Family research · Phase 13 of the world atlas

Flags of South Africa

Few countries in this atlas carry as many distinct governing traditions inside one modern border: Khoikhoi and San societies at the Cape; Dutch, then British colonization; two independent Boer republics forged by the Great Trek and destroyed in the Anglo-Boer Wars; a self-governing Dominion; and, from 1948 to 1994, apartheid — a system of state-mandated racial segregation and white-minority rule that this page states plainly and factually, as it is one of the best-documented and most consequential political systems of the 20th century.

Six flags trace this arc, ending with the modern six-color flag adopted for the 1994 elections that brought Nelson Mandela to the presidency.

Scope of this page: the lands of present-day South Africa, from Khoikhoi and San societies through Dutch and British colonization, the Boer Republics, the Union, and apartheid to the modern democratic republic. The Zulu Kingdom under Shaka and the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War are discussed in the prose of the relevant colonial-era entry rather than as a separate timeline row, since their dates run concurrent with British/Boer rule rather than in succession to it. No interactive map on this page — deferred to a future phase of the atlas. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.

British colony and Boer republics, 1806–1910

South Africa's own real border, split into the two pieces that were, for over half a century, ruled by entirely different governments: the British-administered Cape and Natal on the coast, and the independent Boer republics (Transvaal and the Orange Free State) in the interior highveld. Press play, or drag the slider.

The Boer republics were fully independent states, not colonies. Britain formally recognized Transvaal's independence in 1852 and the Orange Free State's in 1854; both later lost that independence by force in the 1899–1902 Second Boer War, not by treaty. The border below only solidifies for the span the two pieces were genuinely governed apart — it dissolves before the republics existed and again after the 1910 Union reunites the whole territory under one government.

pre-1652

Khoikhoi and San societies

Schematic internal partition on a real traced border — the interior/coastal dividing line approximates the old Transvaal/Orange Free State frontier, not a surveyed boundary.

the six-color flag, designed for the 1994 elections

1994 – present

Republic of South Africa (democratic)

Republic, multiparty democracyNelson MandelaSecular (no state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: economic migrants from elsewhere in AfricaEmigration: white South Africans (ongoing)

Who & why: after decades of internal resistance and international pressure, South Africa holds its first multiracial elections in April 1994, bringing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress to power and formally ending apartheid. The new flag, designed by state herald Fred Brownell, is raised for the first time at the elections and confirmed permanently in the 1996 constitution.

What it represents: the converging Y-shaped green band, unique among national flags, symbolizes the convergence of South Africa's diverse peoples into one nation; the remaining colors are drawn deliberately from the country's major political traditions rather than assigned fixed individual meanings — black, green and gold from the ANC, and red, white and blue echoing both the old Dutch/British-descended flag and the Union Jack.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutBlack triangle at hoist, green Y-band bordered in white and gold dividing red (top) and blue (bottom) horizontal bands.

Black#000000

Green#007A4D

Gold#FFB612

Red#DE3831

Blue#002395

White#FFFFFF

orange-white-blue with the UK, Orange Free State, and Transvaal flags in miniature at center

1928 – 1994

Union / Republic of South Africa (segregation and apartheid)

White-minority ruleJ.B.M. HertzogDutch Reformed Christianity (privileged, not formally established)

Migration & conquest:Emigration: anti-apartheid activists into exileEmigration: white professionals (brain drain)

Ruling house:House of Windsor

Who & why: the Union adopts its own national flag in 1928, ending sole reliance on the British ensign, and becomes a fully independent republic on 31 May 1961 after white voters narrowly approve leaving the Commonwealth. In 1948 the National Party wins power and formally institutes apartheid: state-mandated racial segregation and classification, forced removals of Black South Africans into "homelands" and townships, and the systematic denial of political rights to Black, Coloured, and Indian South Africans, a system that persists until sustained internal resistance (including the ANC's armed and political struggle, the 1976 Soweto uprising, and decades of mass mobilization) and international sanctions finally force negotiations in the early 1990s.

What it represents: the orange-white-blue field descends from the 17th-century Dutch Prince's Flag; at center, three small flags — the Union Jack, the old Orange Free State flag, and the old South African Republic (Transvaal) Vierkleur — symbolize the union of Britain's and the two defeated Boer republics' descendant communities, a design that deliberately excludes any Black South African symbolism.

Paint guide

Proportions2:3.

LayoutHorizontal tricolor orange-white-blue, three miniature flags centered on the white band.

Orange#FF6B00

White#FFFFFF

Blue#002395

British Red Ensign with the Union of South Africa's badge

1910 – 1928

Union of South Africa (Dominion)

Dominion (self-governing)Louis BothaNo official state religion

Ruling house:House of Windsor

Who & why: the 1909 South Africa Act unites the Cape, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River colonies into a single self-governing Dominion of the British Empire on 31 May 1910, eight years after the Boer Republics' defeat. Political power remains restricted overwhelmingly to the white population under this founding settlement, laying the legal groundwork later expanded into full apartheid.

