The Imperial Project 1800s - 1918
A “purely examining” university
The University of London is founded as a “purely examining” body for London’s university colleges. It will become the blueprint for Unisa’s antecedent, the University of the Cape of Good Hope.
1836
Cape examinations centralised
In the Cape, the Board of Public Examiners is established to oversee examinations modelled on the University of London’s, and to award certificates (though not yet degrees) to successful candidates.
1858
Roots of an Indian community
Imperially displaced, landless farmers from British India are shipped to Natal Colony to work on the sugar plantations. Their descendants comprise a large proportion of today’s South African Indian community.
1860
Dynamite invented
Swedish chemist and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel invents dynamite. The substance proves vital to the mining industry, and South Africa will later become the world’s largest dynamite producer.
1867
Kimberley diamond rush
The discovery of an 83.5-carat diamond sparks a ‘stampede’ of thousands of hopeful prospectors to the Kimberley area. Here, South Africa’s ultra-capitalistic mining economy is born.
1869
South Africa's first university
The University of the Cape of Good Hope (later Unisa) is founded. Its mandate is not to teach, but to set examinations for schools and colleges, and to award qualifications.
1873
First degrees conferred
The University of the Cape of Good Hope holds its first degree ceremony. Six BAs and one MA are conferred on candidates from the South African College and the Diocesan College.
1874
Royal charter bestowed
Queen Victoria bestows a royal charter on the University of the Cape of Good Hope, signifying that its degrees are “not in any way inferior” to those awarded in Great Britain.
1877
British military disasters
British Governor-General Henry Bartle Frere instigates wars against the Xhosa, Zulu, Basotho and Boer states. Britain’s forces are humiliated on almost every front, but most spectacularly by Zulu regiments at Isandlwana.
1878
African languages included
Although Latin and Greek are the mainstays of Victorian-era education, the University starts to include Xhosa and Sotho in its language examinations.
1879
First black matriculant
Mission-educated Simon Peter Sihlali becomes the first black student to matriculate under the University’s school examinations. In 1882, he becomes president of iMbumba yaManyama (‘solid unity’), South Africa’s first black political party.
1880
The Berlin Conference
Europe’s imperial powers “carve up Africa” among themselves. Their ruler-drawn maps of desired colonies slice across Africa’s ethnic and geographical complexities, and cause upheavals that are still felt today.
1884
gold discovered" />"Endless" gold discovered
Gold discoveries on the Witwatersrand result in a frenzied rush of prospectors, followed across the decades by industrial mining that turns traditional communities into pools of semi-rooted migrant labour.
1886
First degrees for women
Agnes Lewis becomes the first woman to be awarded a BA from the University of the Cape of Good Hope, followed by Barbara Buchanan as the University’s first female recipient of an MA.
1886-87
First music examinations
The University conducts its first practical music examinations under the supervision of a visiting examiner from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in London.
1894
%20War.jpg "1899-1902")
South African (Anglo–Boer) War
Determined to control the Witwatersrand’s gold resources, Britain forces the independent Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State into a war that eventually costs some 80,000 lives.
1899-1902
Catering to island prisoners
The University of the Cape of Good Hope provides examinations to Boer prisoners of war interned on St Helena. Several decades later, on Robben Island, Unisa will again cater to island-imprisoned “enemies of the state”, including Nelson Mandela.
1901
Bloody Sunday in Russia
Tsar Nicholas II’s troops massacre workers petitioning for fairer labour conditions. Russia’s eventual revolution, and adoption of communism, will influence African liberation politics up until the 1990s.
1905
Early signs of “an African university”
By 1906, the University of the Cape of Good Hope is administering examinations for candidates in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland.
1906
The Union of South Africa
The Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River colonies unite to form the Union of South Africa. Pretoria is made the Union’s administrative capital, to which the University will later relocate.
1910
SANNC founded
In response to the Union’s trend towards exclusionary legislation, black intelligentsia found the South African Native National Congress — the forerunner of the ANC. The following year, the SANNC will vigorously oppose the passing of the Natives Land Act, which will seek to dispossess black South Africans of 90% of their land.
1912
First honorary doctorate for a woman
Lucy Catherine Lloyd, a leading linguist and folklorist, becomes the first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of the Cape of Good Hope.
1913
The First World War
World War I sees the mechanised slaughter of millions. South Africa participates under the British banner, but many Afrikaners, still affected by the South African (Anglo-Boer) War, support Germany.
1914-18
The University of South Africa
The Union Parliament enacts that the University of the Cape of Good Hope will become the ‘University of South Africa’, a federal examining centre for constituent colleges across the country.
1916
Fort Hare opens
The South African Native College, soon renamed the University College of Fort Hare, will produce many historic leaders. Up until 1951, its students are registered as external students of Unisa.