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==History== {{More citations needed section|date=January 2021}}<!--first subsection is good, the rest of them not so much--> ===VOC settlement=== {{main|Dutch Cape Colony}} An expedition of the VOC led by [[Jan van Riebeeck]] established a trading post and naval victualing station at the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in 1652.{{sfn|Hunt|2005|pp=13-15}} Van Riebeeck's objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for VOC ships during the long voyages between Europe and Asia.{{sfn|Hunt|2005|pp=13-15}} Within about three decades, the Cape had become home to a large community of {{lang|nl|vrijlieden}}, also known as {{lang|nl|vrijburgers}} ('free citizens'), former VOC employees who settled in the colonies overseas after completing their service contracts.{{sfn|Parthesius|2010|p=}} {{lang|nl|Vrijburgers}} were mostly married citizens who undertook to spend at least twenty years farming the land within the fledgling colony's borders; in exchange they received tax exempt status and were loaned [[tools]] and [[seeds]].{{Sfn|Lucas|2004|pp=29-33}} Reflecting the multi-national nature of the early trading companies, the VOC granted {{lang|nl|vrijburger}} status to Dutch, Swiss, Scandinavian and German employees, among others.{{sfn|Worden|2010|pp= 94β140}} In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of nearly two hundred French [[Huguenots|Huguenot]] refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]].{{Sfn|Lambert|2009|pp=32-34}} This so-called "Huguenot experiment" was deemed a failure by the colonial authorities a decade later, as many of the Huguenot arrivals had little experience with agriculture and had become a net burden on the colonial government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shell |first1=Robert C.-H. |date=8 May 2007 |title=Immigration: The Forgotten Factor in Cape Colonial Frontier Expansion, 1658 to 1817 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17533170500106201?src=recsys |journal=Safundi |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=1β38 |doi=10.1080/17533170500106201 |s2cid=219717224 |access-date=28 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> There was a degree of cultural assimilation due to Dutch cultural hegemony that included the almost universal adoption of the Dutch language.{{sfn|Mbenga|Giliomee|2007|pp=59-60}} Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent and localised in their loyalties.{{sfn|Ward|2009|pp=322β342}} Known as ''[[Boer]]s'', they migrated beyond the Cape Colony's initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland.{{sfn|Greaves|2013|pp=36-35}} Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as {{lang|nl|[[trekboers]]}}.{{sfn|Stapleton|2010|pp=4-6}} The VOC colonial period had a number of bitter, genocidal conflicts between the colonists and the [[Khoekhoe|Khoe-speaking indigenes]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Adhikari |first1=Mohamed |date=27 September 2010 |title=A total extinction confidently hoped for: the destruction of Cape San society under Dutch colonial rule, 1700β1795 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2010.508274 |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |volume=12 |issue=1β2 |pages=19β44 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2010.508274 |pmid=20941880 |s2cid=43522981 |access-date=10 April 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> followed by the [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]], both of which they perceived as unwanted competitors for prime farmland.{{sfn|Stapleton|2010|pp=4-6}} VOC traders imported thousands of [[slavery|slaves]] to the Cape of Good Hope from the [[Dutch East Indies]] and other parts of Africa.{{sfn|Worden|2010|pp= 40β43}} By the end of the eighteenth century the Cape's population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves.{{sfn|Lloyd|1997|pp=201-206}}{{sfn|Cana|Gibson|Hillier|1911}} ===British conquest=== {{main|Invasion of the Cape Colony (1795)}} In 1795, [[French First Republic|France]] occupied the [[Dutch Republic|Seven Provinces]] of the [[Dutch Republic]], the mother country of the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch United East India Company]]. This prompted [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] to occupy the [[Dutch Cape Colony|Cape Colony]] in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order to stop any potential [[French First Republic|French]] attempt to reach [[India]]. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at [[Simon's Town]] and, following the defeat of the VOC militia at the [[Invasion of the Cape Colony|Battle of Muizenberg]], took control of the territory. The United East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the [[Batavian Republic]] (the Revolutionary period Dutch state) in 1798, and went bankrupt in 1799. Improving relations between [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and [[First French Empire|Napoleonic France]], and its vassal state the [[Batavian Republic]], led the British to hand the Cape of Good Hope over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the [[Treaty of Amiens]]. {{CapeColony}} In 1806, the [[Cape of Good Hope|Cape]], now nominally controlled by the [[Batavian Republic]], was occupied again by the [[British Empire|British]] after their victory in the [[Battle of Blaauwberg]]. The temporary peace between the UK and [[First French Empire|Napoleonic France]] had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the [[Batavian Republic]] (which [[Napoleon]] would subsequently abolish and directly administer later the same year). The [[British Empire|British]], who set up a colony on 8 January 1806,{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} hoped to keep [[Napoleon]] out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes. The Cape Colony at the time of [[British Empire|British]] occupation was three months' sailing distance from [[London]]. The [[White people|White]] colonial population was small, no more than 25,000 in all, scattered across a territory of 100,000 square miles. Most lived in Cape Town and the surrounding farming districts of the [[Boland, Western Cape|Boland]], an area favoured with rich soils, a [[Mediterranean climate|Mediterranean Climate]] and reliable rainfall. [[Cape Town]] had a population of 16,000 people.