1848 in South Africa

← 1847 1846 1845 1848 in South Africa → 1849 1850 1851
Decades:	1820s 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1848 in South Africa .

Events ^[1]

• Approximately 163 German settlers, known as the Bergthiel Settlers, arrive in Natal.
• Voortrekkers settle across the Vaal River.
• At the Battle of Boomplaats, Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius leads a commando against British rule but is defeated with Griqua assistance.
• The Reverend Isaac Hughes founds a mission station on the farm Backhouse, near the confluence of the Orange and Vaal rivers, which later develops into the town Douglas.
• Cape Governor Sir Harry Smith annexes Transorangia, land north of the Orange River, creating the Orange River Sovereignty.
• Sir Harry Smith orders Major Henry Warden to set boundaries between black and white communities north of the Caledon River, favoring the white settlers.
• Sir Harry Smith proposes vagrancy laws to force settlers into labor, but local resistance forces him to abandon the plan.

Deaths

• 4 June - Christina Pretorius, wife of Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius, dies near present-day Bela Bela
• 23 November - Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, early explorer of Southern Africa, writer, and English Statesman, dies in London

References

1. "General South African History Timeline: 1800s | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 19 February 2025.

See Years in South Africa for list of References