Cape Province, former province, S South Africa. Under the South African constitution of 1994 it was divided into Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, and part of a fourth province, North West. The former capital and largest city was Cape Town Cape Town or Capetown, city (1991 pop. 854,616), legislative capital of South Africa and capital of Western Cape, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It was the capital of Cape Province before that province's subdivision in 1994.
..... Click the link for more information. (now the capital of Western Cape). Other cities in the former province included Kimberley Kimberley (kĭm`bərlē), city (1991 pop. 167,060), Northern Cape, South Africa. Since the 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. (now in Northern Cape) and East London East London, city (1991 pop. 240,474), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. The city grew around a British military post founded in 1847. Its harbor was developed from 1886, and today it is a leading South African port.
..... Click the link for more information. , Port Elizabeth Port Elizabeth, city (1991 pop. 670,653), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa, on Algoa Bay , an arm of the Indian Ocean. It is a tourist center and a major seaport that ships diamonds, wool, fruit, and other items.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Uitenhage Uitenhage (y

`tənhāg', oi`tənhä'gə), town (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. (all now in Eastern Cape).

History

Although the Cape of Good Hope was first circumnavigated in 1488 by Bartolomeu Dias and later (1497) by Vasco da Gama, the first European settlement of the region was only in 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck founded a resupply station for the Dutch East India Company on Table Bay Table Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, 6 mi (9.7 km) wide, lying off Western Cape, South Africa. Table Mt. overlooks the bay, which was visited in the late 15th cent. by Portuguese voyagers to India.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the station subsequently became Cape Town. At the time of Van Riebeeck's landing, Cape Province was inhabited by San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (Hottentots) in the southern and central areas, and by Bantu speakers on the northern and eastern fringes (see Bantu languages Bantu languages, group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages ).
..... Click the link for more information. ). The Dutch East India Company brought Dutch settlers to Cape Town, who farmed and raised livestock and were called Boers Boer (br, bôr) [Du.
..... Click the link for more information. [Du.,=farmers]. In 1689, French Huguenots Huguenots (hy`gənŏts), French Protestants, followers of John Calvin .
..... Click the link for more information. began to arrive; they developed the wine industry. The company ruled the Cape until 1795, except for a brief period (1781–84) of French occupation. In 1779 the first of numerous frontier wars (continuing until 1877) between Europeans and the Xhosa (a Bantu-speaking people) erupted. These Xhosa Wars were mainly over land and cattle.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars (1792–1815), Britain occupied the Cape from 1795 to 1803, when the Dutch regained control; Holland formally ceded it to Great Britain in 1806. The British named the territory Cape of Good Hope Colony and encouraged immigration from England. The new British settlers soon conflicted with the Boers over anglicization of the courts, control of farm- and pastureland, and slaveholding. Beginning in 1835 many Boers left Cape Colony (see Trek, Great Trek, Great (trĕk), the journey by Afrikaner farmers ( Boers ) who left the Cape Colony to escape British domination and eventually
..... Click the link for more information. ), seeking more land and escape from British rule. The Boers founded a temporary republic in Natal (see KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (kwäz`l
..... Click the link for more information. ) and longer-lasting republics in the Transvaal Transvaal (trănzväl`), former province, NE South Africa.
..... Click the link for more information. and Orange Free State (see Free State Free State, formerly Orange Free State, province (1995 est. pop. 2,782,000), 49,866 sq mi (129,153 sq km), E central South Africa . It was renamed Free State shortly after the 1994 constitution went into effect.
..... Click the link for more information. ).

In 1850, Cape Colony had about 140,000 residents of European descent. In 1853 the colony was allowed to elect a legislature to advise the governor, and in 1872 it received internal self-government. In 1867 diamonds were discovered in the Kimberley region, which in 1880 was annexed by the Cape. The British and the remaining Boers generally cooperated until the 1890s, when the British, and especially Cecil Rhodes Rhodes, Cecil John (sĕs`ĭl, rōdz), 1853–1902, British imperialist and business magnate.
..... Click the link for more information. (then prime minister of Cape Colony), sought to unite the Transvaal and the Orange Free State with the Cape and Natal. In 1895–96, L. S. Jameson Jameson, Sir Leander Starr, 1853–1917, British colonial administrator and statesman in South Africa. He went to Kimberley (1878) as a physician, became associated with Cecil Rhodes in his colonizing ventures, and was appointed (1891) administrator of
..... Click the link for more information. staged an unsuccessful raid from Cape Colony into the Transvaal, which greatly increased tension between Britons and Boers. The South African War South African War or Boer War, 1899–1902, war of the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State against Great Britain.
..... Click the link for more information. (1899–1902) followed soon thereafter. In 1910 the Cape Colony joined with Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State to become a founding province of the Union (now Republic) of South Africa.

Cape Province

or Cape of Good Hope, formerly Cape Colony

Former province, South Africa. Occupying the southern extremity of the African continent, it comprised the southern and western portions of South Africa; its capital was Cape Town. The black state of Ciskei and parts of two others, Transkei and Bophuthatswana, lay within its boundaries. Its name refers to the Cape of Good Hope, 30 mi (50 km) south of Cape Town. The original inhabitants included Bantu, San, and Khoekhoe peoples. Bartolomeu Dias, en route to India in 1488, became the first European to visit the area. A colony was founded by the Dutch at Table Bay in 1652; it was ceded to the British in 1814. It joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the Republic of South Africa in 1961. The province ceased to exist in 1994, when it was split roughly into Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Western Cape provinces.