Record Atlas
5 eras · 1800–2026 · 27 places

Northern Cape - Griqualand West, Namaqualand, Bushmanland

Kimberley, Upington, Springbok, Kuruman, Vryburg, De Aar, Prieska. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1800–1871 Griqua captaincy of Klaarwater (Griquatown) - the Waterboer line no registers survive

Before registers. Griqualand West is dated to 1800 under the Griqua captain Adam Kok I, centred on Klaarwater, later Griekwastad (Griquatown). Andries Waterboer took control from 1820, and in 1834 the Cape Colony recognised his rights to his land and people.
1871–1880 Griqualand West Colony NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · FamilySearch

The Keate Award went in Nicolaas Waterboer's favour in 1871 and the district was proclaimed British territory on 27 October 1871 (1871 or 1873 depending on the source). Kimberley was the capital. In July 1876 the Orange Free State received compensation for its claims. The Griqualand West Annexation Act is dated 27 July 1877.
1880–1910 Cape Colony - Griqualand West united 1880, British Bechuanaland annexed 1895 NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

Griqualand West was united with the Cape Colony on 18 October 1880. British Bechuanaland, formed on 30 September 1885 from Stellaland, Goshen and other territory south of the Molopo (Vryburg was Stellaland's main town), was annexed to the Cape on 16 November 1895.
1910–1994 Union of South Africa - Cape Province NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

The Cape Colony became the Cape Province on 31 May 1910 at the formation of the Union. The province took in Griqualand West, British Bechuanaland and Namaqualand (Springbok).
1994–2026 Republic of South Africa - Northern Cape Province NAAIRS — National Archives of South Africa · eGGSA — Genealogical Society of South Africa · FamilySearch

The Cape Province was broken up on 27 April 1994 and the Northern Cape was one of the three provinces made from it. The Orange River divides Little Namaqualand (Northern Cape) from Great Namaqualand in Namibia.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1800–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

27 places on this ground

33 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

All record regions · The map