A European Informational Website
learn more
The Cape Colony of the future South Africa was established by the Dutch East India Company (not by the Netherlands, as is often mistakenly presumed) in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied in 1795, and finally taken in 1806 by the British - the period immediately before and during the Napoleonic Wars. It was coextensive with the later Cape Province, stretching from the Atlantic coast inland and eastward along the southern coast, constituting about half of modern South Africa: the final eastern boundary, after several wars against the Xhosa, stood at the Fish River. In the north, the Orange River, also known as the Gariep River, served for a long time as the boundary, although some land between the river and the southern boundary of Botswana was later added to it.