South Africa timeline
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Shaka Zulu is Assassinated
In 1827, Shaka's mother, Nandi, died, and the Zulu leader lost his mind. In his grief, Shaka had hundreds of Zulus killed, and he outlawed the... Read more
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Wreck of HMS Birkenhead
In December of 1851, the Birkenhead sailed from Cork in Ireland, under the command of Captain Robert Salmond. She left Simon's Town on the... Read more
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Mohandes Gandhi Travels to South Africa to Work Under a Year-Long Contract with Dada Abdulla & Co., an Indian Firm
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a young man of 24 when he arrived in South Africa in 1893. Gandhi's work in South Africa dramatically changed... Read more
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Mahatma Gandhi is Ejected from a South African Train, Motivating Him to Fight for Indian Rights in the British Colony
Pietermaritzburg is also famous for an incident early in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. In May 1893, while Gandhi was on his way to Pretoria, a white... Read more
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Mohandes Gandhi Founds the Natal Indian Congress
Gandhi realized that what the India urgently needed was a permanent organization to look after their interests. Out of deference to Dadabhai... Read more
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Mohandes Gandhi is Nearly Lynched by White Settlers in Durban upon Returning from a Brief Trip to Fetch his Family in India
It is a measure of Gandhi’s success as a publicist that the Indian National Congress Recorded its protest against the disabilities imposed upon the... Read more
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Churchill Acts As War Correspondent During the Second Boer War
In 1899, Winston Churchill headed to South Africa as a newspaper correspondent for the Morning Post to cover the Boer War between British and Dutch... Read more
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Gandhi Organizes an Indian Ambulance Corps of 1100 Men During His Service in the Boer War
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full... Read more
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Gandhi Founds the Phoenix Settlement
Influenced by the teachings of Ruskin, Gandhi purchased a farm at Phoenix, near Mount Edgecombe in 1904 in order to establish a communal... Read more
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Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance Requires Asians in Transvaal to Carry Fingerprinted Identification
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full... Read more
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Gandhi Introduces Non-Violent Protest Philosophy of Satyagraha
At the onset of the South African War, Gandhi argued that Indians must support the war effort in order to legitimize their claims to full... Read more
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Gandhi is Arrested for the First Time, for Refusing to Carry an Obligatory ID Card in South Africa
In January 1908, he was arrested for breach of the registration law and clapped into prison. The following month he was released after an... Read more
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Gandhi Establishes the Tolstoy Farm, which Serves as a Base of Operations for His Activities in South Africa
Since the centre of the campaign was in the Transvaal, the farm had to be close to Johannesburg. Herman Kallenbach, an architect until he became... Read more
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Gandhi Begins "Great March" to Gain Indian Rights in South Africa
Led at 6.30.a.m. the "great march", consisting of 2,037 men, 127 women and 57 children from Charlestown; addressed marchers halfway between... Read more
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Gandhi Suspends South African Struggle After Winning Passage of the Indian Relief Act
The treatment of Indians had reached pathetic limits. The prisons were too small to house the resisters. Mr Hult, a mine manager had flogged 300... Read more
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Battle of Sandfontein
South African General Sir Henry Lukin ought to have realized that the Germans wouldn't let the wells of Sandfontein be captured without a fight the... Read more
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Gandhi Receives Hero's Welcome Upon Returning to India from South Africa
In 1915, Gandhi returned from South Africa to live in India. He spoke at the conventions of the Indian National Congress, but was primarily... Read more
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German Southwest Africa Surrenders to British-Boer Forces
British-Boer Forces, 20,000 General Louis Botha, Commander-in-Chief General Lukin General Myburgh General Mackenzie General Smuts Colonel Van... Read more
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The African National Congress Youth League is Founded
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress. Its foundation in 1944 by Anton Muziwakhe... Read more
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Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo open first black legal firm in South Africa
By 1952 Mandela and Tambo had opened the first black legal firm in the country, and Mandela was both Transvaal president of the ANC and deputy... Read more
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Sharpeville Massacre
The Sharpeville Massacre, also known as the Sharpeville shootings, occurred on 21 March 1960, when South African police began shooting on a crowd... Read more
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Nelson Mandela and others found not guilty in Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people (105 Blacks, 21 Indians, 23 Whites and 7 Coloureds), including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a... Read more
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Lynne Brown Is Born
Lynne Brown is a former Premier of the Western Cape province in South Africa. She was born in Cape Town on 26 September, 1961 and grew up in... Read more
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Albert Lutuli is Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
If the nonwhite people of South Africa ever lift themselves from their humiliation without resorting to violence and terror, then it will be above... Read more
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Nelson Mandela leaves country for military training
In January Mandela leaves South Africa illegally to attend a freedom conference in Algeria and to scout for military training facilities for... Read more