The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

in the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tr ...

and subsequently the

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countr ...

. It encompassed the old

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with ...

, as well as Walvis Bay, and had

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

as its capital. In 1994, the Cape Province was divided into the new

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...

and

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 202 ...

provinces, along with part of the North West.

History

When the

was formed in 1910, the original

was renamed the Cape Province. It was by far the largest of South Africa's four provinces, as it contained regions it had previously annexed, such as

British Bechuanaland British Bechuanaland was a short-lived Crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 30 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 November 1895. British Bechuanaland ...

(not to be confused with the

Bechuanaland Protectorate The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a protectorate established on 31 March 1885, by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) in Southern Africa. It became the Republic ...

, now

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

), Griqualand East (the area around

Kokstad Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, as it ...

) and Griqualand West (area around Kimberley). As a result, it encompassed two-thirds of South Africa's territory, and covered an area of approximately . At the time of the formation of the

, South Africa consisted of four provinces: Transvaal (previously the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when i ...

), Natal,

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

and the Cape Province.

Cape Franchise

Before union, the

had traditionally implemented a system of non-racial franchise, whereby qualifications for suffrage were applied equally to all males, regardless of race. During the union negotiations, the Cape Prime Minister,

John X. Merriman John Xavier Merriman (15 March 1841 – 1 August 1926) was the last prime minister of the Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Early life He was born in Street, Somerset, England. His parents were Nathaniel Jame ...

fought unsuccessfully to extend this multi-racial franchise system to the rest of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. This failed, as it was strongly opposed by the other constituent states which were determined to entrench

white rule In political science, minoritarianism (or minorityism) is a neologism for a political structure or process in which a minority segment of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that entity's decision making. Minoritarianism may be contr ...

. After union, the Cape Province was permitted to keep a restricted version of its multi-racial qualified franchise, and thus became the only province where

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

s (mixed-race people) and Black Africans could vote. Over the following years, successive acts were passed to erode this colour-blind voters roll. In 1931, the restricting franchise qualifications were removed for white voters, but kept for Black and Coloured voters. In 1956, the

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government removed all remaining suffrage rights for "non-whites". The government had to appoint many extra senators in parliament to force through this change.Christoph Marx: ''Oxwagon Sentinel: Radical Afrikaner Nationalism and the History of the Ossewabrandwag''. LIT Verlag Münster, 2009. p.61.

Partitioning under Apartheid

During the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era, so-called " bantustans" or homelands for the different Bantu nations were carved out of the existing provinces as part of the policy of perpetuating white control over South Africa. These became known as the four independent

TBVC States A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now ...

and the six Non-Independent Homelands. In the Cape Province, the

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ba ...

(1976) and

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

(1981) regions were declared independent of South Africa. Griqualand East was transferred to

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organized into ...

after Transkei was declared independent, since it was cut off from the rest of the province. With the 1994 adoption of the Interim Constitution, these homelands were re-incorporated into South Africa, both part of the new

province.

Post-apartheid

After the first fully democratic elections in April 1994, the Transkei and Ciskei bantustans were reunited with Cape Province, then the country was divided into what are now the current nine

provinces of South Africa South Africa is divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated, and the four existing provinces were divided into nine. The twelfth, thirteenth ...

. Cape Province was broken up into three smaller provinces: the

and

. Parts of it were also absorbed into the North West. Walvis Bay, a territory of the original Cape Colony, had been ceded to

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

two months earlier.

Districts in 1991

Districts of the province and population at the 1991 census. *

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

: 8,009 *

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

: 15,220 * Albany (main town

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana ...

): 69,705 * Albert (main town

Burgersdorp Burgersdorp is a medium-sized town in Walter Sisulu in the Joe Gqabi District Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. In 1869 a Theological Seminary was established here by the ''Gereformeerde Kerk'', but in 1905 it was move ...

): 16,995 *

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

: 26,651 *

Aliwal-Noord Aliwal North (officially Maletswai) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape. History Sir Harry Smith, then ...

: 27,486 * Barkly-Oos: 12,821 * Barkly-Wes: 35,012 * Bathurst: 32,419 * Beaufort-Wes: 31,726 *

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

: 16,074 * Bellville: 269,995 *

Bredasdorp Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agu ...

: 23,076 * Britstown: 6,523 * Caledon: 79,052 * Calitzdorp: 6,759 *

Calvinia Calvinia is a regional town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa named after the French religious reformer Jean Calvin. The town falls under the Hantam Local Municipality which forms part of the Namakwa District Municipality. The Calvin ...

: 18,430 * Cape: 179,537 * Carnarvon: 9,728 * Cathcart: 14,815 * Ceres: 47,052 * Clanwilliam: 28,144 * Colesberg: 15,446 * Cradock: 37,144 *

De Aar De Aar is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It has a population of around 42,000 inhabitants. It is the second-most important railway junction in the country, situated on the line between Cape Town and Kimberley. The junction ...

: 25,438 * Oos-Londen: 240,474 * Elliot: 14,159 * Fort Beaufort: 22,793 * Fraserburg: 4,367 * George: 95,597 * Goodwood: 259,620 * Gordonia (main town Upington): 118,623 * Graaff-Reinet: 34,440 *

Hankey Hankey is a small town on the confluence of the Klein and Gamtoos rivers in South Africa. It is part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Sarah Baartman District in the Eastern Cape. History Hankey was established in 1826 and is the ...

