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THE COLONIZATION OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BRITISH IMPACTS ON

DEVELOPMENT

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 THE COLONIZATION OF SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BRITISH

IMPACTS ON DEVELOPMENT

Doğanay Suveren

Faculty of Economy and Administrative Sciences, Department of Political Science and

International Relations, Yeditepe University

ABSTRACT

With the start of the western colonization in 15th century South Africa was colonized

by the Netherlands and Great Britain. South Africa was experienced the colonization more

than 300 years. With the gaining its own independence in 1961, this colonization experience

played a significant role in shaping today’s South Africa. This paper will discuss the

background of the colonization and its consequences for South Africa as well as the positive

impacts of the being former British colony and shaping dynamics of the Republic of South

Africa.

THE INTRODUCTION

The main basis of this work is to point out the impacts of the British colonization in

South Africa. The paper examines the effects of the colonial rule through agriculture,

industry, economy, and contributions of the Commonwealth of Nations. This work is based

on the statement that the British colonization of South Africa positively affected its economy

in the 20th century through various sections. So that, South Africa became medium developed

country with the impacts of the post colonialism.

The study argues the British built many infrastructure in South Africa like

transportation, communication networks and cultivation areas of cash crops such as cocoa,
 2

tea, protea cut flower, rubber and cotton. Also the rejoining of the South Africa into

Commonwealth of Nations in 1994 and the benefits of its membership to the country wıth the

funds and development projects. Additionally, the importance of the mining industry in the

terms of the country's economy and the significance of the British in the South African

mining industry. Furthermore, the British accelerated the modernization of the country with

the English language, one of the most global languages of the world.

The significance of this paper is to show the postcolonial states can be developed in

many areas with the establishment of the former colonies state’s institutions. Also, it shows

that the colonization of the land is not only taking the resources of the country also it brings

the modernization and welfare into the country with the decolonization of the lands. The

paper also mentions the negative effects of colonization as well where as it compares the fact

whether colonization is beneficial for the South Africa and its nation or it is non beneficial for

the future of the country.

This work is written to examine the effects of post-colonialism in South Africa, it

gives the information for the prove that post colonialism brought many positive developments

to South Africa and it contributed to the development of the country in terms of economy and

social state.

With the absolute developments that the British brought, and the well management of

the South African state the country became one of the most popular countries in the continent

Africa. The British investments and the British based institutions helped the country to shape

today’s South Africa. Therefore, South Africa is to be classified as a medium develop country

in the present. The British influence is vital for the development process of the South Africa

and its nation as well.

 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

Post colonialism is an important subject in the literature, after the decolonization of

the colonies, writings and studies has been started to search for impacts of colonialism on the

colonized lands. In many cases in the literature, the most common countries are African

countries which became independent from the colonist powers. With the end of colonization

those countries came up with the characteristics and identities of the colonizing state. The

literature, studies the economical, identical and political outcomes of the colonization in the

countries and nations which have been colonized.

The post-colonial theory, significantly shaped by Edward Said’s study, Orientalism,

orientalism is defined as “the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for

elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the

Orient, its people, customs, ‘mind,’ destiny and so on” (Said, 1978). Since the late 1970s,

post colonialism has been started to gain significance due to the startup of decolonization.

On the other hand, some scholars argue that there are more tangible entities and

impacts of colonization. According to David Lloyd, “the consequences of colonialism are still

persisting in the form of chaos, coups, corruption, civil wars, and bloodshed” due to existence

of colonization in the past. In order to examine the former colony countries, the case should

be elaborated before its independence and afterwards to be able to analyze the influence of

the colonist state on the nation and the country itself.

Another scholar who has been very significant in postcolonial theory is Homi Bhabha,

his book Location of Culture has been contributed the literature of post colonialist theory

along with his hybridity. He sees the hybridity as, “a problematic of colonial representation

which reverses the effects of the colonialist disavowal (of difference), so that other ‘denied’

knowledge enter upon the dominant discourses and estrange the basis of its authority’

(Selden, 2007: p.228). Through his work, in the situation of former colonies” individuals
 4

cannot belong to just one culture, simply because colonization has brought significant

reflection of colonizing state’s features (Pedersen, 2016).

