43-582: The Cape Government Railways ( CGR ) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. The first railways at the Cape were privately owned. The Cape Town Railway and Dock Company started construction from Cape Town in 1858, reaching Eerste River by 1862 and Wellington by 1863. Meanwhile, by 1864,
86-463: A desire for political independence. In 1853, the Cape Colony became a British Crown colony with representative government. In 1854, the Cape of Good Hope elected its first parliament , on the basis of the multi-racial Cape Qualified Franchise . Cape residents qualified as voters based on a universal minimum level of property ownership, regardless of race. Executive power remaining completely in
129-494: A map, pen and ruler). Cape Town was cut off from the highland interior by a triple barrier of steep mountain ranges, but the lines nonetheless progressed fast inland, once the primary obstacle of the Hex River Mountains was overcome in 1876 with a major system of bridges and tunnels . 1876 also saw the building of a new central station for Cape Town , and over the next few years the line was rapidly extended through
172-628: The 1820 Settlers . They also began to introduce the first rudimentary rights for the Cape's Black African population and, in 1834, abolished slavery ; however, the government proved unable to rein in settler violence against the San, which continued largely unabated as it had during the Dutch period. The resentment that the Boers felt against this social change, as well as the imposition of English language and culture , caused them to trek inland en masse. This
215-661: The British Empire 's standard. However their width, designed for England 's landscape, made it impossible at the time to penetrate the mountains of the rugged southern African escarpment . Most of the sub-continent was effectively landlocked. In 1871 Molteno had written to the British Governor of the Cape Henry Barkly about the gauge which was used to penetrate the mountainous terrain near Trieste in modern Italy , believing it would work in crossing
258-582: The Cape was now criss-crossed with over 2,000 kilometres of railway. In 1885 the company owned 231 locomotives , 399 coaches and 3503 goods wagons . Considerable development and economic growth followed the construction of the railway system, and the news of the Cape's immense railway programme inspired similar moves in neighbouring states, such as the project of the Natal Government Railways to extend its few miles of railway inland towards
301-622: The Cape , now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic , was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg . The temporary peace between the UK and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic (which Napoleon would subsequently abolish and directly administer later
344-521: The Edict of Fontainebleau . This so-called "Huguenot experiment" was deemed a failure by the colonial authorities a decade later, as many of the Huguenot arrivals had little experience with agriculture and had become a net burden on the colonial government. There was a degree of cultural assimilation due to Dutch cultural hegemony that included the almost universal adoption of the Dutch language. Many of
387-609: The Karoo desert to the towns of Beaufort West , De Aar , and thence to Kimberley. The Cape Midland Line was begun in 1872, when the Cape Government took over the rudimentary and incomplete line of the Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage Railway Company . However building accelerated massively over the next few years, with twin lines reaching northwards to Graaff-Reinet , and eastwards to Grahamstown . These connected with
430-704: The Seven Provinces of the Dutch Republic , the mother country of the Dutch United East India Company . This prompted Great Britain to occupy the Cape Colony in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order to stop any potential French attempt to reach India . The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simon's Town and, following the defeat of the VOC militia at the Battle of Muizenberg , took control of
473-618: The Wynberg Railway Company had connected Cape Town and Wynberg . For the moment, railway development at the Cape did not continue eastwards beyond Wellington because of the barrier presented by the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt . The discovery of diamonds, and the consequent rush to Kimberley that started in 1871, gave impetus to the development of railways in South Africa. Shortly afterwards, in 1872,
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#1732773406745516-533: The eastern-western division was largely laid to rest. The system of multi-racial franchise also began a slow and fragile growth in political inclusiveness, and ethnic tensions subsided. In 1877, the state expanded by annexing Griqualand West and Griqualand East – that is, the Mount Currie district ( Kokstad ). The emergence of two Boer mini-republics along the Missionary Road resulted in 1885 in
559-421: The "Cape Gauge" of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ). Although it was first meant just to ease construction of railways through mountainous terrain, this gauge later went on to become the standard for all railways in southern and central Africa. The government's 1872 plan was for lines to strike northwards, from the three ports of Cape Town , Port Elizabeth and East London , towards Kimberley and
602-577: The 1802 Treaty 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. The colony was coextensive with the later Cape Province , stretching from the Atlantic coast inland and eastward along
645-612: The 1994 creation of the present-day South African provinces , the Cape Province was partitioned into the Eastern Cape , Northern Cape , and Western Cape , with smaller parts in North West province. An expedition of the VOC led by Jan van Riebeeck established a trading post and naval victualing station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Van Riebeeck's objective was to secure a harbour of refuge for VOC ships during
