Abstract
History of South Africa's colonization is undoubtedly one of the most complex, partly due to the fact that several colonizing nations and several native tribes were in interaction. What kind of evolutions knew South Africa from the second part of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century that led it to the Anglo-Boer Wars? The written history of South Africa begins with the accounts of European navigators passing South Africa on the East Indies trade routes. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a number of small fishing settlements were made along the coast by Portuguese sailors (Bartolomeo Dias, February 3, 1488). On April 6, 1652, a victualling station was established at the Cape of Good Hope by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company (in the Dutch of the day: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC), one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East. In fact, the VOC had no intent of colonizing the area, but only wanted to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables.