A different perspective on postcolonial theory by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, her

work, Essays in Cultural Politics she examines colonial literature from a feminist

perspective, according to Hans Bertens;

“Spivak can be said to be the first postcolonial theorist with a fully feminist

agenda. That agenda includes the complicity of female writers with imperialism... Spinvak’s

insistence on the importance of feminist perspectives is part of a larger role that she has

perhaps unintentionally played over the last two decades: that of the theoretical

conscience of postcolonial studies. Her work has as much addressed theoretical

shortcomings in post-colonial theorizing as it has focused on postcolonial issues itself”

(Bertens, 2007: p. 211).

METHODOLOGY

This paper defines the impact of the British colonization in South Africa. The purpose

of the work is to analyze whether colonization of the British brought positive outcomes as

well as the negative outcomes to South Africa. This work begins with the history of South

Africa by the Dutch and continues with the British colonization in the land of South Africa.

The data collected for the paper were gathered from the databases of worldwide institutions,

books and articles of many scholars who have been contributed and analyzed the colonization

in Africa. Paper covered the second permanent British colonization from 1806 to the 21st

century’s South Africa it also mention the early colonization that South Africa has gone

through.

The techniques that were used in this study, have been based on the concept of

comparison approach and as well as the evaluative approach. By the comparison approach,
 5

the consequences of colonization of South Africa is evaluated if it was beneficial or non-

beneficial for the country. By using the evaluative approach, the significant places, people

and occurrences were analyzed and explained. This paper is constructed on the benefits of

colonization in South Africa as to show colonization have positive impacts not only negative

impacts to the colonized South Africa. Therefore, the paper based on the idea of Bruce Giley,

the western colonialism was both “objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate” in most

places where it existed. In his work The Case for Colonialism, he proves with the evidences

that colonialism was objectively beneficial to the colonized countries in his study (Giley,

2017).

HISTORY OF COLONIZATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Colonization is when a state expands its authority over other lands by establishing a

colony in a place where its habitats are either moved out or ruled under colonist country. It is

defined as “control by one power a dependent area or people'' (Blakemore, 2019).

Colonialism is the process of ruling the land that foreign state expands its borders over the

colonized territory. Moreover, imposing its own language and cultural values on the land that

has been conquered by foreigner state.

The literature on colonialism is evaluated in two clusters, “settler colonialism” and

“exploitation colonialism.” Settler colonialism can be described as foreign state(s) colonized

the land to establish farming areas in the territory. Therefore, the term of exploitation

colonialism can describe as establishing a colony to export goods and natural resources to

metropole cities. Essentially, exploitation colonialism is establishing a trade route between

colonizing country and colonized lands. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines

colonialism (2006) as “process of European settlement and political control over the rest of

the world, including the Americas, Australia, and parts of Africa and Asia.”
 6

Many of the countries in Africa have been colonized by the Western European states;

South Africa was one of among many of them. Some scholars are states that colonization is

beneficial for a country which experienced the colonization for example; Bruce Gilley,

argues “Western colonialism” was both “objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate”

in most places where it existed (Gilley, 2017). Even though, it is clear that it devastates the

culture and traditions of natives. Africa was one of the biggest areas that practice

colonization. Unlike many African countries, especially South Africa was one of the most

popular countries in Africa as a victim of colonization due to its location and its natural

resources.

When did the colonization of South Africa start? It started with the Age of Discovery

by both Portugal and Spain’s policies which were aiming to establish overseas trade routes.

During the 15th century, Europeans did not have access to market at the east, because of the

Ottoman Turks; they were controlling the trade routes to India. Primary reason for Europeans

to search for new sea routes was to establish a new trade route since they were paying high

custom duties for the goods they were carrying on the ships, thus this led Portuguese to

discover the west edge of African continent. After that in 1488, Portuguese sailor,

Bartolomeu Dias reached the southern part of Africa and named the land as “Cape of Good

Hope”. Even though the Portuguese were the first western people to discover South Africa,

they did not colonize the land because their priority was to secure the coastline of Africa in

order to assure the safety of their trading routes to India (Oliver, 2017).

