South Africa

=== Dutch colonisation ===
{{Main|Dutch Cape Colony|Boer Republics}}
[[File:Charles Bell - Jan van Riebeeck se aankoms aan die Kaap.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Davidson Bell]]'s 19th-century painting of [[Jan van Riebeeck]], who founded the first European settlement in South Africa, arrives in [[Table Bay]] in 1652]]

By the early 17th century, Portugal's maritime power was starting to decline, and English and Dutch merchants competed to oust Portugal from its lucrative monopoly on the [[spice trade]].<ref name="Pakeman">{{cite book| last = Pakeman, SA| title = Nations of the Modern World: Ceylon|edition= 1964|pages= 18–19| publisher = Frederick A Praeger, Publishers}}</ref> Representatives of the British [[East India Company]] sporadically called at the cape in search of provisions as early as 1601 but later came to favour [[Ascension Island]] and [[Saint Helena]] as alternative ports of refuge.<ref name="Kaap">{{cite book|first1=Alexander|last1=Wilmot|author2=John Centlivres Chase|name-list-style=amp| title = History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope: From Its Discovery to the Year 1819|edition= 2010|pages= 1–548| publisher = Claremont: David Philip (Pty) Ltd| isbn= 978-1-144-83015-9}}</ref> Dutch interest was aroused after 1647, when two employees of the [[Dutch East India Company]] were shipwrecked at the cape for several months. The sailors were able to survive by obtaining fresh water and meat from the natives.<ref name="Kaap" /> They also sowed vegetables in the fertile soil.<ref name="zastudy">{{cite book|last=Kaplan|first=Irving|title=Area Handbook for the Republic of South Africa|pages=46–771|url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED056947.pdf|access-date=30 May 2015|archive-date=28 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150428004403/http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED056947.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Upon their return to Holland, they reported favourably on the cape's potential as a "warehouse and garden" for provisions to stock passing ships for long voyages.<ref name="Kaap" />

In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the cape sea route, [[Jan van Riebeeck]] established a {{Wikt-lang|en|victual|victualling}} station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become [[Cape Town]], on behalf of the Dutch East India Company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/timeline/t-19saf.htm|title=African History Timeline|publisher=West Chester University of Pennsylvania|access-date=16 June 2008|archive-date=7 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107070748/http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/timeline/t-19saf.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Hunt1>{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=John|editor-last=Campbell|editor-first=Heather-Ann|title=Dutch South Africa: Early Settlers at the Cape, 1652–1708|date=2005|pages=13–35|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-1-904744-95-5}}</ref> In time, the cape became home to a large population of {{lang|nl|vrijlieden}}, also known as {{lang|nl|vrijburgers}} ({{lit.|free citizens}}), former company employees who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts.<ref name=Hunt1 /> Dutch traders also brought thousands of [[slavery|enslaved people]] to the fledgling colony from [[Indonesia]], [[Madagascar]], and parts of eastern Africa.<ref name="Worden">{{cite book| last = Worden| first = Nigel| title = Slavery in Dutch South Africa|edition= 2010|pages= 40–43| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-15266-2| date = 5 August 2010}}</ref> Some of the earliest mixed race communities in the country were formed between {{lang|nl|vrijburgers}}, enslaved people, and indigenous peoples.<ref name="zimstudy">{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Harold|title=Zimbabwe: A Country Study|pages=237–317}}</ref> This led to the development of a new ethnic group, the [[Cape Coloureds]], most of whom adopted the Dutch language and Christian faith.<ref name="zimstudy" />

The eastward expansion of Dutch colonists ushered in a series of wars with the southwesterly migrating Xhosa tribe, known as the [[Xhosa Wars]], as both sides competed for the pastureland near the Great Fish River, which the colonists desired for grazing cattle.<ref name=Stapleton2>{{cite book|last=Stapleton|first=Timothy|title=A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid|date=2010|pages=4–6|publisher=Praeger Security International|location=Santa Barbara|isbn=978-0-313-36589-8}}</ref> ''Vrijburgers'' who became independent farmers on the frontier were known as ''[[Boers]]'', with some adopting semi-nomadic lifestyles being denoted as {{lang|nl|[[trekboers]]}}.<ref name=Stapleton2 /> The Boers formed loose [[militia]]s, which they termed ''commandos'', and forged alliances with Khoisan peoples to repel Xhosa raids.<ref name=Stapleton2 /> Both sides launched bloody but inconclusive offensives, and sporadic violence, often accompanied by livestock theft, remained common for several decades.<ref name=Stapleton2 />