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p=1}} In 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the [[Cape of Good Hope|Cape]] to the [[British Empire|British]], under the terms of the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814|Convention of London]]. ===British colonisation=== The [[British Empire|British]] started to settle the eastern border of the Cape Colony, with the arrival in [[Port Elizabeth]] of the [[1820 Settlers]]. They also began to introduce the first rudimentary rights for the Cape's [[Bantu peoples|Black African]] population and, in 1834, [[abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolished slavery]]; however, the government proved unable to rein in settler violence against the [[San people|San]], which continued largely unabated as it had during the Dutch period.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Penn |first1=Nigel |date=22 May 2013 |title=The British and the 'Bushmen': the massacre of the Cape San, 1795 to 1828 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2013.793081 |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=183β200 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2013.793081 |s2cid=72177008 |access-date=10 April 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The resentment that the Boers felt against this social change, as well as the imposition of [[English language]] and [[Culture of England|culture]], caused them to trek inland en masse. This was known as the [[Great Trek]], and the migrating Boers settled inland, eventually forming the [[Boer Republics]]. [[File:Lucas1861, pg061 A SKIRCMICH IN THE OPEN.jpg|thumb|left|Skirmish during the [[Xhosa Wars]]]] British Immigration continued in the Cape, even as many of the Boers continued to trek inland, and the ending of the [[East India Company|British East India Company]]'s monopoly on trade led to economic growth. At the same time, the long series of [[Xhosa Wars]] fought between the Xhosa people in the east and the government of the Cape Colony as well as Boer settlers finally died down when the Xhosa took part in a [[Xhosa Wars#Cattle-killing movement (1856β58)|mass destruction of their own crops and cattle]], in the belief that this would cause their ancestors to wake from the dead. The resulting famine crippled Xhosa country and ushered in a long period of stability on the border. Peace and prosperity, in addition to the [[Convict crisis]] of 1849, led to a desire for political independence. In 1853, the Cape Colony became a British Crown colony with representative government.{{sfn|Evans|1993|p=576}} In 1854, the Cape of Good Hope [[1854 Cape Colony parliamentary election|elected its first parliament]], on the basis of the multi-racial [[Cape Qualified Franchise]]. Cape residents qualified as voters based on a universal minimum level of property ownership, regardless of race. [[File:Visite, pg164 Mossel Bay on the Indian Ocean.jpg|thumb|[[Mossel Bay]] on the Indian Ocean, 1818]] [[File:Samuel Walters - merchantman Duke of Lancaster.jpg|thumb|Table Bay, Cape Town, circa 1832]] Executive power remaining completely in the authority of the British governor did not relieve tensions in the colony between its [[Eastern Cape|eastern]] and [[Western Cape|western]] sections.{{sfn|Oakes|1992|p=}} ===Responsible government=== In 1872, after a long political battle, the Cape of Good Hope achieved [[responsible government]] under its first Prime Minister, [[John Charles Molteno|John Molteno]]. Henceforth, an elected Prime Minister and his cabinet had total responsibility for the affairs of the country. A period of strong economic growth and social development ensued, and the [[Eastern Cape Separatist League|eastern-western division]] was largely laid to rest. The system of multi-racial franchise also began a slow and fragile growth in political inclusiveness, and ethnic tensions subsided.{{sfn|Parsons|1993|p=}} In 1877, the state expanded by annexing [[Griqualand West]] and [[Griqualand East]]{{sfn|Dugard|2006|p=136}} β that is, the Mount Currie district ([[Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal|Kokstad]]). The emergence of two Boer mini-republics along the Missionary Road resulted in 1885 in the Warren Expedition, sent to annex the republics of [[Stellaland]] and [[Goshen (South Africa)|Goshen]] (lands annexed to [[British Bechuanaland]]). Major-General [[Charles Warren]] annexed the land south of the Molopo River as the colony of British Bechuanaland and proclaimed a protectorate over the land lying to the North of the river. [[Vryburg, North West|Vryburg]], the capital of Stellaland, became capital of British Bechuanaland, while [[Siege of Mafeking|Mafeking]] (now [[Mahikeng]]), although situated south of the protectorate border, became the protectorate's administrative centre. The border between the protectorate and the colony ran along the Molopo and Nossob rivers. In 1895, British Bechuanaland became part of the Cape Colony. However, the discovery of diamonds around [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] and gold in the [[South African Republic|Transvaal]] led to a return to instability, particularly because they fuelled the rise to power of the ambitious imperialist [[Cecil Rhodes]]. On becoming the Cape's Prime Minister in 1890, he instigated a rapid expansion of British influence into the hinterland. In particular, he sought to engineer the conquest of the Transvaal, and although his ill-fated [[Jameson Raid]] failed and brought down his government, it led to the [[Second Boer War]] and British conquest at the turn of the century. The politics of the colony consequently came to be increasingly dominated by tensions between the British colonists and the Boers. Rhodes also brought in the first formal restrictions on the political rights of the Cape of Good Hope's black African citizens.{{sfn|Ziegler|2008|p=}} The Cape of Good Hope remained nominally under British rule until the formation of the [[Union of South Africa]] in 1910, when it became the province of the Cape of Good Hope, better known as the [[Cape Province]].
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