This article is about the specific polity British Cape Colony and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was a British colony in southern Africa. The Dutch governor passed control of the colony to the British on 15 September 1795 after France had occupied the Netherlands during the Revolutionary Wars.
Establishment
September 1795: The Dutch governor passed control of his Cape colony to the British.
November 1795: The Republic of Swellendam was ended on 4 November 1795 when the Cape was occupied by the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
As a consequence of the conquest of the Dutch Republic by French revolutionary forces, Great Britain invaded and annexed the Dutch Cape Colony.
Were a series of conflicts between France and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1803 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They include the Coalition Wars as a subset: seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France - later the First French Empire - and its allies.
2.1.Boer revolt against the Dutch East India Company
In 1795 the dissatisfaction towards the Dutch East India Company (and against British Rule) caused a revolt of the Boers, who founded several secessionist states.
January 1796: In 1795, the burghers of Graaff-Reinet, who were annoyed by company taxation, proclaimed themselves to be the independent.
February 1796: Before the authorities at Cape Town could take decisive measures against the rebels of Graaff-Reinet, they were compelled to capitulate to the British who had invaded and occupied the Cape Colony.
February 1799: In January 1799, Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the 1795 independence movement, led a rebellion against British rule in Graaff-Reinet.
May 1799: The rebels of Graaff-Reinet surrendered to British forces in April 1799.
2.2.War of the Second Coalition
Was the second war that saw revolutionary France against most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria, and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Naples, and various German monarchies. Prussia did not join this coalition, and Spain supported France.
2.2.1.Treaty of Amiens
Was a treaty between France and Great Britain that ended the War of the Second Coalition.
March 1802: In 1802, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens, ending the war of the War of the Second Coalition. Britain returned the Cape Colony to the Dutch.
January 1806: The outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars (18 May 1803) invalidated the Peace of Amiens. In January 1806, the British occupied the colony for a second time after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
Were a series of frontier wars of the Xhosa people of South Africa against the British Empire and the Boers. The Xhosa were eventually inglobated in the British Cape Colony.
January 1837: Queen Adelaide's Province was disannexed from the Cape in December 1836, the Cape's border was re-established at the Keiskamma river.
March 1860: In the wake of the great Xhosa cattle-killing, the Cape Colony again dis-annexed British Kaffraria, and it became a separate crown colony.
April 1866: British Kaffraria was re-incorporated into the Cape Colony.
3.1.Third Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
July 1799: In 1799, British military leader General Vandeleur and Dutch East India Company official Jacob Glen Cuyler reached Oudtshoorn. Fearing a Khoi uprising, the government made peace with the Xhosa people and permitted them to settle in the Zuurveld region.
July 1799: Commandos from Graaf-Reinet and Swellendam then started fighting in a string of clashes. Fearing general Khoi rising, the government made peace with the Xhosa and allowed them to stay in Zuurveld.
3.2.Fourth Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
January 1812: By 1811, Xhosa had occupied the area of Zuurveld.
April 1812: BritishColonel John Graham was tasked with driving the Xhosa out of the Zuurveld. He led a mixed force of professional soldiers and volunteers and defeated the Xhosa in early 1812, forcing the 20,000 Xhosa to evacuate the area.
3.3.Fifth Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
April 1819: On April 22, 1819, Xhosa warrior and leader, Chief Maqoma, led 10,000 men in an attack on Grahamstown, which was held by a garrison of 350 British soldiers.
April 1819: In 1819, during the Fifth Xhosa War, the British Cape Colony in Grahamstown was under siege by Xhosa warriors. The British forces, led by Colonel Thomas Brereton, were struggling until they received crucial support from a Khoikhoi group led by Jan Boesak, which helped them successfully repel the siege.
January 1820: The British pushed the Xhosa further east beyond the Fish River to the Keiskamma River. The resulting empty territory was designated as a buffer zone for loyal Africans' settlements, but was declared to be off limits for either side's military occupation. It came to be known as the "Ceded Territories". The Albany district was established in 1820, on the Cape's side of the Fish River.
3.4.Sixth Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
January 1835: Xhosa invaded and raided border regions (between the fish river and Keiskamma river).
February 1835: The Xhosa were repulsed an the Anglo-Boer army that was thus able to occupy the territory up to the Keiskamma River.
May 1835: After the 6th Frontier War ("Hintsa's War") the area of British Kaffraria was seized by the British Governor Sir Benjamin d'Urban, and annexed to the Cape Colony as Queen Adelaide Province.
3.5.Seventh Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
April 1846: Large numbers of Xhosa poured across the border with the Cape Colony as the outnumbered imperial troops fell back, abandoning their outposts.
May 1846: A force of 8,000 Xhosa attacked the last remaining British garrison, at Fort Peddie, but fell back after a long shootout with British and Fengu troops.
December 1847: Great Britain announced the annexation of the region between the Keiskamma and the Kei rivers to the British crown. This area was not, however, incorporated with the Cape Colony, but made a crown dependency under the name of British Kaffraria Colony, with King William's Town as capital.
3.6.Eigth Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
December 1850: On 24 December, a British detachment of 650 men under Colonel Mackinnon was ambushed by Xhosa warriors in the Boomah Pass. The party was forced to retreat to Fort White, under heavy fire from the Xhosa, having sustained forty-two casualties.
December 1850: during Christmas festivities in towns throughout the border region of British Kaffraria, apparently friendly Xhosa entered the towns to partake in the festivities. At a given signal though, they fell upon the settlers who had invited them into their homes and killed them.
January 1851: The Khoi of the Blinkwater River Valley and Kat River Settlement revolted against the British, under the leadership of a half-Khoi, half-Xhosa chief Hermanus Matroos, and managed to capture Fort Armstrong.
