The Nguni (now 14m speaking mutually intelligible languages of Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, originally herdsmen) eventually settle on the coast
The Sotho (now 7 m, speaking the mutually intelligble Northern & Southern Swazi and Tswana, originally farmers ) settle  in northern Transvaal
The Tsonga (now 1 m., the main dialect Nkuni has a written form) settle in northeastern Transvaal
The Venda (now 1/2 m.) settle to the north of the Tsonga.

Union of South Africa
1909 South Africa Act accepted existing franchise of 4 colonies : black Africans in Cape Province could vote, while those living in the other provinces could not. No black African was eligible for membership of Parliament, their interests were to be represented by nominated senators.
1910 Union of South Africa : federation of Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State in a single dominion.
1912 African National Congress founded at Bloemfontein, with Zulu Methodist minister John Lagalilabale Dude, as first president
1913 Native Lands Act set aside rural reserves (7.5% of land) in which Africans might buy, lease and farm land ; they were forbidden from doing so on the remaining 92.5% of the land. Native Africans made up more than 2/3 of the population at that time. The ANC sent a delegation to London to protest, to no avail.
WW1 At GB’s request SA annexed German South Africa, which it administered under Mandate after the war.
1926 Kimberley Conference of the ANC accepts Gandhi’s principle of non-violence
1934 Status of the Union Act ratified the State of Westminster, but emphasized that SA was "a sovereign independent state" with a right of secession from the Commonwealth.
1936 Representation of Natives Act provided for 4 senators of European descent to represent natives in the Upper House and allowed those on the Cape Native Voters Roll to elect 3 members to the House of Assembly and 2 to the Provincial Council. It also set up a Natives Representation Council : 6 ex-officio, 4 nominated by Gov-Gen and 12 elected native members. The Council resigned en bloc in 1947.
WW2 Despite opposition from Hertzog, SA fought on side of allies, mainly in Africa.

The Apartheid era
1948 Electoral victory of "purified" Nationalist Party under Dr. Malan ushers in series of apartheid laws, especially the Pass Laws regulating movement of non-whites
1949 Mixed Marriages Act
1950 Suppression of Communism Act. Group Area Act . Population Registration Act

1960 Sharpeville massacre
Albert Lutuli , black civil rights leader and author of Let My People Go,  awarded Nobel Peace prize
1961 SA withdraws from the Commonwealth and becomes a republic.
1962 Sabotage Act further restricts civil liberties. After the Rivonia trial, Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for life, makes a speech .
1963 General Law Amendment Act gave police right of arbitrary arrest and 90 days’ detention of suspects without recourse to courts
1963-1990 Chris Hani president in exile of the Umkonto w Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, MK) movement
1966 PM Hendrik Vorwoerd assassinated
1967 Terrorism Act allowed indefinite imprisonment without trial
1976 Soweto uprising, initially to protest against imposition of Afrikaans as teaching language > policy of "divide to rule" where Zulu Inkatha encouraged,and homelands such as Transkei (1976), Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979) and Ciskei (1981) were given token independence.
1977 Steve Biko , leader of the Black Consciousness movement, dies in police custody.
1978 Pieter.W. Botha succeeds John Vorster as Prime Minister
1978-1991 Oliver Tambo president-in-exile of the ANC.
1980 "Release Mandela" campaign launched
1984 Archbishop Desmond Tutu awarded Nobel Peace prize . Botha elected President under new Constitution allowing coloureds and Asians to vote.
1985 Foreign banks refuse loans to SA . Businessmen make overtures to ANC.
4 UDF activists (the Cradock 4) are murdered by Eric Taylor and others.
1986 State of Emergency curbs white democratic organizations and harasses church leaders.
ANC activist Robert McBride was responsible for the Magoo's Bar bombing.
1989 President Botha resigns, to be replaced by Frederik W. de Klerk.
        SA nationalist leader Walter Sisulu and five other black anti-apartheid activists freed.

1990 30-year-old ban on the African National Congress lifted. The ANC announces that it will suspend its 29-year armed struggle against white-minority rule in South Africa (Pretoria Agreement, August). PAC, SACP & 58 other organizations also unbanned.
Black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela freed, after more than 27 years in confinement.
Namibia becomes independent.

1991 President de Klerk, proclaiming the final dismantling of "the cornerstones of apartheid" announces plans to repeal laws that have guaranteed white ownership of 87% of the land and entrenched rigid racial segregation.
Goldstone Commission of Enquiry Regarding the Prevention of Public Violence and Intimidation set up, report handed in Nov. 1994.
President de Klerk proposes that South Africa’s black majority join the white minority in forming an elected interim government and parliament.
CODESA begins work.

1992 President de Klerk acknowledges for the first time that senior members of South Africa’s security forces had engaged in illegal activities – probably including assassination – against political targets.
Referendum among Whites shows 68.7% favourable to power-sharing

1993 Chris Hani, leader of South Africa’s Communist Party, is assassinated outside his home.
Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle the country’s apartheid system of racial separation.
South Africa’s white minority government and black political leaders approve a new, interim constitution designed to eliminate institutionalized racism.
Amy Biehl is killed by 4 young black South Africans.

1994 Black and white South Africans vote together for the first time in an historic general election. The ANC win 62.7% of the vote.
10 May, 1994 Nelson Mandela becomes president of South Africa.
24 May Nelson Mandela’s “State of the Nation” speech adumbrates a TRC.

1995 President Mandela presides over the inauguration of South Africa’s first Constitutional Court.
The Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act gives legislative form to the TRC.

1996 Deputy President  de Klerk announces that he and his white-led National Party will quit South Africa’s post-apartheid unity government to become a true opposition in Parliament.
South Africa’s last apartheid president, F. W. de Klerk, apologizes to the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the "pain and suffering" caused by the disgraced system of racial separation.
The ruling African National Congress admits to South Africa’s truth commission that it tortured and executed renegade militants in its war on apartheid.
Nelson Mandela signs the nation’s first post-apartheid constitution into law.

1997 Accused of involvement in murder and torture committed by her former bodyguards, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela publicly defends herself, telling South Africa’s truth commission that all allegations against her are “ fabrications. ”
According to his previously announced timetable, South African President Mandela steps down from his post as head of the ruling African National Congress. In his farewell speech to the ANC, he accuses the white opposition and the white media of trying to thwart post-apartheid reforms. Within days, Thabo Mbeki takes over as party leader.

1998 In October, the TRC report is published.
Antjie Krog publishes In the Country of my Skull.

1999 A controversial opposition politician is assassinated in the troubled KwaZulu-Natal province. Hours later, 11 people are killed and eight wounded in a revenge attack on members of the ruling African National Congress.
President Nelson Mandela announces June 2 as the date for South Africa’s second democratic election, a vote that will mark his retirement from office. Millions of voters turn out for the multi-racial election.
ANC candidate Thabo Mbeki is sworn in as South Africa’s second post-apartheid president.

2000
Frances Reid  & Deborah Hoffmann release film Long Night's Journey into Day.

2001
Gillian Slovo publishes Red Dust.