Robben Island Museum Notes
Robben Island, South Africa
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Chronology
26 Aug, 1966: The South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) attacks S. African forces, beginning their armed struggle (Robben Island Museum).
1966: Verwoerd, a key architect of South Africa apartheid ‘separate but equal’ policy is stabbed to death in parliament by Dimitri Tsafendas (Robben Island Museum).
21 Mar, 1960: The Sharpsville Riots (‘massacre’) occur in the Transvaal Province of the Union of S. Africa. After demonstrating against anti-black pass laws, a crowd of ~7K protesters went to the police station. Reports disagree as to the hostility of the crowd, however South African Police (SAP) open fire when the crowd advances on the fence resulting in 69 deaths and 180 injured (Wiki, Robben Island Museum).
1959: PAC-ANC split; the Pan African Congress (PAC) is launched under the leadership of Sobukwe (previously head of the ANC’s Orlando branch (Robben Island Museum).
1953: South Africa’s national party government passes the black reservation of separate amenities act, excluding blacks from living or working in white areas unless they had a pass (‘dompas’) (Robben Island Museum).
1951: South Africa’s national party government passes a separate representation of voter’s act (Robben Island Museum).
1950: South Africa’s national party government passes the immorality amendment act and the group areas act (Robben Island Museum).
1949: South Africa’s national party government passes an act prohibiting mixed marriages (Robben Island Museum).
1949: The ANC Youth League develops a radical plan of action to challenge white supremacy led by, among others, Anton Lembede, Sobukwe, Mandela, Tambo, Walter Sisulu, and A.P. Mda (Robben Island Museum).
1948: South Africa’s national party government comes to power and introduces apartheid as a key policy; oppression increases dramatically as the state seeks to control every aspect of people’s lives using harsh new legislation and other measures to secure white privilege (Robben Island Museum).
1913: The S. African government passes the Land Act; 87% of S. Africa’s lands are allocated to white people while the remaining 13% is allocated to Africans (Robben Island Museum).
1912: The South African Native National Congress (later renamed the African National Congress- ANC) is established to fight segregation and promote the interests of the black majority. It uses strategies of dialogue, representation, and public education to press for change (Robben Island Museum).
1910: The Union of S. Africa is established formally ending British Colonialism. It is replaced by a state in which whites exercised hegemony through segregationist policies with privileged access to rights and resources- from voting rights to land, from schools to municipal services secured only for whites. The limited access afforded to black South African’s is steadily eroded by successive white governments (Robben Island Museum).
1899-1902: The Anglo-Boer War; English forces defeat the Boers. The British impose control from Cape Point to the Limpopo River (Robben Island Museum).
1620: Table Bay and Robben Island are formally claimed by the British as crown possessions of King James I of England (Robben Island Museum).
1510: The Battle of Salt River; a Portuguese ship, carrying Francesco D’ Almeida, the Portuguese Viceroy to India, docks at the Cape. When the Portuguese try to steal livestock and kidnap women and children, war breaks out. D’ Almeida and 50 of his men are killed on the beaches of Salt River. From this point on, the Portuguese stop trying to colonize the Cape (Robben Island Museum).
Aug, 1421: A Chinese naval expedition under the command of Admiral Zheng rounds the Cape of Good Hope (Robben Island Museum).
485 BCE: The first documented arrival of visitors to the Cape is recorded on a rock painting which depicts a Phoenician merchant ship (Robben Island Museum).
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