100 000 to 200 000 years ago
Early humankind inhabits the Wonderwerk Cave approximately 100 000 to 200 000 years ago.
© Mike Golby.
1500 years ago
Finger paintings of animals such as eland and elephant on the Wonderwerk Cave walls date back as far as 1 500 years ago.
1870s
The City of Kimberley springs up during the diamond rush of the 1870s. It is now the capital of the Northern Cape province, and the city's most famous landmark is the 'Big Hole', a hand-dug open diamond mine.
1831
The Scottish missionary Robert Moffat establishes the Moffat Mission in Kuruman. Moffat’s daughter, Mary, later married David Livingstone in Kuruman.
1899
In 1899 South Africa is in the throes of the South African (Anglo-Boer) War between the Boers and British. The diamond-rich town of Kimberley was an asset worth fighting for. The Siege of Kimberley, in which the Boers laid siege to the town, took place from October 1899 to February 1900.
1994
The province of the Northern Cape is established with the new, democratic South Africa. Before that, the province was part of the former Western Province, which no longer exists today.
The Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa, and makes up about a third of the country.
