South Africa

Richard Cavendish remembers the Union of South Africa's first election campaign in September 1910.

The killing of 69 black South Africans on March 21st, 1960 was a turning point: the world judged apartheid to be morally bankrupt and the political agitation that ensued would eventually overturn white supremacy, writes Gary Baines.

White South Africans who fought in the long ‘Border War’ to maintain apartheid now find themselves in a country run by their former enemies. Gary Baines examines their continuing struggle to come to terms with the conflict and their efforts to have their voices heard.

Michael Willis focuses on the origins of the Boer War in a way that could make for a stimulating role-play.

Damian O’Connor examines the motives of the man who started the conflict.

On May 31st, 1902, the Peace of Vereeniging was signed, ending the Second Boer War between Britain and the two Afrikaner republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

Richard Cavendish charts the founding of Cape Town, on April 7th, 1652.

'Frankly I am ashamed of being a Briton for the treatment we have meted out to the Boers as revealed by you and so justly condemned in your pages’ - John Burns to W. T. Stead.

Richard Cavendish describes the relief of Mafeking, following a seven-month siege, on May 16th/17th, 1900.

Frank McDonough looks at recent thinking on the origins of the war of 1899-1902

Raphael Mokades - the winner of the 1996 Julia Wood Award - argues that military failure in the Boer War transformed political attitudes in Edwardian Britain.

Iain Smith looks at how teaching history is being turned upside down in South Africa today.

Bartholomew Dias' voyage to the Cape of Good Hope in the late 15th century marked the apex of an extraordinary Portuguese expansion overseas and the start of a fateful European impact on South Africa.