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.
WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.
What was South Africa before it was South Africa? The sections below follow this
land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was
called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve
as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.
The Union of South Africa, a British dominion eleven years old, crushed a pro-German Boer revolt at home before conquering German South-West Africa in 1915 and fighting Lettow in East Africa. It administered the conquest as a mandate so thoroughly that Namibia did not become independent until 1990. Racial divisions ran through South Africa’s own forces: policy required its non-white labor contingents to serve without arms.
Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position
South Africa was the hardest case, and the last. White-minority rule dated from 1910, total apartheid from 1948; the liberation struggle reached this redoubt through Sharpeville, armed struggle, Soweto, Biko, the ungovernable townships, sanctions and Cuito. Mandela walked free in 1990. The four years that followed nearly saw negotiations fail, but a negotiated revolution brought the first free election in April 1994. The map was complete, and a harder question began.
