wars of the Emigrant Farmers from Their Leaving the Cape Colony to the Acknowledgment of Their Independence by Great Britain. George McCall Theal. Greenwood Press. 28 February 1970. 392 pages. ISBN 0837116619.
• Status and Respectability in the Cape Colony, 1750-1870 : A Tragedy of Manners. Robert Ross, David Anderson. Cambridge University Press. 1 July 1999. 220 pages. ISBN 0521621224.
• The War of the Axe, 1847: Correspondence between the governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Henry Pottinger, and the commander of the British forces at the Cape, Sir George Berkeley, and others. Basil Alexander Le Cordeur. Brenthurst Press. 1981. 287 pages. ISBN 0909079145.
• Blood Ground: Colonialism, Missions, and the Contest for Christianity in the Cape Colony and Britain, 1799-1853. Elizabeth Elbourne. McGill-Queen's University Press. December 2002. 560 pages. ISBN 0773522298.
• Recession and its aftermath: The Cape Colony in the eighteen eighties. Alan Mabin. University of the Witwatersrand, African Studies Institute. 1983. 27 pages. ASIN B0007B2MXA.

Web Links

• Cape Colony History on Encyclopedia.com (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/CapeProv_History.asp)
• Encyclopædia Britannica Cape Colony (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=44059)