The Union of South Africa was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies. It included the territories that were formerly a part of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.
The year 1870 in the history of the Cape Colony marks the dawn of a new era in South Africa, and it can be said that the development of modern South Africa began on that date. Despite political complications that arose from time to time, progress in Cape Colony continued at a steady pace until the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer Wars in 1899. The discovery of diamonds in the Orange River in 1867 was immediately followed by similar finds in the Vaal River. This led to the rapid occupation and development of huge tracts of the country, which had hitherto been sparsely inhabited. Dutoitspan and Bultfontein diamond mines were discovered in 1870, and in 1871 the even richer mines of Kimberley and De Beers were discovered. These four great deposits of mineral wealth were incredibly productive, and constituted the greatest industrial asset that the Colony possessed.
Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet, was a Welsh British colonial administrator. He had a successful career in India, rising to become Governor of Bombay (1862–1867). However, as High Commissioner for Southern Africa (1877–1880), he implemented a set of policies which attempted to impose a British confederation on the region and which led to the overthrow of the Cape's first elected government in 1878 and to a string of regional wars, culminating in the invasion of Zululand (1879) and the First Boer War (1880–1881). The British Prime Minister, Gladstone, recalled Frere to London to face charges of misconduct; Whitehall officially censured Frere for acting recklessly.
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr was a South African politician. He was affectionately known as Onze Jan, "our Jan" in Dutch.
John Xavier Merriman was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
The Maritz rebellion, also known as the Boer revolt or Five Shilling rebellion, was an armed insurrection in South Africa in 1914, at the start of World War I. It was led by Boers who supported the re-establishment of the South African Republic in the Transvaal. Many members of the South African government were themselves former Boers who had fought with the Maritz rebels against the British in the Second Boer War, which had ended twelve years earlier. The rebellion failed, and its ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment.
The following lists events that happened during 1881 in South Africa.
Sir John Gordon Sprigg, was an English-born colonial administrator and politician who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony on four different occasions.
Sir John Charles Molteno was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.
Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen was a politician and administrator of the Cape Colony.
Saul Solomon was an influential liberal politician of the Cape Colony, a British colony in what is now South Africa. Solomon was an important member of the movement for responsible government and an opponent of Lord Carnarvon's Confederation scheme.
Jacobus Wilhelmus ("J.W.") Sauer, was a prominent liberal politician of the Cape Colony. He served as Minister in multiple Cape governments, and was influential in several unsuccessful attempts to enshrine equal political rights for black South Africans in the constitution of the Union of South Africa. He was also a strong early supporter of women's rights and suffrage.
Frederick Schermbrucker (1832–1904) was a soldier and an influential parliamentarian of the Cape Colony. He was a strong pro-imperialist, one of the foremost supporters of Cecil Rhodes and an early leader of the Progressive Party of the Cape.
The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope functioned as the legislature of the Cape Colony, from its founding in 1853, until the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it was dissolved and the Parliament of South Africa was established. It consisted of the House of Assembly and the legislative council.
Sir James Rose Innes was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 and, in the view of many, its greatest ever judge. Before becoming a judge he was a member of the Cape Parliament, the Cape Colony's Attorney-General, and a prominent critic of Cecil John Rhodes. His maternal grandson was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a prominent opponent of the Third Reich.
Francis Reginald Statham (1844–1908) was a writer, composer and newspaper editor of Great Britain and southern Africa. He was notable for his radical anti-imperialist writings and for the controversy that was attached to him throughout his life. The Bishop and political leader John Colenso famously summed him up as "a keen knife, liable to shut upon the hand that used it, and therefore to be used with caution".
The Cape Post (1879-1880) was a newspaper that briefly operated in the Cape Colony.
Patrick McLoughlin was an influential newspaper editor of the British Cape Colony, in what is now South Africa.
The Koegas atrocities or Koegas affair (1878–80) was a notorious murder case in the Cape Colony, which led to deep political divisions and a follow up campaign, due to the perceived racial bias of the country's Attorney General. It culminated in libel suits, filed by the government against several liberal leaders and news outlets.
Francis Joseph Dormer was an influential journalist and newspaper editor in southern Africa.