On the 25th of March 1647, Dutch cargo ship got caught the wrathful storm in the

southern part of Africa, the ship got stranded in Bloubergstrand, some crew of the ship had to

stay behind due to inadequate space in the ship. Afterwards, Dutch entrepreneurs had to send

Jan Anthoniszoon van Riebeeck to the Cape to open up the trading post which was named

“Dutch East India Company” on April 6th 1652, Riebeeck arrived at the Cape with five cargo
 7

ships. Cape was planned to be a port town which would provide supply to passing trade ships.

Main goods that provided at the port were fresh meat, vegetables, and freshwater. These

goods were being provided by the native Africans named Koekhoen. In 1657, a disagreement

occurred between Riebeeck and Koekhoens. Koekhoens refused to trade with Dutch East

India Company due to massive expansion of the Dutch thus and so, this conflict caused the

trade agreement to be called off on sheep and cattle, between both sides. Furthermore, some

of the Koekhoen land was seized by the Dutch. With the need of food and vegetables for the

port, Riebeeck decided to establish farming areas with the 9 free citizens at Liesbeek called

“Rondebosch” in 1657. Eventually, the Cape became a colony that started to be known as a

town by the other European states in 1660s. (De Villers, 2012: p.40-49).

When the date was 1668 first slaves were brought to Cape by the Dutch East India

Company from the different countries of Africa; to give an instance Angola and Guinea.

Later on other slaves were brought from Madagascar and eastern of Africa. One of the most

important reason was to start a slavery was the shortage of labor so that many African had

been brought to Cape as a slave. Although, slavery has a very early history it started in 7th

century (known as Arab slave trade.) However, the Atlantic slave trade was started by the

Portuguese in 16th century, in the continent of Africa, approximately took up 12 million

slaves at the end of the 19th century. (De Villers, 2012: p.50-53)

In the 1670s, Dutch East Company declared its permanent stay at the Cape to prevent

the influence of British on the sea route to India. Cape had a very important strategic location

for Dutch to have a voice in eastern sea trade route. After Riebeeck, in 1679 Simon van der

Stel was assigned as commander by Dutch East India Company in Cape. With his authority

he followed expansionist policy and made the colony expand to nearest lands. He established

the city of Stellenbosch in 1679 and focused on improving cultivation areas as well as the

colony. He wanted to establish wine farm in Stellenbosch so that he requested safe passage
 8

for French from the Dutch East India Company to the Stellenbosh through Cape in order to

get assisted by French´s farming skills for making wine. Due to his successful policies he was

appointed as the first governor of the Cape in 1691. After his reign, in 1699 his son Willem

Adriaan van der Stel took his place (Wallis, 2000).

Until 1795 Dutch were ruling the Cape as well as the sea route between Cape and the

east. With the war that broke out in 1794 in Europe - Battle of Fleurus- French troops invaded

Holland, meanwhile Cape did not know what was happening in Europe due to lack of

communication with the Holland. Thus, British wanted to make the first move before the

French invasion to Dutch colonies and wanted to take advantage of the situation in order to

control the sea route to India and send a navy which includes 7 royal navy units with 700 men

to the Cape. Holland was beaten in Europe by French troops and could not sent its navy to the

Cape neither informed the Cape about British navy.

The British fleet arrived to Simon ́s Town in 1775 Dutch troops fell back in the castle

in Muizenberg. British wanted to have the Cape and sent a delegation to agree on having the

Cape. Although, Dutch forces rejected the giveaway the Cape. Hence, the Dutch forces

moved to Muizenberg Castle to have been at the strategic location in case of war against

British. In August British made their move and started to bombardment of cannon balls

against the fort of Muizenberg. Dutch could not resist the heavy bombardment and retreated

to town of Zandvlei. In a month Dutch attacked to get the castle back whereas, they were not

successful to do so. Meanwhile, the main British reinforcements arrived in Simon's Town. On

14th September of 1795, new era of Cape had begun under the British control. After two days

later on 16th Dutch Forces surrendered (6500 men) and British took full control of the city

(Thompson, 2019).

