South Africa without Napoleon

Napoleon Bonaparte died in Egypt, with the rest of his men, resulting in chaos in France and losing a war against the great powers of Prussia, Britain, Russia and Austria.

The African landscape changed as a result.

Dutch Colonialism in Southern Africa
The Southern part of Africa was in Dutch control from the 17th century until World War 2.

The Cape itself was only founded as a neccesary stop on the way to India.

The Cape colony lived a mostly peaceful life, with only minor wars with the native Zulus in the east. The Cape remained a relatively small colony because of the pointlesness of venturing deeper into an unknown continent.

However, independent residents started to explore and settle the upper regions by 1850.

The now expanded Cape colony bordered German West Africa and Portuguese Mozambique.

Around 1880 the residents uncovered large amounts of Diamonds in Kimberley and Gold in the Northern parts. This influx of wealth helped to transform the Netherlands into a stronger, more competitive country, rivalling that of Britain.

The gold and diamonds became an obvious attraction to other European nations, especially those of Britain and Germany.

This resulted in the War for Control between Germany/Britain and the Netherlands whereby the dutch, with more control in the region as well as more funding, succeeded in winning and annexing the southern and eastern part of German South West Africa. The British Natal colony, however, remained under British control.

Southern Africa during the World Wars
The two Dutch colonies, the Cape and the newly created Noordeland (Nothern Land), played a minor role during the Great War.

The main purpose was to provide supplies to Dutch and allied ships as well as to entirely annex German South West Africa, thereby bringing an end to German colonialism in Southern Africa.

During the Second World War, after the Germans annexed Holland, the two colonies offically came under German control, but the national anti-Nazi movement still helped to fight off the Germans and help the Allies. This event and the war itself sparked nationalism across the two colonies.

Post War and Cold War South Africa
With the Axis powers defeated and the Netherlands almost annihilated, the two colonies united to create the independent Republic of the Cape in 1948.

The Cape grew into a rich nation with large reservoirs of diamond and gold. Other factors such as amounts of Aluminium and tourists resulted in a stable economy.

Being originally Dutch and with a Western, Capitalist economy, the Republic of the Cape aided the West in the fight against communism. Though the Cape itself played only a minor role against communism.

People in the Cape
The Cape colony had people of many different cultural backgrounds, but the majority is Dutch, Zulu and British.

The segregation between black and whites were minimised in the new constitution of the Republic of the Cape in 1948. This resulted in a peaceful nation as a whole.