2. Britain at the Cape
• The arrival of the British at the Cape changed the
lives of the people that were already living there.
Initially British control was aimed to protect the trade
route to the East, however, the British soon realized
the potential to develop the Cape for their own
needs.
3. Indigenous Population
• With colonialism, which began in South Africa in 1652, came the
Slavery and Forced Labour Model. This was the original model of
colonialism brought by the Dutch in 1652, and subsequently
exported from theWestern Cape to the Afrikaner Republics of the
Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Respublika. Many
South Africans are the descendants of slaves brought to the Cape
Colony from 1653 until 1822.
4. Continuation
• The changes wrought on African societies by the imposition of
European colonial rule occurred in quick succession. In fact, it was the
speed with which change occurred that set the colonial era apart
from earlier periods in South Africa. Of course, not all societies were
equally transformed. Some resisted the forces of colonial intrusion,
slavery and forced labour for extended periods. Others, however,
such as the Khoikhoi communities of the south-western Cape,
disintegrated within a matter of decades.
5. Initially, a colonial contact was a two-way process. However, Africans were
far from helpless victims in the initial encounter. Colonial contact was not
simply a matter of Europeans imposing themselves upon African societies.
For their part,African rulers saw many benefits to be had from
maintaining relations with Europeans, and for a considerable period of
time they engaged with Europeans voluntarily and on their own terms.
Most importantly, trade with Europeans gaveAfrican rulers access to a
crucial aspect of European technology, namely firearms. More than
anything else, those who had ownership and control over firearms were
able to gather around themselves larger and larger groups of people. In
short, the ownership of firearms turned into a status symbol and a means
to gain political power.
6. Sadly, the article of trade in which Europeans showed
the greatest interest, and whichAfricans were prepared
to sacrifice, were slaves.The Atlantic slave trade stands
at the center of a long history of European contact with
Africa.This was the era of the African Diaspora, an all-
embracing term historians have used to describe the
consequences of the slave trade. Estimates of the
number of slaves transported from their African homes
to European colonial possession in the Americas range
from 9 to 15 million people.Although a great deal of
violence accompanied the trade in slaves, the sheer
scale of operations involved a high degree of
organization, on the part of both Europeans and
Africans. In other words, the Atlantic slave trade could
not have taken place without the cooperation, or
complicity, of many Africans.
7. As the number of transported salves increased, African
societies could not avoid transformation, and 400 years of
slave trading took their toll. Of course, not all African societies
were equally affected, but countries such as Angola and
Senegal suffered heavily.
The most important consequences of the Atlantic slave trade
were demographic, economic, and political.There can be no
doubt that the Atlantic slave trade greatly retarded African
demographic development, a fact that was to have lasting
consequences for the history of the continent. At best, African
populations remained stagnant.The export of the most
economically active men and women led to the disintegration
of entire societies.The trade in slaves also led to new political
formations. In some cases, as people sought protection from
the violence and warfare that went with the slave trade, large
centralized states came into being.