Under the British control, Cape started to get developed; British were made a lot of

significant improvements in many areas during their ruling period in Cape. They established
 9

administrative system and managed the city with accordance, export rate increased to

comparing Dutch rule. Furthermore, British were also pioneer in the outset of importing in

Cape. Economic growth in Cape was at its peak in the late 18th century due to import of iron

from Britain. Moreover, farming was improved as a result of high demand on cash crops

because of the war that was going-on in Europe -French Revolutionary Wars- until March

25th of 1802. Although, not every resistance of the city was happy about the British being in

Cape Boers (Dutch farmers) and native African peasants were against British rule the land.

Native Africans rebelled against the Chief Gaika leader of the Xhosa nation. Likewise, Boers

were on the rise against the Adriaan van Jaarsveld Dutch commander and the leader of the

Cape. These revolts against the leaders attired the relations between indigenous people and

the authorities. (Pretorius, 2012: p.156-158)

With the end of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1802 Treaty of Amiens was signed

between France and England. According to the treaty, British had to return the Cape to the

Netherlands, in 1803 Cape was under the Dutch rule again. Despite the fact that 7 years

British rule in Cape brought many improvements in areas such as governing, trade and

farming. In addition to that General J.A. de Mist and the Governor of the Cape, Lieutenant-

General J.W. Janssens kept up with the remarkable reforms in the city.

Second British invasion of Cape was during the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, British

decided to seize Cape again because the sea route had a vital importance for British, they

wanted to occupy the Cape before French would. When the date was July 1805 British fleet

sailed from Great Britain under the command of Sir Home Popham and arrived on Robben

Island - which is near to Cape - in the summer of 1806. Couple days after arriving to Robben

Island, British troops marched to Cape with the lead of General David Baird. On the other

hand Dutch troops under the command of General Janssens, located in Blaauwberg in

advance to face with British. Although, British troops defeated Dutch troops with the
 10

assistance of the fleet in Blaauwberg. On the 10th of January 1806 agreement had been made

between British and forces. According to the agreement British were owned all the forts and

castles as well as the all property of the Cape. With the struggling of Dutch side to accepting

the terms, agreement came to an end on the 18th January. General Janssens signed the

agreement and surrendered the whole Cape to British. Second British ascendancy was started

after defeating Dutch at the battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. From that time Cape remained as

British colony thoroughly until the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910. The

colonization of South Africa had been started in 1652 with the Dutch and follows as;

● Dutch occupation in Cape between 1652 and 1795.

● British rule between 1795 and 1803.

● Second Dutch ruling between 1803 and 1806.

● Second British occupation between 1806 and 1910.

THE FIRST BRITISH IMMIGRATION AND THE EVOLUTION

OF AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA

With the end of the Napoleonic Wars between France and England in 1815 in Europe,

unemployment rates become serious issue in Great Britain. Hence, the British government

prodded the British society to immigrate to the Cape. First wave of immigrants arrived at

Table Bay in March 1820. With the expansionist policy of British governor Lord Somerset,

British settlement spread to Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) thereafter Eastern Cape. Due to this

settlement policy, the four thousand migrants were settled in different towns of South African

coastal cities.

In June 1820, settlers established farms near the town of Bathurst, although they were

not used to a rural lifestyle and they had no experience at farming but they chose to farm in

order to continue with their lives, others focused on trade and business. Moreover to this,
 11

circumstances were rough, such as; drought, weather conditions and absence of transportation

made farming challenging for those new farmers. In many years those people who preferred

to be farmer were made very significant improvements on farming. The city of Port Elizabeth

started to grow very quickly because of the advanced agricultural improvements that have

been done by the British farmers.

With the development in agriculture, cultivation areas started to expand through the

other territories of the country (KwaZulu Natal). On the other hand, those lands were ruling

by native African people (Zulu), British farmers requested to do farming and settle in the

lands from the leader of the territory, King Shaka. Due to the advanced technology in

agriculture the permission granted for British farmers to settle and farm in the area by the

Zulu King (Giliomee& Mbenga, 2007).

This proves that the British people were more developed at farming than the native

Africans in the 19th century, they introduced the productive agriculture to the local people.

Although the British were not the first foreigners who were doing farming in South Africa;

the Dutch were who came to the Cape first and established farms in the city. In contrast, the

British were the ones who expand the cultivation areas into the deeper parts of the country as

well as the introduction of advanced agriculture to native Zulu people.