What it represents: before adopting its own flag, the Union uses the standard British colonial ensign pattern defaced with its own badge, the same convention used across the Empire's self-governing Dominions of the era.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutRed field, Union Jack in canton, Union badge on a white disc in the fly.

Red#C8102E

Blue#00247D

British Blue Ensign over the Cape and Natal; the Boer republics flew their own separate flags

1806 – 1910

British Cape Colony & Natal, and the Boer Republics

Colony (contested with independent republics)No single ruler documentedNo single state religion (divided rule)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: 1820 British SettlersImmigration: Indian indentured laborers (1860–)Conquered by: British Empire (Boer republics & Zulu Kingdom)

Ruling house:House of HanoverHouse of Windsor

Who & why: Britain seizes the Cape from the Dutch in 1806, formalized at the 1814 Congress of Vienna, and later annexes Natal in 1843. Resisting British rule and the 1834 abolition of slavery, thousands of Boer (Afrikaner) families undertake the Great Trek from the mid-1830s, founding the independent South African Republic (Transvaal) and Orange Free State inland. The same decades see the rise and fall of the Zulu Kingdom under Shaka and his successors, whose 1879 war against British forces (the Anglo-Zulu War) ends in the kingdom's defeat and annexation. Sustained tension between Britain and the Boer republics — sharpened by the discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) — erupts into the First (1880–81) and Second (1899–1902) Anglo-Boer Wars, the second involving British concentration camps in which tens of thousands of Boer civilians, along with many Black Africans, die of disease and neglect; British victory in 1902 ends both republics' independence and sets the stage for the 1910 Union.

What it represents: Britain's Blue Ensign with the Cape's own badge is shown as this era's primary flag; the Boer republics flew their own separate banners throughout — the South African Republic's red-white-blue-green Vierkleur and the Orange Free State's orange-white-blue horizontal tricolor with a Dutch-flag canton — neither of which is shown here as the page follows a single throughline toward the eventual Union.

Paint guide

Proportions1:2.

LayoutBlue field, Union Jack in canton, Cape Colony badge on a white disc in the fly.

Blue#00247D

Red#C8102E

the Dutch Prince's Flag, flown over the Cape settlement

1652 – 1806

Dutch Cape Colony

ColonyJan van RiebeeckDutch Reformed Christianity (state religion)

Migration & conquest:Immigration: French Huguenot refugees (1688–89)Immigration: enslaved people from Madagascar, Mozambique & the East Indies

Who & why: the Dutch East India Company (VOC) establishes a resupply station at the Cape under Jan van Riebeeck in 1652, which grows into a settler colony as free burghers expand into the interior, displacing and often violently subjugating Khoikhoi communities and importing enslaved people from elsewhere in the VOC's trading empire. Dutch control (with a brief 1803–06 interlude as the Batavian Republic) ends when Britain seizes the Cape during the Napoleonic Wars.

What it represents: the Prince's Flag (Prinsenvlag), orange-white-blue, is the Dutch Republic's own flag of the era, flown over its colonies including the Cape settlement; the VOC's own company flag (a red-white-blue field with the VOC monogram) was also in wide use for company vessels and posts.

Paint guide

ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this period; shown at 2:3.

LayoutHorizontal tricolor, orange-white-blue.

Orange (period-accurate, darker)#AE1C28

White#FFFFFF

Blue#21468B

placeholder maroon field — Khoikhoi and San societies, no flag survives

pre-1652

Khoikhoi and San societies

Pre-colonial societiesNo single ruler documentedTraditional Khoikhoi and San religions (no single state faith)

Who & why: before Dutch settlement, the Cape region is home to Khoikhoi pastoralist clans and San hunter-gatherer bands, among the oldest continuous cultures in the world, organized around clan and kinship structures rather than centralized kingdoms. Bantu-speaking farming and herding communities, including the ancestors of the Xhosa and Zulu, populate the country's eastern regions well before this period.

What it represents: no securely documented flag survives from this era for any Khoikhoi, San, or Bantu-speaking community in the region; shown here honestly blank rather than invented.

Paint guide

ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.

Reading the tags

Pre-colonial societies — no centralized crown

Colony — administered as Dutch or British territory

Dominion (self-governing) — British Empire, internal self-rule

White-minority rule — formalized racial segregation and apartheid

Republic, multiparty democracy — universal-suffrage constitutional government

Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start

State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's

Find the records

Family history research for South Africa lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.

Search Record Atlas for South Africa →

Records here are filed by historical jurisdiction, not modern borders — check the region that covers your ancestral town:

The eastern Cape

More of the atlas

This page is one lineage in a larger set. See the region-wide hub and the other countries here:

Flags Atlas indexSearch every country and hub Central & Southern Africa hubFourteen countries, Congo basin to the Cape