History of Cape Colony

Cape of Good Hope
Kaap de Goede Hoop
British colony
1795–1910
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem God Save the King (1795–1837; 1901–1910) God Save the Queen (1837–1901)
The Cape of Good Hope c. 1890 with Griqualand East and Griqualand West annexed and Stellaland/Goshen (in light red) claimed
Capital		Cape Town
Languages		English, Dutch (official¹) Khoekhoe, Xhosa also spoken
Religion		Dutch Reformed Church, Anglican, San religion
Government		Constitutional monarchy
King/Queen
•	1795–1820	George III
•	1820–1830	George IV
•	1830–1837	William IV
•	1837–1901	Victoria
•	1901–1910	Edward VII
Governor
•	1797–1798	George Macartney
•	1901–1910	Walter Hely-Hutchinson
Prime Minister
•	1872–1878	John Charles Molteno
•	1908–1910	John X. Merriman
Historical era		Imperialism
•	Established	1795
•	Dutch colony	1803–1806
•	Anglo-Dutch treaty	1814
•	Natal incorporated	1844
•	Disestablished	1910
Area
•	1822	331,900 km² (128,147 sq mi)
•	1910	569,020 km² (219,700 sq mi)
Population
•	1822 est.	110,380
Density		0.3 /km²  (0.9 /sq mi)
•	1865 census est.	496,381
•	1910 est.	2,564,965
Density		4.5 /km²  (11.7 /sq mi)
Currency		Pound sterling
Preceded by Succeeded by Dutch Cape Colony British Bechuanaland Union of South Africa Basutoland
Today part of		Namibia²  South Africa
¹ Dutch was the sole official language until 1806, when the British officially replaced Dutch with English. Dutch was reincluded as a second official language in 1882. ² Penguin Islands and Walvis Bay

The Cape of Good Hope, also known as the Cape Colony (Dutch: Kaapkolonie), was a British colony in present-day South Africa and Namibia, named after the Cape of Good Hope. The British colony was preceded by an earlier Dutch colony of the same name, the Kaap de Goede Hoop, established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch lost the colony to Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg, but had it returned following the 1802 Peace of Amiens. It was re-occupied by the British following the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, and British possession affirmed with the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.

The Cape of Good Hope then remained in the British Empire, becoming self-governing in 1872, and uniting with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. It then was renamed the Cape of Good Hope Province. South Africa became fully independent in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster. Following the 1994 creation of the present-day South African provinces, the Cape of Good Hope Province was partitioned into the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Western Cape, with smaller parts in North West province.