Page 54 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

52  INTRODUCING SOUTH AFRIC A

British Colonization

By 1778, settler expansion had reached the Eastern Cape and
the Great Fish River was proclaimed the eastern boundary of
the Cape Colony. As this was Xhosa territory, local herdsmen
were deprived of their pastures and a century of bitter “frontier
wars” ensued. In 1795, following the French Revolution, British
forces were able to occupy the Cape. Having re turned it to the
Netherlands in 1802, they re claimed it in 1806 and instituted a Settler Expansion
govern ment-sponsored programme that assigned farms in the 1814 Cape today
Zuurveld area to British settlers. To the east, Shaka Zulu was
just beginning to build a powerful empire.

Blockhouse
Battle of Muizenberg (1795) ruins
In this battle for possession of the
Cape, British warships bombarded
Dutch out posts at Muizenberg (see
p157). Britain was victorious and
thus acquired a halfway station
en route to India.

Fort Frederick
In the 19th century, many private
homes were fortified, and a
succession of outposts and frontier
forts were built in the Eastern Cape.
Few were attacked; almost all are
now in ruin. Fort Frederick in Port
Elizabeth (see pp250–53) has been
restored and is a superb example of what
these frontier fortifications looked like.

Grave of Captain
Francis Evatt, who
oversaw the landing of
the 1820 Settlers.
Rustenburg House
After the battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch
surrendered the Cape to Britain. The treaty
was signed in this house in Rondebosch,
Cape Town. Its present Neo-Classical façade
probably dates from around 1803.

1778 Great Fish 1789 Merino sheep
1750 Worldwide, 1770 Gamtoos River River made are imported from
Dutch influence made boundary of boundary of Holland and thrive in
begins to wane Cape Colony Cape Colony South Africa
1750 1760 1770 1780 1790
1751 Rijk Tulbagh appointed
Governor of the Dutch Cape 1779 A year after it is made boundary 1793 Lombard Bank,
Colony (1751–71) of the Cape Colony, settlers and the first bank in the
Xhosa clash at the Fish River – the country, opens in
first of nine frontier wars Merino sheep Cape Town

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