South Africa Timeline on Dipity.
The first people to settle in South Africa were the San tribe in 6000 B.C.E. They were originally hunter-gatherers. In 300 B.C.E., the Khoikhoi tribe migrated from Northern Africa to South Africa. They brought with them livestock. They then combined with the San tribe to create the Khoisan tribe of hunter-herders. In 200 A.C.E., iron was discovered. This was a big development, because people were then able to make farming equipment such as axes and hoes. From 800 A.C.E. to 1400 A.C.E, farming communities moved to South Africa from West Africa due to a dry climate. This group eventually split into the Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele tribes. From 1220 to 1300, the Mapungubwe Kingdom thrived, which was a large trading center with India and China. Jumping forward to 1913, the Land Act was introduced. This act prevented black people buying land outside of a limited number of reserves. The goal of this was to separate black people from white people. This lead up to the apartheid in 1948 which officially separated black and white people, and designated white people as the superior race. Nelson Mandela, an iconic anti-apartheid revolutionary, was sentenced to life in prison from treason in 1964. He was, however, freed in 1990 when the apartheid officially came to an end. In 1994, the African National Council, a black civil rights group, won its first election and Nelson Mandela was elected president.