With the start of British farming in South Africa, they first started to grow crops that

cannot grow in the climate of England such as; coffee, cotton, and cacao. They were much

more modernized and industrialized than native habitats of Africa by growing those crops on

their lands. Furthermore, the first agricultural college of the country Elsenburg Agricultural

Training Institute founded in 1898 by the British. Thereafter, in 1926 the University of

Stellenbosch was established and started giving courses on different methods of agriculture.

Due to these progressive achievements, agriculture became an important sector for South

Africa.
 12

However, another angle towards British farming in South Africa contributed and

shaped the country's economic behaviors although, South Africa had no opportunity to use its

lands as freely while the British were ruling the main lands of South Africa. Moreover,

colonization caused the enslavement of many native Africans who were working on the farms

during the British rule.

With the British impact on South African agriculture, the country became more

experienced, advanced, and industrialized in terms of agriculture; without a doubt that can be

seen from the amount of the agricultural goods that are imported by South Africa in the

1930s, contribution of agriculture was 20 percent of the whole country's GDP. Due to the

advanced agriculture system that was established by the British in the country. However, the

rates of agriculture in total GDP started to decrease since 1961, after the foundation of the

republic, after the British rule. By the 1990s it dropped to 5 percent. Currently, the rates of

agriculture in terms of GDP contributed 2.176 percent of whole country's total GDP in 2017

(The World Bank, 2018).

Despite the fact that the dropping production crop rates South African agriculture

industry is still the main and vital sector for the economy of country. At present, agriculture

provides work area for millions of people in South Africa and includes 30 percent of labor

force in the country.

Today, South Africa is not just a self-sufficient country, many products exported by

South Africa for instance; citrus, maize, grapes, sugar, apples, pears, and quinces. The

country is one of the leading exporters of protea cut flowers in the world. Moreover, South

Africa is in the top ten sugar export countries in the world. Furthermore, with over one

thousand hectares of cultivation lands, South Africa is significant grape producer country.

Due to this, the country is the 20th wine exporting country in the world with over fifty million

liters annually.
 13

Additionally, the harvest of cotton, rooibos tea, and tobacco are the vital production

goods with approximately thirty million kilograms yearly. Recently, agriculture is contributed

ten percent of the exporting goods of South Africa in 2018. According to the USDA, the

amount of the exported goods were approximately 167 billion South African rands, which is

equal to the value of 11.1 billion American dollars.1

In addition, to field crops, due to the well-developed agriculture industry as well as

the livestock industry is also developed mediately. Production of cattle, sheep, and dairy

products is contributing to importing goods of the country along with the economy of the

country besides agriculture. South Africa is producing eighty-five percent of its meat demand

and imports the rest fifteen percent from neighboring countries.

The British developed the country in terms of agriculture as well as the economy. At

the end of the British colonization in mid-20th century, Great Britain left the country with the

ensconced agricultural system. All the agricultural facilities and institutions established by

the British and aimed to uplift the country's conditions to a higher level to align with the

welfare, along with the developing nation of South Africa.

IMPACT OF THE BRITISH ON SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY

The term of economy had been established and shaped by the colonial states in South

Africa. With the establishment of the Dutch East India Company, economy formally was

built due to the trade between the company and native people of South Africa in the 17th

century. With the arrival of British colony, trade accelerated rapidly due to the need of raw

materials in Europe. South Africa was the perfect object for Great Britain to import goods

from lands of substantial natural resources. The existence of English in South Africa caused

the creation of labor for taking out the raw materials that discovered by the British such as;

1
“South Africa - Agricultural Sector.” U.S. Department of Foreign Agricultural Service, July 14, 2019.
 14

diamond and gold. Therefore, with the establishing of the labor force and the large mining

industry in the country boomed the country's economy significantly.

The mines of South Africa started to become a very significant for the country with

the beginning of 1900s, due to investments in the mining industry. The best-known diamond

producing companies in the world founded in South Africa such as, the DiamondCorp. The

company owns the several mines in the south of the city of Johannesburg which contains 13.4

million carats of diamonds. Likewise, another diamond leading company in the world is De

Beers established in 1888 during the British colonization in South Africa. Besides, these

valuable materials the diamond and gold, coal production in South Africa also became

considerable. The one of the biggest coal company in the country is Anglo American and

company controls 659 million tons of coal in South Africa. Another significant company in

the South African mining industry is Glencore. The company controls the 25 mines in South

Africa that contains over 900 million tons of thermal coal (Curtis, 2016).

