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Here is a chronological list of the history of our country.
 (Information gathered from various sources)

1488 Bartholomew Dias lands in Mossel bay
1490 Bartholomew Diaz names the peninsula Cabo Tormentoso (cape of Storms)
1497/8 Vasco Da Gama round the Cape of good Hope and reaches India. Lands in southern Natal.
1591 james Lancaster is the first Englishman to step ashore
1601 Sir James Lancaster places sheep on roben island to provide for food for further ships.
1601 Joris Van Spilbergen names table bay
1602 Dutch east India Company Formed (D.E.I.C)
1613 Corree, captain of the local Khoikhoi is taken to London returning a year later as interpreter.
1614 British convicts placed in Robben Island
1647 Haerlem wrecked. D.E.I.C ship
1652 Jan Van Riebeeck arrives with three ships: Dromedaris, Reiger and Goede hoop with 125 men and 4 women to set up the Dutch European settlement at the cape
1653 First Malay convicts arrive.
1656 Eva, a Khoikhoi woman is freed and marry a Dutch man.
1657 9 employees released from Company service.. They become free burgers.
1658 more than 400 Angolan and west African slaves arrive at the Cape.
1662 Governor Wagenaar arrives at the Cape
1666 Foundation stone laid for the Castle.
1678 First land granted to free burgers by Hottentots Holland.
1679 Governor Simon van der Stell arrives at the Cape. Castle completed.
1684 Van der Stel sets off to the north west in search for copper.
1688 French Hugenots arrive at the cape and are granted land in Franschoek.
1699 Governor Wilheim Adriaan Van der Stel takes over from his father.
1707 Governor Wilheim dismissed.
1713 Smallpox epidemic hits the cape killing many.
1741 Hendrik Swellengrebel becomes the first Cape born Governor.
1743 Simons bay becomes a safe winter anchorage. Imhoff gift is granted to a settler.
1747 Jan Auge from Holland arrives and changes the Company Gardens into a botanical one
1751 Ryk van Tulbagh takes over the governship.
1755 Renewed outbreak of smallpox killing hundreds.
1771 Captain Cook's first visit to the Cape.
1774 Joachim van Plettenberg becomes Governor.
1780 England at war with Holland
1781 British fleet thwarted from attacking ships in table bay by the arrival of a French fleet, starting a 3 year French occupation of the Cape.
1785 Jacob van Der Graaf appointed governor.
1795 British land in Simons Town.
1797 Lord macartney becomes first British governor.
1798 First post office established.
1803 Administration of the Cape restored to the Batavian Republic.
1806 Britain reoccupies the Cape landing with 63 ships.
1809 Khoikhoi to carry official documentation and their movements restricted.
1814 Cape colony ceded to England.
1820 Arrival of British settlers in Algoa bay.
1823 First lighthouse at green point.
1828 Death of ZULU chief Shaka.
1834 Emancipation of slavery at the Cape.
1836 Start of the Boer Trek to the north led by Maritz, Potgieter, Retief and Trichardt.
1838 massacre of Boers at Dingaans Kraal. Boers declare Natal a republic. Pietermaritzburg Founded.
1844 Incorporation of Natal into cape.
1850 War break out between British and Xhosa.
1851 Cape recife lighthouse built.
1852 Transvaal Boer republic recognized.
1855 Pretoria founded.
1856 Self destruction of Xhosa.
1858 German settlers settle around King Williams Town.
1865 Starting of the ostrich industry.
1867 Diamond of 21,25 carats found in Hopetown.
1870 River diggings found along vaal.
1871 De Beers farm digging begins.
1872 cape colony granted responsible government.
1877 Transvaal proclaimed British territory.
1878 Walvis bay becomes British territory.
1884 First telephone service.
1885 cape Town to Kimberley railway completed.
1893 Gandhi arrives in natal.
1897 Cattle killed in their thousands by a Rinderpest. Outbreak of bubonic plague.
1899 Outbreak of the Anglo Boer war.
1902 End of the South African War.
1904 Importation of over 60000 Chinese laborers to Transvaal mines.
1905 Cullinan Diamond found.
1910 Unification of South Africa, Louis Botha becomes prime minister.
1912 South Africa Native national Congress (later ANC) founded.
1915 South African troop enter German South West Africa.
1919 Jan Smuts becomes prime minister.
1920 First demo of radio broadcasting.
1922 Establishing of S.A. navy
1923 Urban areas act requires black to live in separate areas to white.
1925 Afrikaans becomes an official language.
1930 White South African women given the Vote.
1936 Hertzog takes control of the united party and creates a separate vote role for black people.
1939 Sumts becomes prime minister.
1948 national Party under DF malan wins elections.
1949 prohibition of mixed marriages act passed.
1950 Suppression of communism act, Group areas act, immorality act.
1951 Separate Representation of voters act.
1953 Separate amenities act.
1954 Attempt to remove Afrikaans from the Western cape.
1955 Forced removal in Sophiatown.
1956 Riotous assemblies act. Colored population removed from voters roll.
1959 Robert Sobukwe forms the pan African Congress.
1960 Sharperville shootings. ANC and PAC banned.
1962 sabotage act.
1963 infamous 90 day act, detention without trial.
1964 Rivonia trial ends with life sentences for Mandela, Sisulu, Goldberg, Kathrada, Mbeki, Mlangeni, matsoaledi and Mhlaba.
1966 District six declared a white group area.
1967 Christiaan Barnard performs the first heart transplant.
1969 Steve Biko forms the S.A. Students Organization.
1973 Massive Strike action organized by black workers in Durban and witwatersrand.
1975 S.A. troops invade Angola from S.W.A.
1976 High school students in Soweto protest against Afrikaans being the language medium.
1977 Biko dies in detention.
1978 P.W. Botha becomes  prime minister.
1983 Formation of the United Democratic Front.
1984 Tricameral Parliament formed. Indians and coloreds given franchise in a 3 tier system.
1986 Mixed marriages act and morality act scrapped. Stat of emergency nation wide.
1989 P.W.Botha resigns and F.W. De Klerk takes over.
1990 Unbanning of ANC, PAC and SACP.  Release of Nelson Mandela.
1992 Whites vote an overwhelming yes for reforms set by F.W. De Klerk.
1993 Agreement reached for a nonracial, nonsexist unified and democratic South Africa.
1994 First non racial, non sexist democratic elections.
1997 Publication of new constitution.

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