ONE LAND · 4 ATLASES
History of South Africa in maps
South Africa as it appears in 4 interactive history atlases, from 1806 to 1994: South Africa, Union of South Africa. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was South Africa before it was South Africa? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
South Africa · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Union of South Africa · WWI
The Union of South Africa — a British dominion eleven years old — first crushed a pro-German Boer revolt at home, then conquered German South-West Africa (1915) and fought Lettow in East Africa. It administered its conquest as a mandate so thoroughly that Namibia became independent only in 1990. Its non-white labor contingents served without arms, by policy — the war’s racial lines ran through its own ranks.
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position |
South Africa · Cold War
| US-aligned states — the opening position |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
South Africa · Decolonization of Africa
The hardest case, saved for last. Under white-minority rule since 1910 and total apartheid from 1948, South Africa was the redoubt the whole liberation struggle finally reached: Sharpeville, the armed struggle, Soweto, Biko, the ungovernable townships, sanctions, and Cuito. Mandela walked free in 1990 and, through four years that nearly failed, a negotiated revolution brought the first free election in April 1994. The completion of the map — and the beginning of a harder question.
| Settler-minority rule — the opening position | |
| Independent Africa |
DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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