With the establishment of the mines during the era of the British colony mining is one

of the vital instruments for the South African economy. In 1980 mining contributed twenty-

one percent of the total GDP of South Africa. Likewise, in the 21st century, South Africa is the

one top fifth country with the production of two million carats of diamonds annually with the

world's 6th largest diamond mine.2 Thanks to the British they discovered natural resources and

founded the mines during their rule in 1800s.

In contrast to evidence which presents the view that mining industry positive impact

on South African economy; during the rule of the British colonial power, colonialism forced

the local people to produce goods for export them to Europe in order to keep the prices low

for consumers in Europe (Settles, 1996). However, after colonization, since the

2
Garside, M. “Industrial Diamond Mine Production by Major Countries 2013-2018.” Statista, August 9, 2019.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/267365/diamond-mine-production-by-country/.
 15

independence, mining is still persistent in South Africa and today its value is incontrovertibly

important for the economy of the country.

COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS AND ITS CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SOUTH AFRICA

Building on from the idea that positive economic effects of the mining industry, this

section explains the economic contributions of the Commonwealth of Nations in South

Africa. The Commonwealth is a union which was founded on 11st of December 1931 by the

British Parliament, which brings all the former British colonies together as a sovereign state

and it supports development, peace, and democracy in the member governments. Currently,

there are 53 countries and 20 British overseas territories in the union.

South Africa joıned the Commonwealth in the same year when the union founded in

1931, although the membership of South Africa lasted for 30 years. With the establishment of

the republic in the country. On 5th October 1960, referendum was held about whether South

Africa should become a republic or it should not. According to votes, 52 percent of the voters

voted for the country's regime should be a republic.

In March 1961, the prime minister of South Africa Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd flew to

London to join the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference to declare that South

Africa’s regime is going to change from monarchy to republic. Additionally, he requested

that the country will remain as a Commonwealth member state. However, due to the racial

issues and apartheid policies in South Africa, this request was opposed by the

Commonwealth countries such as many African states, India, and Canada. Hence, Verwoerd

had to withdraw his request on remaining in the British Commonwealth "…in the interests of

South Africa's honour and dignity" (Verwoerd, 1961).

South Africa's rejoinment to Commonwealth of Nations was on the 25th of October

1993 due to positive developments between the government and African National Congress,
 16

South Africa was invited to join the Commonwealth. As a result of this development and

joining in the Commonwealth of Nations, in 1994 the first nonracial election was held and

Nelson Mandela became the first African president of the Republic of South Africa. Thus,

Commonwealth relations restored and sanctions were abolished, South Africa took its seat in

the United Nations General Assembly after 20 years. Hence, the association had a significant

impact on South Africa’s democratization and becoming more significant state in

international arena with the efforts of Commonwealth of Nations on lobbying for the end of

racism in the country (Muller, 1981).

Commonwealth, also contributed to the economy of South Africa. In the means of

economy, South Africa has benefited from the association as being a member state, many

development projects in South Africa were funded by the Commonwealth of Nations. For

instance, these are namely, “The Development of Mpumalanga Province Tourism Growth

Strategy in 2007/2008, Benchmarking of South Africa's Fruit Export Trade Logistics Chain

in 2007/2008, an E-Learning and Website Designer/Developer in 2005/2006, a study tour to

India by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) of South Africa in 2004 and an advisor to

the Commission for Gender Equality in 1999” (IOA, 2011). Moreover, the Commonwealth

helped to improve the trade in South Africa and between the member countries of the

Commonwealth of Nations. In other words, the union formed the trade more accessible

between the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.

INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

English language started to be spoken in Southern Africa before the British

colonization started (Silva, 1996). With the 16th century the British explorers and traders

brought English language to the South Africa and English started to begin spreading in South

African lands.
 17

The historical initiation for English speakers of South Africa can be divided into the

three sections (Lanham, 1982). The first establishment starts with the English occupation to

the Cape Colony in 1795, and the first large establishment of English speaking people was in

1820 with the immigration of the British farmers to the Eastern Cape.

