The British Influence in South Africa During the Nineteenth Century

In historical terms, we may not be far wrong to say that, into the 16th century South Africa had a smaller population than any other region of comparable size in the continent. Eminently, small groups of Bushmen or San hunters and food-gatherers and Hottentots (also called Khoi-Khoi) pastoralists made up the sparse population for most of the southern and western parts of the subcontinent, while in the north and east expanding communities of the Bantu-speaking people were at a snail¿ s pace colonizing the areas known today as Transvaal and Natal. Furthermore, these Bantu- speakers could be divided, linguistically, into four main groups; namely, the Venda in the Limpopo Valley. From 1952 those who became the first European settlers were added to the population. The Dutch East India Company Founded the Cape Station mainly, to supply fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables to the passing ships, but not as a colony of settlement. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch colony contained more than 20,000 Europeans, together with a substantial population of mixed African, Asian and European descent, and a considerable number of slaves mostly of Hottentot, Malay or, Malagasy origin.