History of South Africa

The very first settlers in South Africa were the San (also known as the Bushmen or Hottentots) people, who were then followed by Bantu and Khoikhoi (also known as Khoekhoe) speaking tribes. They lived in the southern tip of South Africa for thousands of years before a written history of South Africa began to be produced by European sea travelers who landed there. The Europeans, by way of the Dutch East India Company, landed in South Africa in 1652 on the Cape of Good Hope. There, they launched a colony, consisting of the Boers or Afrikaners who spoke Afrikaans (a Dutch dialect).

In 1815, at the culmination of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain gained permanent possession of the Cape Colony. The freeing of slaves several years later, along with the government becoming Anglicized, pushed approximately 12,000 of the Afrikaners to journey to the east and to the north into tribal territory. There they established two republics - that of the Orange Free State and the republic of the Transvaal.

In 1967, diamonds were discovered, and gold was discovered, too, nearly a decade later. The prime minister of the Cape Colony at the time, Cecil Rhodes, plotted annexation of the "outlanders" in search of the diamonds and gold, which then misfired, causing Rhodes to resign from his position. The Anglo-Boer War, which broke out on October 11, 1899, led to the defeat of the Boers three years later. Then, the area became the Union of South Africa, which was made up of four provinces, the old Natal and Cape colonies, as well as the two former republics. A Boer, named Louis Botha, then became the first prime minister in the history of the Union of South Africa. The African National Congress was then established in 1912.

Apartheid (the separation of races), however, tarnished the independence of South Africa not many years later, as whites controlled much of South Africa. Apartheid did not ease in South Africa until F. W. de Klerk became president in 1989 removing the problematic ban on the African National Congress (ANC), an anti-apartheid organization, that was first banned in 1960. In 1994, during the first multiracial election in the history of South Africa, Nelson Mandela garnished a huge victory for himself as well as the ANC. As president, Nelson Mandela approved a new constitution for South Africa and worked diligently on the recovery of the nation.

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Sources:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107983.html?pageno=1
http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/history.htm