The second major establishment was between in 1849 and 1851 these immigrants who

established English language between these years were from Northern England and they were

generally from upper, middle- upper class. Also comparing the first settlers these immigrants’

ties were stronger with the Great Britain. (Branford, 1991).

The third one started with the larger British immigration to South Africa with the

discovery of diamonds and gold in the 1870s. Also this British immigration caused

“extensive urbanization, and the emergence of a stratified urban society” (Gough, 2008).

English language started to spread among the local African people during the

colonization era through the education and apartheid policies. Throughout the years English

has become essential, 89 percent of the white South Africans were able to speak English.

Also it was spreading rapidly because English was providing a higher social status in the

society. With the 19th century Afrikaans was traditional language whereas, there was a huge

shift to the English language from Afrikaans (Mesthrie, 1993). Hence, English became a

trend among the individuals who were well educated to catch up with the trend.

Moreover, there was considerable shift among Indian origin South Africans, English

replaced with the traditional Indian languages. The 99 percent of the Asian origin South

Africans became English speakers. English also had an impact on native African languages as

well; The English vocabulary has been started to mixing with local languages, especially with

Zulu (Gough, 2008).

Today, English in South Africa is classified as in three different dialects which are

White South African English, Black South African English, and Indian South African
 18

English. The significance of the English language is very important for the globalization of

the South Africa to be much more modernized. According to South African scholar Herman

Visagie, “English is one of the major global languages. English also happens to be the only

major language to be found in the eleven official languages in South Africa. Therefore it

makes sense that English has become South Africa’s lingua franca because of its usefulness

internationally” and “...it is undeniably positive because it enhances our international or

global communication ability”(Visagie, 2010).

DISCUSSION

The process of colonization in South Africa shaped the dynamics of the country and

the role of the British influence is undeniable through this process. The impact of the British

rule in South Africa affected the country’s future, because of the establishment of the British

oriented system and the investments of the British, it helped the country to become one of the

modern countries in the African continent as well as in the world.

The findings above prove that the colonization brought many positive aspects in

agriculture, economy, the mining industry, development, international politics, democracy

and linguistic advantages by being a former colony of Great Britain. The significance of this

research paper is to bring out findings to show the term of colonization is not always bring

devastating circumstances in the country but to modernize the country and uplift the

conditions to make its future brighter than before.

The findings show that the British colonization was an opportunity and it was

beneficial for South Africa. The British rule in South Africa did not ruin the country on the

contrary, it accelerated the developing process of the country. Today, South Africa is one of

the medium developed countries in the world and being a former British colonization paved
 19

the way for South Africa to use its potential in order to become a developed country rather

than a deplorable country.

CONCLUSION

It is very obvious that South Africa has a distinctive history of colonization. The first

colonization started with the Dutch in 1652 with the Dutch East Company. In 1875s the

country colonized by two European States, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Eventually in

1806, whole South Africa became a British colony until 1961 foundation of the Republic of

South Africa.

As a result of being a colonized state for all those years have had some impacts on the

country by colonizer state. These impacts first started with the British immigration in 1820s.

The British extended cultivation areas in the country and introduced the advanced farming

techniques to South Africa. Additionally, with the discovery of two most valuable natural

resources in the world gold and diamond mines by the British caused the establishment of

mines throughout the country as well as the industry to process of these precious metals.

With the independence, the British has been taken as role model for the

democratization of the country. Also, being as former British colony provided South Africa

to be a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. With the Commonwealth’s investment,

country has benefited from the funds and establishment of several facilities in the country.

In the term of globalization, the British introduced the English as lingua franca to

South Africa which is one of the most common and global language in the world. This also

contributed to the South Africa create its rainbow nation from many races with the one

common language.

In conclusion, the colonization has very deep roots in South Africa’s history

inevitably the colonization period affected the independent South African state in many
 20

aspects . This paper discussed the beneficial features of the British colonization in South

Africa to show how South Africa could manage to become a medium developed country with

the impacts of its old colonial experience.

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