688-498: The British colonists and the Boers. Rhodes also brought in the first formal restrictions on the political rights of the Cape of Good Hope's black African citizens. The Cape of Good Hope remained nominally under British rule until the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, when it became the province of the Cape of Good Hope, better known as the Cape Province . The districts of the colony in 1850 were: Population figures for
731-572: The Cape Colony attained responsible government under the leadership of Prime Minister John Molteno , who presented plans for an enormous network of railways to connect the Cape Colony's main ports to its interior and, importantly, to the diamond fields. In his very first speech to the Cape Parliament he announced the purchase of all existing lines and the founding of the Cape Government Railways. The announced expansion
774-617: The Cape Western Line at De Aar and thus to Kimberley. The Cape Eastern Line was built partially to serve the frontier, and its network of military forts. The port of East London was likewise chosen partly for strategic reasons, being the closest port to the frontier for landing and transporting troops. The line was begun in 1873, when the Prime Minister turning the first spades for both the East London harbour and
817-554: The Cape's Prime Minister in 1890, he instigated a rapid expansion of British influence into the hinterland. In particular, he sought to engineer the conquest of the Transvaal, and although his ill-fated Jameson Raid failed and brought down his government, it led to the Second Boer War and British conquest at the turn of the century. The politics of the colony consequently came to be increasingly dominated by tensions between
860-818: The Drakensberg, and President Burgers ' ill-fated attempt to link the Transvaal Republic to Lourenço Marques . In 1886 gold was discovered in the South African Republic (the Transvaal), setting off the Witwatersrand Gold Rush . The Cape government and the government of the Orange Free State (OFS) reached an agreement, by which the Cape Government Railways would build and operate a railway line, through
903-547: The Eastern Railway Line on 20 August 1873. Though frontier wars disrupted construction from time to time, the line reached Queenstown in 1880. By 1885 the separate sections were connected and the Cape Western line reached Kimberley, marking the end of an epic which had begun in 1872, with the network completed faithfully according to the original 1872 plans. From an initial total of 92 kilometres in 1872,
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#1732773406745946-499: The OFS, to the rapidly growing city of Johannesburg . This line reached Bloemfontein (the capital of the OFS) in 1890, and the first trains operated from Cape Town to Johannesburg in 1892. In 1897 the OFS government took over control of its portion of the line. The Cape railway network played a significant role in supporting and supplying the British forces during the Second Boer War . After
989-494: The South African mountains. A narrower gauge enabled tighter turns and traversing steeper terrain. When the first elected Cape government took power the next year, its select committee set the gauge for all new railways at 3'-6". The use of a dual system was briefly kept, to ease the transition for the existing wider lines, but in only a few months the government standardised all railway development on what became known as
1032-632: The Warren Expedition, sent to annex the republics of Stellaland and Goshen (lands annexed to British Bechuanaland ). Major-General Charles Warren annexed the land south of the Molopo River as the colony of British Bechuanaland and proclaimed a protectorate over the land lying to the North of the river. Vryburg , the capital of Stellaland, became capital of British Bechuanaland, while Mafeking (now Mahikeng ), although situated south of
1075-450: The authority of the British governor did not relieve tensions in the colony between its eastern and western sections. In 1872, after a long political battle, the Cape of Good Hope achieved responsible government under its first Prime Minister, John Molteno . Henceforth, an elected Prime Minister and his cabinet had total responsibility for the affairs of the country. A period of strong economic growth and social development ensued, and
1118-615: The colonists and the Khoe-speaking indigenes , followed by the Xhosa , both of which they perceived as unwanted competitors for prime farmland. VOC traders imported thousands of slaves to the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East Indies and other parts of Africa. By the end of the eighteenth century the Cape's population swelled to about 26,000 people of European descent and 30,000 slaves. In 1795, France occupied
1161-425: The colonists who settled directly on the frontier became increasingly independent and localised in their loyalties. Known as Boers , they migrated beyond the Cape Colony's initial borders and had soon penetrated almost a thousand kilometres inland. Some Boers even adopted a nomadic lifestyle permanently and were denoted as trekboers . The VOC colonial period had a number of bitter, genocidal conflicts between
1204-496: The developing hinterland. These three lines became known as the "Cape Western", "Cape Midland" and "Cape Eastern" lines respectively. They were intended to bring the towns of southern Africa's vast hinterland into direct railway connection with the country's ports, thus driving the development of the interior and building an export economy. The Cape Western Line was charted by the Prime Minister himself (allegedly with only
1247-478: The fledgling colony's borders; in exchange they received tax exempt status and were loaned tools and seeds . Reflecting the multi-national nature of the early trading companies, the VOC granted vrijburger status to Dutch, Swiss, Scandinavian and German employees, among others. In 1688 they also sponsored the immigration of nearly two hundred French Huguenot refugees who had fled to the Netherlands upon
