Britain proclaims British Kaffraria

Slavery legally ended in the Cape, but formerly enslaved people were compelled to serve a four-year apprenticeship. Slave owners received compensation while the emancipated received none.

During the Sixth War of Dispossession, Hintsa entered Governor Benjamin D'Urban's camp to negotiate after receiving assurances of safety. The British detained him and demanded cattle and territorial...

Hintsa was shot while attempting to escape British custody. His killing became a lasting symbol of colonial betrayal and Xhosa resistance.

Four years after formal abolition, the enforced apprenticeship period ended. Formerly enslaved people gained legal freedom but generally received neither land nor compensation.

A fortified Voortrekker commando defeated a much larger Zulu force, consolidating settler expansion into the interior. The battle later became central to Afrikaner nationalist memory.

AmaNgqika fighters attacked a colonial patrol at Boomah Pass and military villages after Governor Harry Smith deposed Sandile. AmaGcaleka, AmaThembu and Kat River rebels joined the wider resistance.

The Truro landed 342 Indian workers at Port Natal. Colonial authorities had recruited them under coercive contracts to supply cheap labour to the sugar industry.

The Belvedere arrived from Calcutta with another group of indentured Indian labourers. Deaths during the voyage reflected the dangers of the system.

The British government annexed the South African Republic and included African territories claimed by the republic. The annexation expanded imperial control and prepared the way for renewed attacks on...

British officials demanded that Cetshwayo dismantle the Zulu military system and surrender sovereignty. The deliberately unacceptable terms provided a pretext for invasion.