Human history - or prehistory - probably began in South Africa. Scientists have found fossilized evidence to suggest that hominids, the intermediate link between apes and humans, probably evolved in South Africa about 3 million years. As a result of this fossilized evidence, it is thought that these human-like creatures evolved over millions of years, to become Homo sapiens, modern humans.
The descendents of these people, the San (also known as Bushmen) and the Khoikhoi (formerly known as Hottentot), having successfully adapted to a nomadic lifestyle, were still living on the Eastern Cape at the time the first Europeans came to South Africa in the 15th Century. Even today, tiny groups of San people still survive in Namibia and Botswana, making the San the longest-spanning culture in the subcontinent.
The Portuguese were the first to come to the Cape Town area while searching for a sea route to India, and Vasco de Gama opened the Cape of Good Hope spice route in 1498.
From the 17th century, Dutch traders set up a permanent settlement in Table Bay on the site of present-day Cape Town in the hope of establishing a secure base, but it wasn't long before they successfully colonized the area around them and Cape Town thrived. However, by the end of the 18th century, Dutch power had faded and the British occupied the Cape in 1795 as a strategic sea route to the East.
Over the next hundred or so years, South Africa saw many clashes between tribal groups, political enemies and a number of major wars. Not only did these events set the stage for South Africa's complex modern history, it created the establishment of the Union of South Africa, with Cape Town becoming the seat of the legislature, Pretoria the administrative capital and Bloemfontein the judicial capital in 1910.
Flowers in the Northern Cape, Namaqualand, Will Moody
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South Africa