1770s in South Africa

	1770s in South Africa
1750s 1760s « 1770s » 1780s 1790s
List of years in South Africa

Events

1771

• The Dutch East India Company institutes a policy in the Cape Colony which dictated that schools should teach exclusively in Dutch and strict laws of assembly
• Clashes between Trekboers and Xhosa begin as trekkers cross the Gamtoos River in the east
• 12 August Baron Joachim van Plettenberg, is appointed acting Governor of the Cape Colony after the death of Ryk Tulbagh

1774

• A commando mounted against the San tribes kill 503 and capture 241 San
• 18 May Joachim Ammema, Baron van Plettenberg, is appointed to the full post of Governor of the Cape

1775

• 13 of England's American colonies erupt in revolt

1776

• England's revolting colonies declare themselves the independent United States of America

1778

• The Cape Colony boundary is extended to Buffels, Zak and Fish Rivers
• Hendrik Jacob Wikar and Robert Jacob Gordon meet Khoikhoi, Geisiqua and Tswana tribes along lower and middle Gariep which Gordon names Orange River in honour of the Netherlands Stadtholder
• 6 February - France formally recognises the United States as a nation by signing a treaty of Friendship and Trade. An undeclared war with Britain soon erupted
• 27 July - French and British navies clash just off the coast of France
• 30 December - Britain captures the port of St. Lucia in the Caribbean Sea
• British forces capture Pondicherry in the Bay of Bengal from the French, later recaptured
• The Dutch port of St Eustatius in the West Indies became the world's busiest port handling the majority of supplies and arms bound for the United States

1779

• Xhosas moving south clash with the settlers moving north, at the Fish River starting the first of nine Cape Frontier Wars over the next 100 years. Also known as Africa's 100 Years War.
• 12 April - Spain joins with France and America in the war against Britain

Births

• 1 May 1772 - Sir Gilbraith Lowry Cole, Governor of the Cape Colony, is born
• 14 April 1775 - John Philip, a London Missionary Society's missionary to South Africa, is born at Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland
• 17 August 1777 - Anna Maria Truter, botanical artist and wife of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, is born in Cape Town

Deaths

• 1771 - Ryk Tulbagh, Governor of the Cape dies

References

See Years in South Africa for list of References