The arrival of the British at the Cape changed the lives of the people that were already living there. Initially British control was aimed to protect the trade route to the East, however, the British soon realised the potential to develop the Cape for their own needs.
With colonialism, which began in South Africa in 1652, came the Slavery and Forced Labour Model. This was the original model of colonialism brought by the Dutch in 1652, and subsequently exported from the Western Cape to the Afrikaner Republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek. Many South Africans are the descendents of slaves brought to the Cape Colony from 1653 until 1822.
The changes wrought on African societies by the imposition of European colonial rule occurred in quick succession.
Initially, a colonial contact was a two-way process. However, Africans were far from helpless victims in the initial encounter. Colonial contact was not simply a matter of Europeans imposing themselves upon African societies. For their part, African rulers saw many benefits to be had from maintaining relations with Europeans, and for a considerable period of time they engaged with Europeans voluntarily and on their own terms.
Unwilling or unable to commit the large number of troops that would have been necessary to destroy the rebel armies, the Cape Colony made peace with the Sotho in April 1881. The Sotho were permitted to retain their arms, though they were to pay an annual tax on each gun. By 1882, however, the Sotho were refusing to register their firearms and thus evaded the tax. That year a Cape army under Gen. Charles Gordon was sent in, but it retired without achieving anything. The Cape Colony, faced with prospects of endless war, gave over responsibility for Basutoland directly to the British government in 1884. Basutoland became a British High Commission Territory, and the powers of the Sotho chiefs were left relatively intact. This change in status is why Basutoland was not included in the surrounding Union of South Africa when it was formed in 1910. Instead, the Sotho nation remained under British oversight until 1966, when it became the independent country of Lesotho.
hope u like it
