Cape Colony

Cape Colony
Kaapkolonie
(In Detail) (In Detail)
Official language English and Dutch1
Capital Cape Town
Largest City Cape Town
Area
 - Total
 - % water
Ranked 1st
569,020 km² (1910)
Negligible
Population
 - Total (1911)
 - Density
Ranked 1st
2,564,965
4.5/km²
Currency Pound Sterling
Time zone
 - in summer
CET (UTC+1)
CEST (UTC+2)

1 Dutch was the sole official language until 1806, when the British officially replaced Dutch with English. Dutch was reincluded as a second official language in 1882.

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The Cape Colony was a part of South Africa first under Dutch, then under British rule. 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.

History

Cape Colony
History
Pre-1806
1806–1870
1870–1899
1899–1910

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.

Government

Provinces

Geography

Economy

Culture

See also

References

  • The Migrant 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.


Dutch colonial empire
Former colonies
Africa: Arguin Island | Cape Colony | Lydsaamheid fort & factory in Delagoa Bay | Dutch Gold Coast | Gorée | Mauritius |

The Americas: Berbice | New Holland (in Brazil) (part) | Dutch Guiana & | Demerara | Essequibo annex Pomeroon | New Netherland (New Amsterdam, New Sweden) | Tobago | Virgin Islands (part)

Dutch colonization of the Americas

Asia: Ceylon | Dutch India (Dutch Bengal - Coromandel Coast - Malabar Coast) | Deshima island in Japan | Dutch East Indies | Malacca | Taiwan |

Arctic & Oceania: Netherlands New Guinea (Indonesian Irian Jaya) | Smeerenburg on Amsterdam island

See also: Dutch East India Company | Dutch West India Company|
Present colonies (only Caribbean)
Kingdom of the Netherlands: Netherlands Antilles | Aruba
af:Kaapkolonie

de:Kapkolonie fr:Colonie du Cap he:מושבת הכף nl:Kaapkolonie pt:Colónia do Cabo sv:Kapkolonin