A Vey Brief History fo South Africa - 803 Words

People have inhabited South Africa for thousands of years and were members of the oldest surviving people of the land, the Khoisan language groups. With just a few left in South Africa mostly located in the sections of the western region. But mostly today black, South Africans belonged to the Bantu language group, which migrated from central Africa, settling in the Transvaal region around 100 A.D. (South Africa: History, 2012). Also the Nguni people who were ancestors of the Zulu and Xhosa occupied most of the eastern coast by 1500 (South Africa: History, 2012). The first Europeans to reach the Cape of Good Hope were the Portuguese in 1488, but there wasnt a permanent white settlement until 1652 (South Africa: History, 2012).The Dutch East India Company established a stopping station for ships on there way to the East Indies. With time many Germans, French Huguenot refugees, British, and Dutch starting settling in the area, and in 1779, these European settlements started to grow throughout the southern part of the Cape and east toward the Great Fish River (South Africa: History, 2012).It was here in this location were the Europeans and the Xhosa fought their first frontier war. Ultimately, it was the British who gained control of the Cape of Good Hope towards the end of the 18th century (South Africa: History, 2012). This marked the beginning of a long conflict between the Afrikaners and the English. After the Napoleonic wars were concluded in 1815, however South