1806
British seize the Cape of Good Hope area, prompting many Dutch settlers (Boers) to migrate north in search of their own republics.

1867
Discovery of diamonds, followed by discovery of gold in 1886, speeds immigration to the area, increases wealth and causes further subjugation of native inhabitants.

1880
First Boer War between Boer settlers and the British; Boer settlers win and are granted self-rule in the Transvaal region, under British oversight.

1899
Second Boer War between Boer settlers and the British; British defeat the Boers, ending the existence of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as Boer republics and annexing them to the British Empire. Boers are given £3m in compensation and promised eventual self-government.

1910
Former British colonies of the Cape and Natal, and Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State unite to form the Union of South Africa.

1913
The South African government introduces the Native Land Act, preventing blacks -- except those living in Cape Province -- from purchasing or leasing land outside reserves. The act takes land belonging to African sharecroppers and cash tenants, and restricts the terms under which Africans may live on white-owned farms.

1923
The Native (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 segregates urban residential areas and implements "influx controls" limiting Africans' access to cities. The act labels Africans "temporary sojourners,” who may enter the city only as necessary for "the wants of the white population."

1930
Independent African National Congress forms.

1936
The Development Trust and Land Act passes, outlawing squatting and increasing the amount of land available to blacks to 13.6 percent. The act also allows the Department of Bantu Administration and Development to eliminate "black spots" (black-owned land surrounded by white-owned land).

1937
The Natives Laws Amendment Act prevents Africans from purchasing land in urban areas, except with the governor-general's consent.

1950
The Group Areas Act extends the policy of separate urban residential areas, also racially segregating business areas and limiting interracial property actions.

1951
The Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act prohibits entering land or buildings without lawful reason, or remaining there without the owner's permission. The government is granted power to order squatters out of urban areas, and to create resettlement camps for Africans evicted from white farms.

The Bantu Authorities Act allows creation of tribal, regional and territorial authorities within black reserves.

1952
The Black (Native) Laws Amendment Act amended the 1945 Urban Areas Consolidation Act to state that all blacks must carry passes and may not stay in an urban area longer than 72 hours without permission.

1954
The Blacks Resettlement Act gives government the right to remove Africans from Johannesburg and surrounding areas.

1955
Around 60,000 blacks are moved at gunpoint from Johannesburg's Western Areas. These are redesignated white areas and renamed Triomf.

June 1955
The African National Congress Freedom Charter is adopted, striving to create equality for those "robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality." Among other tenets, the charter promises that:

-- restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land re-divided among those who work it to banish famine and land hunger;
-- the state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;
-- freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;
-- all shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose; and
• people shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labor and farm prisons shall be abolished.

1959
The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act designates reserve areas as fully-fledged Bantustans, or black "homelands," and abolishes black parliamentary representation.

1960 - 1980
Close to 4 million blacks forcibly moved to remote "homelands."

1964
The Black Laws Amendment Act allows the Minister of Bantu Administration to override local authorities in African affairs.

1970
The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act strips blacks of South African citizenship.

1980
The leaders of seven "homelands" issue a joint statement delineating the terms of a possible consensus for the South African constitution.

1985
President P.W. Botha announces his intention to grant blacks more political and property rights.

1990
The government admits its "homeland" policy is a failure and says "homelands" will be reintegrated into South Africa.

1993
The World Bank warns that South Africa faces possible civil war if "major restructuring of the rural economy centered on significant land transfers and smaller scale agricultural production units" does not take place.

1993
Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk and other leaders endorse an interim constitution containing a method by which Africans can regain ownership of land taken away during apartheid.

1994
The African National Congress takes power, under Mandela, ending three centuries of white rule. Through the Restitution of Land Rights Act, new leaders pledge to transfer 30 percent of white-owned cultivable land to nonwhites in 15 years. The Committee for the Restitution of Land Rights is created to investigate claims.

1995
The Department of Land Affairs' redistribution program begins. There are three components of the DLA mission: redistribution, land restitution and tenure reform.

1996
The Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act protects tenure rights of people living on farms, allowing farm dwellers to achieve long-term rights to land and preventing arbitrary eviction. The act also grants labor tenants the right to apply for ownership of the portion of the farm for which they have historically had use rights.

1997
The Extension of Security of Tenure Act passes in November, protecting rural occupiers of land (other than labor tenants) against arbitrary eviction.

The closing date for filing restitution claims -- 63,000 claims are filed.

1995-1999
A government redistribution policy is implemented largely by the Settlement/Land Acquisition Grant, which gives grants to people wishing to buy land on the open market.

1996
The Strauss Commission investigates the constraints facing poor people in rural areas attempting to access financing to invest in land. The commission report is a major factor in sweeping changes made to the Land Bank. Also in 1996, the Land Claims Court is established to hear disputes arising from laws underpinning the land reform initiative. [Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994, the Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act 3 of 1996 and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997]

June 1999
Following general elections, the new minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Thoko Didiza, calls for sweeping review of land reform and policy programs to address major problems with delays in land claims being addressed.

2001
Department of Land Affairs launches a new redistribution program, entitled Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development. The new program allows for larger land grants. LRAD is based on a program model actively promoted by World Bank staff, and based on experiences in Brazil and Colombia.

Government statistics show that nearly half of land claims lodged have been settled (33,510 out of approximately 69,000).

August 2002
Pan African Congress Secretary General Thami Ka Plaatje writes an article in the City Press congratulating Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on his "resolute commitment to the return of dispossessed land to the indigenous conquered people of Zimbabwe."

January 2003
South Africa Labor Minister Membathisi Mdladlana says his country has a lot to learn from Mugabe's land reform program. The political opposition in South Africa denounces his remarks as "chilling."

Mid-2003
Almost 2 million hectares of land have been transferred. This amounts to 2.3 percent of all agricultural land.

January 2004
Thabo Mbeki signs several amendments to the 1994 Restitution of Land Rights Act, allowing the minister of agriculture, Thoko Didiza, to expropriate farms without going to court. The amendment causes an outcry from landowners. According to the law, current owners must be fully compensated for land.

March 2004
In a major land transfer, Land Affairs Minister Thoko Didiza hands over 18.28 million hectares of land to residents who had been forcefully removed after the Forestry Act of 1941 claimed it as forestland.

December 2005
President Mbeki's deadline for all outstanding land claims to be addressed.

-- By Jessica Moore, Online NewsHour