| In 1795 the British occupied the Cape as a | | | | Racial paranoia became integral to white |
| strategic base against the French, | | | | frontier politics. The result was that |
| controlling the sea route to the East.After a | | | | frontier warfare became endemic through much |
| brief reversion to the Dutch in the course of | | | | of the 19th century, during which Xhosa war |
| the Napoleonic wars, it was retaken in 1806 | | | | leaders such as Chief Maqoma became heroic |
| and kept by Britain in the post-war | | | | figures to their people.By the mid-1800s, |
| settlement of territorial claims. The closed | | | | British settlers of similar persuasion were |
| and regulated economic system of the Dutch | | | | to be found in Natal. They too called for |
| period was swept away as the Cape Colony was | | | | imperial expansion in support of their land |
| integrated into the dynamic international | | | | claims and trading enterprises.Meanwhile |
| trading empire of industrializing Britain.A | | | | large numbers of the original colonists, the |
| crucial new element was evangelicalism, | | | | Boers, were greatly extending white |
| brought to the Cape by Protestant | | | | settlement beyond the Cape's borders to the |
| missionaries. The evangelicals believed in | | | | north in the movement that became known as |
| the liberating effect of 'free' labor and in | | | | the Great Trek in the mid-1830s. Alienated by |
| the 'civilizing mission' of British | | | | British liberalism, and with their economic |
| imperialism. They were convinced that | | | | enterprise usurped by British settlers, |
| indigenous peoples could be fully assimilated | | | | several thousand Boers from the interior |
| into European Christian culture, once the | | | | districts, accompanied by a number of Khoisan |
| shackles of oppression had been removed.The | | | | servants, began a series of migrations |
| most important representative of the mission | | | | northwards. They moved to the Highveld and |
| movement in South Africa was Dr. John Philip, | | | | Natal, skirting the great concentrations of |
| who arrived as superintendent of the London | | | | black farmers on the way by taking advantage |
| Missionary Society in 1819. His campaign on | | | | of the areas disrupted during the |
| behalf of the oppressed Khoisan coincided | | | | mfecane.When the British, who were concerned |
| with a high point in official sympathy for | | | | about controlling the traffic through Port |
| philanthropic concerns.One result was | | | | Natal (Durban), annexed the territory of |
| Ordinance 50 of 1828, which guaranteed equal | | | | Natal in 1843, those emigrant Boers who had |
| civil rights for 'people of co lour' within | | | | hoped to settle there returned inland.The |
| the colony and freed them from legal | | | | Voortrekkers (as they were later called) |
| discrimination.At the same time, a powerful | | | | coalesced in two land-locked republics, the |
| anti-slavery movement in Britain promoted a | | | | South African Republic (Transvaal) and the |
| series of ameliorative measures, imposed on | | | | Orange Free State. There, the principles of |
| the colonies in the 1820s, and the | | | | racially exclusive citizenship were absolute, |
| proclamation of emancipation, which came into | | | | despite the trekkers' reliance on black |
| force in 1834. The slaves were subjected to a | | | | labor. With limited coercive power, the Boer |
| four-year period of 'apprenticeship' with | | | | communities had to establish relations and |
| their former owners on the grounds that they | | | | develop alliances with some black chiefdoms, |
| must be prepared for freedom, which came on 1 | | | | neutralizing those who obstructed their |
| December 1838.Although slavery had become | | | | intrusion or who posed a threat to their |
| less profitable because of a depression in | | | | security.Only after the mineral discoveries |
| the wine industry, Cape slave-owners rallied | | | | of the late 1800s did the balance of power |
| to oppose emancipation.The compensation | | | | swing decisively towards the colonists. The |
| money, which the British treasury paid out to | | | | Boer republics then took on the trappings of |
| sweeten the pill, injected unprecedented | | | | real statehood and imposed their authority |
| liquidity into the stagnant local | | | | within the territorial borders that they had |
| economy.This brought a spurt of company | | | | notionally claimed for themselves.The Colony |
| formation, such as banks and insurance | | | | of Natal, situated to the south of the mighty |
| companies, as well as a surge of investment | | | | Zulu State, developed along very different |
| in land and wool sheep in the drier regions | | | | lines from the original colony of settlement, |
| of the colony in the late 1830s. Wool became | | | | the Cape.The size of the black population |
| a staple export on which the Cape economy | | | | left no room for the assimilationist vision |
| depended for its further development in the | | | | of race domination embraced in the Cape. |
| middle decades of the century.For the | | | | Chiefdoms consisting mainly of refugee groups |
| ex-slaves, as for the Khoisan servants, the | | | | in the aftermath of the mfecane were |
| reality of freedom was very different from | | | | persuaded to accept colonial protection in |
| the promise. As the wage-based economy | | | | return for reserved land and the freedom to |
| developed, they remained a dispossessed and | | | | govern themselves in accordance with their |
| exploited element in the population, with | | | | own customs. These chiefdoms were established |
| little opportunity to escape their servile | | | | in the heart of an expanding colonial |
| lot.Increasingly, they were lumped together | | | | territory.Natal developed a system of |
| as the coloured people, a group which | | | | political and legal dualism, whereby chiefly |
| included the descendants of unions between | | | | rule was entrenched and customary law was |
| indigenous and European peoples, and a | | | | codified. Although exemptions from customary |
| substantial Muslim minority who became known | | | | law could be granted to the educated products |
| as the 'Cape Malays' (misleadingly, as they | | | | of the missions, in practice they were rare. |
| mostly came from the Indonesian | | | | Urban residence was strictly controlled and |
| archipelago).The coloured people were | | | | political rights outside the reserves were |
| discriminated against on account of their | | | | effectively limited to whites. Natal's system |
| working-class status as well as their racial | | | | is widely regarded as having provided a model |
| identity. Among the poor, especially in and | | | | for the segregationism of the 20th |
| around Cape Town, there continued to be a | | | | century.Natal's economy was boosted by the |
| great deal of racial mixing and intermarriage | | | | development of sugar plantations in the |
| throughout the 1800s.In 1820, several | | | | subtropical coastal lowlands. |
| thousand British settlers, who were swept up | | | | Indian-indentured laborers were imported from |
| by a scheme to relieve Britain of its | | | | 1860 to work the plantations, and many Indian |
| unemployed, were placed in the eastern Cape | | | | traders and market gardeners followed.These |
| frontier zone as a buffer against the Xhosa | | | | Indians, who were segregated and |
| chiefdoms.The vision of a dense settlement of | | | | discriminated against from the start, became |
| small farmers was, however, ill-conceived and | | | | a further important element in South Africa's |
| many of the settlers became artisans and | | | | population. It was in South Africa that |
| traders. The more successful became an | | | | Mohandas Gandhi refined from the mid-1890s |
| entrepreneurial class of merchants, | | | | the techniques of passive resistance, which |
| large-scale sheep farmers and speculators | | | | he later effectively practised in India. |
| with an insatiable demand for land.Some | | | | Although Indians gradually moved into the |
| became fierce warmongers, who pressed for the | | | | Transvaal and elsewhere, they remain |
| military dispossession of the chiefdoms. They | | | | concentrated mainly in Natal.In 1853, the |
| coveted Xhosa land and welcomed the prospect | | | | Cape Colony was granted a representative |
| of war involving large-scale military | | | | legislature in keeping with British policy, |
| expenditure by the imperial authorities.The | | | | followed in 1872 by self-government. The |
| Xhosa engaged in raiding as a means of | | | | franchise was formally non-racial but also |
| asserting their prior claims to the land. | | | | based on income and property qualifications. |