3.6.1.British counterattack (Eigth Xhosa War)
Was a British military action during the Eigth Xhosa War.
January 1851: Xhosa forces were repulsed in separate attacks on Fort White and Fort Hare.
January 1851: The British expelled the remainder of Hermanus' rebel forces (now under the command of Willem Uithaalder) from Fort Armstrong and drove them west toward the Amatola Mountains.
February 1852: Insurgents led by Maqoma established themselves in the forested Waterkloof. Only Waterkloof remains in Xhosa hands.
March 1853: In February 1853, Sandile and the other Xhosa chiefs surrendered to the British.
3.7.Ninth Xhosa War
Was a frontier war between the British Cape Colony and the Xhosa people.
November 1877: The British crossed the frontier and pushed into Gcalekaland. Dividing into three lightly equipped, fast-moving columns, the commandos devastated the Gcaleka armies, which dispersed and fled eastwards. The Cape units tracked the fleeing remnants right through Gcalekaland, stopping only when they reached neutral Bomvanaland on the far side. The Ninth Xhosa War was over in three weeks.
December 1877: With few incentives to conquer or occupy Gcalekaland, and with the violence subsiding, the Cape Government recalled their commandos, who returned home and disbanded.
January 1879: British commander Veldman Bikitsha, managed to engage and finally defeat the Gcaleka on 13 January (near Nyumaxa).
Were two wars between the British Empire and the independent Boer republics of South Africa. The British wanted to extend their control over the interior of South Africa and its resources. At the end of the two wars the Boer Republics became British colonies.
4.1.Second Boer War
Was a war that saw the British Empire fight against two Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. At the end of the war the Boer republics became part of the British Empire.
4.1.1.Boer offensive
Was a military invasion of the British Colony of Natal by the Boers during the Second Boer War.
October 1899: The Potchefstroom and Lichtenburg commandos under General Koos de la Rey (one of General Piet Cronjé's field generals) attacked and captured the British garrison and railway siding at Kraaipan between Vryburg and Mafeking, some 60 kilometres south west of Mafeking.
October 1899: The Siege of Kimberley in 1899 was a key event in the Second Boer War. The city was besieged by Boer forces led by General Piet Cronje, but was eventually relieved by British forces under the command of General John French. The siege lasted for 124 days and ended with the territory being taken over by the South African Republic and the Free State of Orange.
4.1.2.British offensive (Second Boer War)
Was a British military campaign in the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Both were occupied by the British.
February 1900: Siege of Kimberley by British forces.
September 1900: The British declared the Second Boer War over on 3 September 1900. The occupied territories ceased to be under military occupation, and the South African Republic was annexed, becoming the Transvaal Colony. Minor parts of the territories of the Republic were integrated into the Cape and Natal Colonies.
The Union of South Africa came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony.
May 1910: The Union of South Africa came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony.
January 1796: Expansion of Cape Colony by 1795.
January 1827: Adam Kok II, a Griqua leader, settled here with his people in 1826 and became the protector of the mission station.
January 1840: The British annexed Port Natal on 4 December with a detachment of the 72nd Highlanders from Cape Colony.
February 1848: The Orange River Sovereignty (1848-1854) was a short-lived political entity between the Orange and Vaal rivers in Southern Africa.
January 1858: Cornelis Kok's Land was incorporated into Cape Colony.
January 1861: Kok III accepted a British offer to settle his people in the eastern section of the Cape Colony.
January 1863: A group of Griquas who had left the Cape of Good Hope in the 18th century, and had settled in the area around present-day Philippolis in 1826 faced the prospect of their area coming under the control of the emerging Orange Free State. Therefore they founded the independent state of Griqualand East in the are of modern-day Kokstad.
November 1871: Basutoland was annexed to the Cape Colony by Act No. 12 of 1871 of the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, confirmed by Order in Council of 3 November 1871.
November 1872: amaPondomise was incorporated into Cape Colony.
January 1876: abaThembu was incorporated into Cape Colony.
January 1877: The Cape colony declares a protectorate over the Damara.
January 1877: The Cape colony declares a protectorate over the Herero.
January 1879: During the Scramble for Africa, the British occupied Walvis Bay with a small area surrounding the territory. They permitted the South African Union to complete the annexation of the territory in 1884, following initial steps which had been taken in 1878.
September 1879: In 1877 the Cape Parliament passed the Griqualand East Annexation Act (Act 38 of 1877). The act was only promulgated two years later on 17 September 1879, when four magistrates were set up, at Kokstad, Matatiele, Mount Frere and Umzimkulu. .
October 1880: The Griqualand West Annexation Act (Act 39 of 1877), was the act, passed in the Cape Colony Parliament on 27 July 1877, authorising the union of the Cape Colony with Griqualand West. The implementation of the act was set for 18 October 1880, when Griqualand West was formally united with the Cape Colony.
January 1881: The protectorate of the Cape Colony over Damara and Herero is disestablished.
March 1884: Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884.
March 1885: The Bechuanaland Protectorate was established by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Southern Africa. It encompassed modernd-day Botswana but was bounded to the north by the 22° parallel south.
January 1886: baTswana was incorporated into Cape Colony.
January 1886: Incorporation of Xhosa into Cape Colony.
July 1890: The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890 delimited the boundaries between German and British spheres of influence in Africa.
March 1894: amaPondo was incorporated into Cape Colony.
November 1895: The Bechuanaland Crown Colony was annexed to the neighboring British Cape Colony.
Disestablishment
May 1910: The Union of South Africa came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony.
Selected Sources
Leacock S. The Union of South Africa. American Political Science Review. 1910;4(4):498-507. doi:10.2307/1944928
.svg.png.webp)
British Cape Colony
