Part 64: From The Cape to The Kalahari
In the second consecutive update on the Land of the Blessed Rains, I’ll go more in depth on the only region of Africa that I have a shred of credibility covering, Southern Africa. In 1850, the non-Indigenous population of the Republic of South Africa (Whites and
Coloureds, basically) was 404,000 (1. I have absolutely no idea what the native African population was in 1850, and 2. I doubt that the South African government would’ve counted them)., growing at a steady clip due to a high birth rate and steady immigration from The Netherlands and Germany. After the explosion of immigration following the Dutch Civil War in the 1840s, the influx cooled down to about 2,500 per year during the 1850s, before reaching 5,000 per year by the end of the 1860s. The population grew to 558,000 by 1860 and 772,000 by 1870. After that, however, several key events would lead to a surge of European immigration to South Africa and change the course of the nation forever…
In 1872, Diamonds were discovered on the farm of
Vooruitzicht in the Northern Cape, sparking a Diamond Rush that drew thousands of eager prospectors to the desert, both from inside South Africa and from overseas. Permanent immigration more than doubled from it’s previous levels from 1872-1875, before cooling down a bit after the rush concluded. However, that would only prove to be the warm-up, as the main event was still to come.
In 1885, gold was discovered in the
Witwatersrand region of the Highveld, sparking a gold rush. However, this wasn’t any ordinary deposit of gold, but one of, if not the largest deposits of gold in the world. This seemingly endless deposit of gold (which is still being mined IOTL as of 2020) drew well over 100,000 prospectors turned settlers (I’m not counting those who returned home later on) through the latter half of the 1880s, and European settlement remained high throughout the 1890s.
Goudenberg, the main center of the goldfields went from nonexistent in 1880 to a population of 125,000 in 1900. Kaapstad grew from 50,000 in 1850 to 275,000 in 1900, still the largest city in South Africa. The South African Government had also expanded northwards into the
Namib and
Kalahari deserts, the major settlements in those northern regions being
Walvisbaai,
Windhoek and
Olijfhout.
By 1900, the White and Coloured population of South Africa had grown to 2,400,000, making up nearly half of the total population of 4.96 Million (the rest were almost entirely made up of Native Africans). Aside from the aforementioned Goudenberg and Kaapstad, some of the major cities and towns in South Africa included
Stellenbosch,
Paarl,
Graaff-Reinet,
Oudtshoorn,
Swellendam,
Mosselbaai and
De Baai. Now, time for a brief touch-up on the neighboring British colony of
Natal.
In contrast to the racially split South Africa, Natal retained a solid African majority of about 80%, due to its high Native population density. The non-African population was split pretty evenly between Whites (mainly British) and Indians, largely descended from laborers on sugarcane plantations. Aside from the capital of Port Natal, the major settlements in Natal were
Richards Bay,
Port Shepstone,
New London,
Umtata,
Ladysmith and
Newcastle. As with most of my updates, I don’t know how to close it out, so I’ll say farewell for now.