South African heraldry

South African heraldry reaches back for more than 360 years, inheriting European (especially Dutch and British) heraldic traditions. Arms are borne by individuals, official bodies, local authorities, military units, and by a wide variety of organisations. South Africa has had its own heraldic authority since 1963, to provide armigers with legal protection, and to promote high standards of armorial practice.

The first known armorial display in South Africa took the form of stone beacons bearing the Portuguese royal arms, which were erected along the coast by navigators who explored the sea route in the 1480s. Some of these beacons still survive.

Heraldry was introduced into the region by the Dutch, when they founded the first European colony, at the Cape of Good Hope, in 1652. Under Roman-Dutch law, everyone had the right to assume and bear arms, and many settlers bore personal arms, some of which are still borne by their descendants today.

The official arms of the Netherlands, and those of the Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie, which ran the colony, were also used. There do not appear to have been any other corporate arms during the Dutch colonial period, but there is evidence of some use of military unit arms in the 1780s. Civic arms were introduced in 1804.

British military forces occupied the colony during the Napoleonic Wars, and the Netherlands handed it over permanently to Great Britain in 1814. This brought the colony within the jurisdiction of the English College of Arms, the Scottish Lord Lyon and the Irish Ulster Office. British law regards arms as an honour which must be granted or recognised by one or other of these authorities, but as Roman-Dutch law was retained in the colony, it remained legal to simply assume arms at will. Those who wanted formal grants of arms could apply to one of the three British authorities.

As with language, music, and other cultural aspects, then, British and Cape Dutch (Afrikaner) heraldry existed separately side by side. This is still the case, though there has been some cross-pollination during the past half-century.

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