1290-514: The government of the Cape Colony as well as Boer settlers finally died down when the Xhosa took part in a mass destruction of their own crops and cattle , in the belief that this would cause their ancestors to wake from the dead. The resulting famine crippled Xhosa country and ushered in a long period of stability on the border. Peace and prosperity, in addition to the Convict crisis of 1849, led to
1333-512: The interior and account for 22–25 percent of the increase in the Colony’s labor productivity from 1873 to 1905... traffic data for 1905 suggest that the railway contributed to the expansion of the mining areas and to the growth of the Western Cape district on the basis of domestic demand." Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( Dutch : Kaapkolonie ), also known as the Cape of Good Hope ,
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1376-402: The long voyages between Europe and Asia. Within about three decades, the Cape had become home to a large community of vrijlieden , also known as vrijburgers ('free citizens'), former VOC employees who settled in the colonies overseas after completing their service contracts. Vrijburgers were mostly married citizens who undertook to spend at least twenty years farming the land within
1419-560: The protectorate border, became the protectorate's administrative centre. The border between the protectorate and the colony ran along the Molopo and Nossob rivers. In 1895, British Bechuanaland became part of the Cape Colony. However, the discovery of diamonds around Kimberley and gold in the Transvaal led to a return to instability, particularly because they fuelled the rise to power of the ambitious imperialist Cecil Rhodes . On becoming
1462-524: The same year). The British , who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes. The Cape Colony at the time of British occupation was three months' sailing distance from London . The White colonial population was small, no more than 25,000 in all, scattered across a territory of 100,000 square miles. Most lived in Cape Town and
1505-581: The southern coast, constituting about half of modern South Africa: the final eastern boundary, after several wars against the Xhosa , stood at the Fish River . In the north, the Orange River , natively known as the ǂNūǃarib (Black River) and subsequently called the Gariep River, served as the boundary for some time, although some land between the river and the southern boundary of Botswana
1548-543: The surrounding farming districts of the Boland , an area favoured with rich soils, a Mediterranean Climate and reliable rainfall. Cape Town had a population of 16,000 people. In 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British , under the terms of the Convention of London . The British started to settle the eastern border of the Cape Colony, with the arrival in Port Elizabeth of
1591-616: The territory. The United East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Revolutionary period Dutch state) in 1798, and went bankrupt in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France , and its vassal state the Batavian Republic , led the British to hand the Cape of Good Hope over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens . In 1806,
1634-596: The war, when the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, all railways in South Africa, including the CGR, the Natal Government Railways and the Central South African Railways , were taken over by the newly formed South African Railways (SAR). According to a 2017 study, "Built largely to support the early mining industry, the Cape Colony’s railway substantially reduced the cost of transport to
1677-483: Was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope . It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa , then became the Cape Province , which existed even after 1961, when South Africa had become a republic, albeit, temporarily outside the Commonwealth of Nations (1961–94). The British colony
1720-603: Was known as the Great Trek , and the migrating Boers settled inland, eventually forming the Boer Republics . British Immigration continued in the Cape, even as many of the Boers continued to trek inland, and the ending of the British East India Company 's monopoly on trade led to economic growth. At the same time, the long series of Xhosa Wars fought between the Xhosa people in the east and
1763-667: Was later added to it. From 1878, the colony also included the enclave of Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands , both in what is now Namibia . It united with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa in 1910, and was accordingly renamed the Province of the Cape of Good Hope . South Africa became a sovereign state in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster . In 1961, it became the Republic of South Africa . Following
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1806-651: Was preceded by an earlier corporate colony that became an original Dutch colony of the same name , which was established in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) . The Cape was under VOC rule from 1652 to 1795 and under rule of the Napoleonic Batavia Republic from 1803 to 1806. The VOC lost the colony to Great Britain following the 1795 Battle of Muizenberg , but it was ceded to the Batavia Republic following
1849-600: Was to see the construction of a network over ten times more extensive than the total length of railway that existed in the whole of southern Africa at the time. The management of this system – which was to become the nucleus of the future South African Railways – initially fell under his Public Works Department, until July 1873, when Molteno established a separate Railway Department under the renowned engineer William Brounger. The first few rudimentary lines at Cape Town were built at dimensions close to 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge ,
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