Cape Colony

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For the previous Dutch colony, see Dutch Cape Colony.
Cape of Good Hope
Kaap de Goede Hoop (Dutch)
British colony
17951910
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Anthem
God Save the King (17951837; 19011910)
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The Cape of Good Hope c. 1890

with Griqualand East and Griqualand West annexed
and StellalandGoshen (in light red) claimed
Capital Cape Town
Languages English, Dutch (official)
Khoekhoe, Xhosa also spoken
Religion Dutch Reformed Church, Anglican, San religion
Government Constitutional monarchy
KingQueen
17951820 George III
18201830 George IV
18301837 William IV
18371901 Victoria
19011910 Edward VII
Governor
17971798 George Macartney
19011910 Walter Hely-Hutchinson
Prime Minister
18721878 John Charles Molteno
19081910 John X. Merriman
Historical era Imperialism
Established 1795
Dutch colony 18031806
Anglo-Dutch treaty 1814
Natal incorporated 1844
Disestablished 1910
Area
1822[1] 331,900 km2 (128,100 sq mi)
1910 569,020 km2 (219,700 sq mi)
Population
1822[1] est. 110,380
Density 0km2 (1sq mi)
1865 census[2] est. 496,381
1910 est. 2,564,965
Density 5km2 (12sq mi)
Currency Pound sterling
Preceded by Succeeded by
Dutch Cape Colony
British Bechuanaland
Union of South Africa
Basutoland
Today part of Namibia
 South Africa
Dutch was the sole official language until 1806, when the British officially
replaced Dutch with English. Dutch was reincluded as a second official language in
1882.
Penguin Islands and Walvis Bay
Historical states
in present-day
South Africa
South Africa topo continent.png
before 1600[show]
16001700[show]
17001800[show]
18001850[show]
18501875[show]
18751900[show]
1900present[show]
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v t e
The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony (Dutch Kaapkolonie), was a
British colony in present-day South Africa, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The
British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Kaap
de Goede Hoop, established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch lost
the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned
following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the
Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, and British possession affirmed with the Anglo-Dutch
Treaty of 1814.

The Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing
in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in
1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province.[3] South Africa became
fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. Following the 1994
creation of the present-day South African provinces, the Cape of Good Hope Province
was partitioned into the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Western Cape, with
smaller parts in North West province.

The Cape of Good Hope was coextensive with the later Cape of Good Hope Province,
stretching from the Atlantic coast inland and eastward along the southern coast,
constituting about half of modern South Africa the final eastern boundary, after
several wars against the Xhosa, stood at the Fish River. In the north, the Orange
River, also known as the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time,
although some land between the river and the southern boundary of Botswana was
later added to it. From 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay
and the Penguin Islands, both in what is now Namibia.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Dutch settlement
1.2 British conquest
1.3 British Colonisation
1.4 Responsible Government
2 Governors of the Cape of Good Hope (17971910)
2.1 British occupation (1st, 17971804)
2.2 Batavian Republic (Dutch colony) (18031806)
2.3 British occupation (2nd, 18061814)
2.4 British colony (18141910)
3 Prime Ministers of the Cape of Good Hope (18721910)
4 Demographics
4.1 1904 Census
5 See also
6 References
6.1 Sources
History[edit]
Dutch settlement[edit]
Main article Dutch Cape Colony
An expedition of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) led by Jan van Riebeeck
established a trading post and naval victualing station at the Cape of Good Hope in
1652.[4] Van Riebeeck's objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for Dutch ships
during the long voyages between Europe and Asia.[4] Within about three decades, the
Cape had become home to a large community of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers
(free citizens), former VOC employees who settled in Dutch colonies overseas after
completing their service contracts.[5] Vrijburgers were mostly married Dutch
citizens who undertook to spend at least twenty years farming the land within the
fledgling colony's borders; in exchange they received tax exempt status and were
loaned tools and seeds.[6] Reflecting the multi-national nature of the early
trading companies, the Dutch also granted vrijburger status to a number of former
Scandinavian and German employees as well.[7] In 1688 they also sponsored the
immigration of nearly two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the
Netherlands upon the Edict of Fontainebleau.[8] There was a degree of cultural
assimilation due to intermarriage, and the almost universal adoption of the Dutch
language.[9]

Many of the colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly
independent and localised in their loyalties.[10] Known as Boers, they migrated
westwards beyond the Cape Colony's initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a
thousand kilometres inland.[11] Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle
permanently and were denoted as trekboers.[12] The Dutch colonial period was marred
by a number of bitter conflicts between the colonists and the Khoisan, followed by
the Xhosa, both of which they perceived as unwanted competitors for prime farmland.
[12]

Dutch traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch
East Indies and other parts of Africa.[13] By the end of the eighteenth century the
Cape's population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000
slaves.[14][15]

British conquest[edit]
Main article Invasion of the Cape Colony (1795)
In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands, the mother country
of the Dutch East India Company. This prompted Great Britain to occupy the
territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential
French attempt to reach India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which
anchored at Simon's Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the
Battle of Muizenberg, took control of the territory. The Dutch East India Company
transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Revolutionary
period Dutch state) in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations
between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic,
led the British to hand the Cape of Good Hope over to the Batavian Republic in
1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

Part of a series on
Cape Colony history
Pre-1806
18061870
18701899
18991910
v t e

Map of the Cape of Good Hope in 1809.

In 1806, the Cape, now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied
again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg. The temporary
peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities,
whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic
(which Napoleon would subsequently abolish later the same year). The British, who
set up a colony on 8 January 1806,[citation needed] hoped to keep Napoleon out of
the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes. In 1814 the Dutch government
formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the
Convention of London.

British Colonisation[edit]
The British started to settle the eastern border of the colony, with the arrival in
Port Elizabeth of the 1820 Settlers. They also began to introduce the first
rudimentary rights for the Cape's black African population and, in 1833, abolished
slavery. The resentment that the Dutch farmers felt against this social change, as
well as the imposition of English language and culture, caused them to trek inland
en masse. This was known as the Great Trek, and the migrating Boers settled inland,
forming the Boer republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

British immigration continued in the Cape, even as many of the Boers continued to
trek inland, and the ending of the British East India Company's monopoly on trade
led to economic growth. At the same time, the long series of border wars fought
against the Xhosa people of the Cape's eastern frontier finally died down when the
Xhosa partook in a mass destruction of their own crops and cattle, in the belief
that this would cause their spirits to appear and defeat the whites. The resulting
famine crippl