Famous South Africans and History

South Africa Cape of Good Hope
South African history – The recorded history of South Africa only goes back from the time of the Explorers Vasco Da Gama and Bartholomew Diaz in the 15th century, and the eventual establishment of a trading station at the Cape of Good Hope when the Dutch East India Company sent […]

South African History

Vasco da Gama
The story of how Natal was discovered by the Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama while looking for a new route to India

Vasco Da Gama

wolraad woltemade
The story of one of the greatest hero's of South Africa who,together with his horse, died while saving lives from a sinking ship during a terrible storm.

Wolraad Woltemade

Dick King statue in East London South Africa
Dick King (Richard “Dick” Phillip King) is a name that is memorable in South African history. One of 13 children he was born in Chatham England on the 28th November 1813 and together with his parents came to South Africa as part of the 1820 settlers program.  The family first […]

Dick King

George Albu
Sir George Albu was a celebrated Mining magnate of German-Jewish descent who was born in Brandenburg, Germany in 1857 and together with his brother Leopold immigrated to South Africa in 1876. After working in Cape Town in a department store for some time, he and his brother moved to the […]

Sir George Albu

The Great Trek South Africa
The Great Trek of colonists from the Cape, South Africa in the 1800’s and the reasons for it

The Great Trek

Boer war
The Boer War is also known by many other names. It has been called the Second Boer War, or the Anglo Boer War or even the South African War. The first Boer War was a somewhat short conflict that came about when the Dutch settlers of the Transvaal rebelled against […]

The Boer War

Battle of Blood River South Africa
The story of the historical battle of Blood River between the Zulus and the Voortrekkers

Battle of Blood River

President Kruger
Paul Kruger (Stephanus Johannes Paulus) was the last President of the South African Republic and regarded by many as the greatest figure produced by Afrikanerdom. He came from a family of German immigrants. Born in the Eastern Cape in 1825, it is believed that he was born on the farm […]

Paul Kruger

Cecil John Rhodes' funeral procession in Cape Town South africa on 3 April 1902
Sir Cecil John Rhodes – One of the foremost personalities in South African history –  was a statesman and empire builder. Rhodes was born in England on July 5th 1853 in the town of Bishop’s Stortford. At the age of 17 he was sent to Natal, after he had been […]

Sir Cecil John Rhodes

Louis Botha
The first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, Louis Botha fought in the Boer War and in the First World War. He was born in Natal in 1862 and became Prime Minister in 1907

Louis Botha

Ernest Oppenheimer
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer was a South African mining and industrial magnate.  He was born in the 1880 at Friedberg in Hesse, Germany and arrived in London when he was only a young man, to join his older brother Louis at the firm of Anton Dunkelsbuhler who was a relative. Dunkelsbuhler […]

Ernest Oppenheimer

Gold
Gold in South Africa – The Witwatersrand is a word in Afrikaans which means “The Ridge of white waters”. It is a range of hills in the Gauteng province South Africa that contains most of the worlds gold reserves.  These rich gold bearing reefs stretch from 40 miles east of […]

Gold in South Africa

Jan Smuts together with his deputy Jan Hofmeyer
Jan Christiaan Smuts can undoubtedly be listed as one of South Africa’s greatest sons. He was born in Bovenplaats in the Western Cape Province (then the Cape Colony) on the 24th May 1870.  He was home schooled by his mother and only started formal schooling at the age of 12 […]

Jan Christiaan Smuts

Dr Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Barnard was born in Beaufort West, Cape Province of South Africa on the 8th November 1922. He was destined to become a doctor who would become world famous as a result of performing the world’s first heart transplant. The son of a Dutch Reformed Church Minister and one of […]

Dr Christiaan Barnard

Read about President F.W De Klerk's early life and his political moves to free Nelson Mandela and end apartheid in South Africa

F.W. De Klerk

Soweo where the 1976 Riots took place
The story of Donald Woods, South African Journalist, political activist and friend of Steve Biko.

Donald Woods

Nelson Mandela
The life of Nelson Mandela from a boy in a village in the Transkei, to becoming the first Black President of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela

Winnie Mandela
Winnie Mandela was born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela in Bizana, Transkei (now part of the Eastern Cape Province) on the 26th September 1936. She had seven siblings and her mother was a home economics teacher employed at a local school. She has led a remarkable life, loved by many who […]

Winnie Mandela

Desmond Tutu
 Desmond Tutu, born in Klerksdorp in the Transvaal Province in 1931,  was an only son with two sisters. His Mother worked as a cleaner and although Desmond dreamed of becoming a physician, his family could not afford the cost for him to train so he chose to become a teacher […]

Desmond Tutu