Bhambatha's fighters ambush a colonial police column

Gandhi and Indian merchants formed the Natal Indian Congress to oppose racial discrimination and organize political representation for the Indian community.

War began between the British Empire and the Boer republics. African communities were drawn into the conflict as combatants, labourers and victims, while British concentration camps imprisoned Black...

Britain and the Boer republics ended the war without granting political rights to the Black majority. The settlement laid foundations for white reconciliation and the segregated Union of South Africa.

The newspaper Indian Opinion began publication in Durban and became an important platform against discriminatory laws and for political organization among Indian South Africans.

Following a plague outbreak, authorities forcibly evacuated the racially mixed settlement and burned it. The removals strengthened municipal segregation and displaced African and Indian residents.

Natal colonial troops surrounded and attacked the rebels at Mome Gorge, killing hundreds. Officials claimed Bhambatha died there, although supporters disputed this account.

About 3,000 Indian and Chinese residents met at the Empire Theatre and pledged to defy compulsory registration. The meeting marked the beginning of organized satyagraha in South Africa.

A Johannesburg court sentenced Gandhi and fellow satyagrahis for refusing to register under the Asiatic Registration Act. Imprisonment became a deliberate method of nonviolent resistance.

Thousands gathered at the Hamidia Mosque, where Indian and Chinese resisters burned more than 2,000 registration certificates after the government failed to repeal the discriminatory law.

The British Parliament's South Africa Act united the settler colonies while protecting white political supremacy. Black South Africans were excluded from national political power.