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The
Dutch settled South Africa in 1652,
after a Dutch
ship was shipwrecked on the Cape for over a year. Those that were
shipwrecked went back to the Dutch East India Company and talked them
into settling the Cape as a stopping point for ships on their way to
India and beyond. Fruit and vegetables were grown to battle scurvy
aboard ships and meat was traded with the Khoikhoi and San people early
on to sell to the ships. Over time the Dutch would start farming and
would eventually increase their settlements across the entire tip of
southern Africa, pushing many of the native peoples off their land. After Napoleon conquered most of Europe,
South Africa
became a British
colony. Many of the Dutch went north to get away from the English and
their new anti-slavery laws. Here they encountered the Zulu Tribe which
over time, had moved south from central Africa. A period of wars
between the Dutch Boers and the Zulus (Known as the Zulu Wars) would
ensue. The Boers eventually won and created two Afrikaner states in the
north. In 1899, after the Dutch Boers found Diamonds and Gold, the
English would claim the Boer States and the Boer Wars broke out. By
1910 South Africa became a union, between the English and Afrikaner
states, but still controlled somewhat by the English Government. In
1960 South Africa would finally gain independence from Britain, leaving
the Commonwealth and became a republic. It was during this period that
racist right-wingers would gain control the the government and it was
they that instituted the hateful Apartheid laws. After a serious
struggle by Black South Africans to become citizens in their own
country and with the help of the international community who put
serious sanctions on South Africa, the 90’s would see a sea
change, with the release of Nelson Mandela (who became the countries
first freely elected president) and the abolition of the hateful
Apartheid laws, South Africa would go through an amazing
transformation. Today South Africa is a beacon of hope for the whole
world. A country were all men and woman are free without exception and
a nation were as Nelson Mandela put it would never again have second
class citizens.
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Animals of Kruger National Park
Birds and Animals of Kruger Park and it's environs
Birds and Animals of South Africa
Images from Cape Town and Cape Point
Images from Soweto and Johannesburg
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