ABSTRACT
This chapter sets the stage for the story of Sharpeville by explaining the deep history of African ownership of the region until the 19th century. Sharpeville sits in a fertile valley at the confluence of three rivers where evidence of human habitation dates back as far as one million years ago. The Sotho-Tswana peoples established their settlements by the 14th century, but by the 19th century, the area became the site of dramatic confrontations and upheavals as first the Nguni invaded from the east, and then Dutch settlers from the Cape region to the south moved into the area to establish farms and soon their own government. At the turn of the century, the entire subcontinent was subjected to the devastation of the South African War between the settlers and the British government. Africans were systematically robbed of their land and forced into labour on White farms and in the emerging industrial enterprises. Vereeniging – the White town established in this area – sat at the hub of this activity. Africans who had lived there for centuries were restricted to the remnants of a wartime concentration camp named Top Location, the forerunner to Sharpeville.
