Early Southern Africans

• The early people in southern Africa were hunters and gatherers

• Eventually as other groups migrated south they brought with them iron tools

European Influence

• As the Europeans began trading with the peoples of Africa the power shifted from central trade routs to the coast

• This led to the decline in many of the great interior empires in Africa

European Influence

• Portuguese– The first Europeans to explore Southern Africa– Set up bases stop while on their way to Asia

• The Dutch– First Europeans to set up permanent settlements– 1652 established a trading station at the Cape of

Good Hope; The Cape colony– Also used by the Dutch as stopping place for ships

on their way to Asia

The Afrikaners and Boers

• Other Europeans also settled in Southern Africa

• Afrikaners- descendants of the French, Dutch, and German settlers

• Afrikaans- language of the Afrikaners that mixed European and African languages

• In 1800s the British took control of the Cape colony

• Boers- Afrikaner farmers who resisted the British– Some packed up and moved into the interior of

Africa

Late Colonial History

• 1830s slavery is outlawed in the British Empire• Trading in ivory was in demand until the

elephant population was virtually wiped out• 1860s trade shifted to gold and diamonds