- First humans (125,000 years ago)
- Bantu culture arrives (300 AD)
- Bartolomeu Dias and Portugal arrive (1488)
- Dutch East India company arrives at Cape Town (1652)
- Xhosa Wars (1779-1879)
- British invasion of Cape Colony (1795)
- British Cape Colony (1806-1910)
- Zulu Kingdom (1816-1897)
- Battle of Blood River (1838)
- Natalia Republic (1839-1843)
- South African Republic (1852-1902)
- Orange Free State (1854-1902)
- Anglo-Zulu War (1879)
- First Boer War (1880-1881)
- Second Boer War (1899-1902)
- Union of South Africa (1910-1961)
- Maritz rebellion (1914-1915)
- Apartheid era (1948-1994)
- South African Border War (1966-1990)
- Soweto uprising (1976)
- Convention for a Democratic South Africa (1990-1993)
- Nelson Mandela is elected President (1994-1999)
(This post includes any nation or civilization that occupied at least a portion of South Africa at some point. Unless specified otherwise, the dates correspond to when a nation or civilization existed, but do not necessarily correspond to occupation of South Africa.)
