The Dutch East India Company landed the first European settlers on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652
settlers as early as 1795 tried to establish an independent republic.
The defeat of the Boers in 1902
in 1910 to the Union of South Africa, composed of four provinces, the two former republics
Organized political activity among Africans started with the establishment of the African National Congress in 1912.
Jan Christiaan Smuts brought the nation into World War II, South Africa became a charter member of the United Nations in 1945
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949,
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949
The Groups Areas Act, 1950
The Immorality Act
The Population Registration Act, also in 1950
The Bantu Authorities Act, 1951, assigned all Africans to their native land.
The Abolition of Passes and Coordination of Documents Act, 1952
In 1960, 70 black protesters were killed during a peaceful demonstration in Sharpesville.
South Africa declared itself a republic in 1961
Apartheid's grip on South Africa began to give way when F. W. de Klerk replaced P. W. Botha as president in 1989.
Apartthied Ended
A new national constitution was approved and adopted in May 1996.
On June 2, 1999, Thabo Mbeki, the pragmatic deputy president and leader of the ANC, was elected president in a landslide, having already assumed many of Mandela's governing responsibilities.
As expected, on April 15, 2004, the African National Congress won South Africa's general election
