Globalization in South Africa By Torin_Flanigan 1497 Portugese Explorer Vasco De Gama lands on the South African Coast 1652 Jan van Riebeeck, representing the Dutch East India Company, founds the Cape Colony at Table Bay in South Africa. 1880 Gold is discovered in South Africa, triggering the gold rush 1899 British troops gather on the South African border and ignore an ultimatum to disperse. The second Anglo-Boer War begins. 1934 The Union of South Africa enacts the Status of the Union Act which declares the country to be a "sovereign independent state"