: 24,548 *

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

: 4,399 *

Hartswater Hartswater is an agricultural town on the N18 national route some 23 km south of Taung and 36 km north of Warrenton. The centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme, it became a municipality in April 1960. It takes its name from the Hart ...

: 29,146 * Hay (main town Griquatown): 11,104 *

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

: 11,519 * Herbert (main town

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

): 26,316 * Hermanus: 21,610 * Hofmeyr: 4,995 * Hopefield: 8,822 * Hopetown: 11,175 * Humansdorp: 43,799 * Indwe: 9,483 *

Jansenville Jansenville is a town in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Town on the Sundays River, 87 km south of Graaff-Reinet. Laid out on the farm Vergenoegd in 1854, it was proclaimed in 1855 and b ...

: 9,797 *

Joubertina Joubertina is a small town in the Kou-Kamma Local Municipality, Sarah Baartman District of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Description Town on the Wabooms River in the Langkloof, some 50 km north-west of Assegaaibos, 70 ...

: 13,385 *

Kenhardt Kenhardt (founded 1868) is a small town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. This little town is about 120 km from Upington, the largest town in the area. History On 27 December 1868, special magistrate Maximillian Jackson with a po ...

: 11,353 * Kimberley: 167,060 * King William's Town: 29,653 * Kirkwood: 30,766 *

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 4 ...

: 50,420 *

Komga Komga is a town in Amatole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is located north of East London and east of Stutterheim. It was founded as a farming centre in 1877 on the site of a military camp established in ...

: 14,142 *

Kuilsrivier Kuils River (Afrikaans: Kuilsrivier) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa, 25 km (15 miles) east of Cape Town CBD at the gateway of the Cape Winelands. It is also the name of the main tributary of the Eerste River, and forms part of the ...

: 133,577 * Kuruman: 24,817 * Ladismith: 12,705 * Lady Grey: 7,530 * Laingsburg: 5,781 * Maclear: 16,653 * Malmesbury: 113,450 * Middelburg: 21,737 *

Molteno Molteno (; lmo, label= Brianzöö, Mültée) is a '' comune'' (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it ...

: 11,702 * Montagu: 21,674 * Moorreesburg: 11,159 * Mosselbaai: 59,170 * Murraysburg: 5,960 * Namakwaland (main town Springbok): 62,536 * Noupoort: 8,348 *

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1 ...

: 68,093 * Paarl: 136,121 *

Pearston Pearston is a small town in the eastern Karoo, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It lies between Graaff-Reinet and Somerset East at the foot of the Coetzeesberge, about north of Port Elizabeth. It falls within the Blue Crane Ro ...

: 4,983 * Philipstown: 8,799 * Piketberg: 34,152 *

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, So ...

: 670,653 * Postmasburg: 54,790 *

Prieska Prieska is a town on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western South Africa. It is located on the southern bank of the Orange River, 130 km north-west of Britstown and 75 km south-east of Maryd ...

: 19,185 * Prince Albert: 8,567 * Queenstown: 44,469 *

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

: 6,326 * Riversdal: 25,021 *

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Place ...

: 32,331 *

Simonstad Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern sid ...

: 58,323 * Somerset-Oos: 29,758 *

Somerset-Wes Somerset West ( af, Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hotten ...

: 59,947 * Stellenbosch: 73,839 * Sterkstroom: 7,687 *

Steynsburg Steynsburg is a small town in the Walter Sisulu Local Municipality of the Joe Gqabi District Municipality, Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Steynsburg is located on the intersection of the R56 and R390. The town lies south-west of Bu ...

: 10,593 *

Steytlerville Steytlerville is a settlement on the R329 route in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The town is situated on the right bank of the Groot River, where the river emerges from a valley in the Grootr ...

: 5,341 * Strand: 40,096 * Stutterheim: 40,119 *

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later c ...

: 3,596 * Swellendam: 32,147 * Tarka: 9,538 * Tulbagh: 25,334 *

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port E ...

: 182,551 * Uniondale: 9,354 *

Vanrhynsdorp Van Rhynsdorp (Afrikaans: Vanrhynsdorp) is a settlement in West Coast District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Van Rhynsdorp was founded as Trutro ("TroeTroe") after the area was first explored by Europeans in 1661 by P ...

: 12,815 * Venterstad: 5,777 * Victoria West: 11,910 * Vredenburg: 39,908 * Vredendal: 28,962 *

Vryburg Vryburg () is a large agricultural town with a population of 48,400 situated in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of the North West Province of South Africa. It is the seat and the industrial and agricultural heartland of the di ...

: 98,551 * Walvisbaai (South African 1878–1994): 22,999 * Warrenton: 22,368 *

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

: 37,432 * Williston: 4,177 * Willowmore: 10,734 * Wodehouse (main town

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after ...

): 15,540 *

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

: 117,159 * Wynberg: 1,101,668

Administrators

References

External links

A history of the Cape Province
* * {{Authority control History of South Africa Former provinces of South Africa States and territories established in 1910 States and territories disestablished in 1994 1910 establishments in South Africa 1994 disestablishments in South Africa