History of South Africa.

The history of South Africa is mostly a story of migration. This does not mean South Africa should continue embracing migration, however, because of the modern-day problem of overpopulation. A lot of diverse people's around the world have sought to make South Africa their home.

The first human inhabitants of South Africa were likely to not even have been the KhoiSan. The first hominid inhabitants of South Africa were here 5 million years before present day, followed by stone tool users 1,8 million years ago. It is only after that that hunter-gatherer tribes like the San came 25000 to 8000 years ago followed by the Khoi/Khoi Khoi. 

Nguni tribes were first so-called Bantu language speakers to arrive in present day South Africa in what is said to be 200 AD by either archaeologists or carbon dating technology. Nguni tribes integrated with the San & intermarried. 

Sotho & Tswana speaking groups are estimated to have arrived around 800 AD & settled mostly in Botswana & the South African inland. 

European settlers first arrived, beginning with the Portuguese, in 1488 where Bartholomew Dias erected the Padrão de São Gregório on Boesman's River. The Dutch arrived later & realised the need for a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope then sent Jan van Riebeek, who became the Cape's first governor, to create one in 1652. This became the foundation of Cape Town & the beginning of the colonisation of the southern-most tip of Africa which was followed by a lot of resistance by, initially, the KhoiSan & later Bantu tribes from the eastern half of South Africa. 

The concept of modern day South Africa first came in the form of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek in 1852. The official language of the ZAR was Dutch with Ndebele, Pedi, Zulu, Venda & Tsonga being recognised languages in the region.