Harman Patil (Editor)

Timeline of Pretoria

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The following is a timeline of the history of Pretoria, South Africa.

Contents

19th century

  • 1848 - David Botha builds a farmhouse that would later become the Pionier Museum.
  • 1855 - Pretoria founded by Voortrekkers to be the capital of the new Transvaal Republic.
  • 1867 - Cullinan diamond field discovered near Pretoria.
  • 1873
  • University of South Africa founded.
  • De Volkstem Dutch/English-language newspaper begins publication.
  • 1874 - Burgers Park layout of Pretoria's first botanical gardens.
  • 1877 - British in power.
  • 1880 - December: The city is besieged by Transvaal Republican forces.
  • 1881
  • March: The city is once again besieged by Transvaal Republican forces.
  • 3 August: Pretoria Convention peace treaty signed ending the First Boer War. Transvaal independence reinstated with Pretoria as capital.
  • 1884 - Kruger House built.
  • 1886 - Melrose House built.
  • 1892
  • Raadsaal (Transvaal parliament) rebuilt.
  • State Museum founded focusing mostly on Natural History.
  • Burgers Park laid out as the city's first botanical gardens.
  • 1896 - Staats Model School built.
  • 1897
  • 6 April: Fort Schanskop built.
  • Palace of Justice built.
  • 4 September: Fort Wonderboompoort built.
  • 1898
  • 18 January: Fort Klapperkop built.
  • November: Fort Daspoortrand built.
  • Pretoria News founded.
  • 1899 - Zoo founded.

    • 20th century

  • 1900 - 5 June: British forces occupy the city.
  • 1901 - Pretoria Boys High School founded.
  • 1902
  • 31 May: The Treaty of Vereeniging is signed in Melrose House marking the end of the Second Boer War and the establishment of the British Transvaal Colony.
  • Pretoria High School for Girls founded.
  • Premier diamond mine begins operating near Pretoria at Cullinan.
  • 1903 - "Local self-government granted."
  • 1905
  • Lady Selbourne suburb established.
  • Large Cullinan Diamond discovered near Pretoria.
  • 1906 - Imported jacaranda trees planted.
  • 1910
  • Pretoria becomes capital of the British colonial Union of South Africa.
  • Pretoria railway station rebuilt.
  • 1913 - Union Buildings constructed in Arcadia.
  • 1922 - Christian Brothers' College opens.
  • 1923 - Stadium built in Arcadia.
  • 1930 - University of Pretoria established.
  • 1931
  • Capitol Theatre (cinema) opens.
  • 14 October: Pretoria receives official city status.
  • 1935 - Pretoria City Hall built.
  • 1940 - Atteridgeville suburb established.
  • 1942 - Danville suburb established.
  • 1946 - June: Pretoria National Botanical Garden established in the east of the city.
  • 1948
  • Groenkloof suburb established.
  • Catholic Vicariate of Pretoria established.
  • 1949
  • Hercules becomes part of Pretoria.
  • Voortrekker Monument erected.
  • 1951 - Vlakfontein township established.
  • 1956 - Women's march.
  • 1959 - "Treason trial" of ANC leaders begins.
  • 1960 - Laudium township and Africa Institute of South Africa established.
  • 1961 - City becomes capital of the Republic of South Africa.
  • 1962 - Eersterus area established.
  • 1963 - 9 October: Rivonia Trial begins.
  • 1966 - Fort Klapperkop is restored and turned into the Fort Klapperkop Military Museum.
  • 1972 - Daspoort Tunnel opens.
  • 1975 - Pionier Museum opens in the oldest extant structure in Pretoria, a farmhouse circa 1848.
  • 1977 - 12 September: Death of Steve Biko.
  • 1979 - Menlyn Park shopping mall in business.
  • 1981 - State Theatre opens.
  • 1983 - 20 May: Church Street bombing was perpetrated by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress. The bombing killed 19, including two perpetrators, and wounded 217,
  • 1984 - Atteridgeville-Saulsville Residents Organisation formed.
  • 1985 - Large Golden Jubilee Diamond discovered near Pretoria.
  • 1986 - Idasa institute founded.
  • 1991 - Institute for Security Studies established.
  • 1993 - Radio Pretoria and Tuks FM radio begin broadcasting.
  • 1994
  • City becomes part of the newly established Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vaal province (later Gauteng).
  • Inauguration of South African president Nelson Mandela.
  • 1996
  • Population: 692,348.
  • Area of city: 229 square miles.

    • 21st century

  • 2000
  • 5 December: Pretoria becomes the seat of the newly established City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
  • Impak newspaper begins publication.
  • June: University of Pretoria's Mapungubwe Museum opens.
  • 2004
  • Tshwane University of Technology established by merging several former institutions.
  • Woodlands Boulevard shopping centre in business.
  • 2005 - December: Shanty town unrest.
  • 2007 - Freedom Park opens.
  • 2008 - August: Congress of South African Trade Unions demonstration.
  • 2011
  • Gautrain begins operating with stations at Hatfield, Pretoria Central and Centurion.
  • August: Economic protest.
  • Kgosientso David Ramokgopa becomes mayor of Tshwane.
  • Population: 2,921,488 in Tshwane.
  • 2012 - 11 July: Construction begins on the A Re Yeng rapid bus transit system.
  • 2013 - 31 January: Train collision injuring 300 people near the Kalafong station.
  • 2014
  • Air pollution in Tshwane reaches annual mean of 51 PM2.5 and 63 PM10, more than recommended.
  • 1 December: A Re Yeng rapid bus transit system launches.
  • 2016
  • 20-23 June: The Tshwane riots result in the deaths of at least five people after it turned xenophobic in nature.
  • 19 August: Solly Msimanga of the Democratic Alliance is sworn in as the Executive Mayor after the 2016 Municipal Elections.
  • 2017 - 24 February: An Anti-Immigration Protest resulting in the arrest of 136 protesters.

    • References

    Timeline of Pretoria Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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