Events

• Approximately 3000 Crimean War
  Crimean War
  The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
  
   veterans (German Legionnaires) settled in Kaffraria, later joined by 2700 German civilians.
• Natal becomes a separate colony.
• February - U.G. Lauts dismissed as consul of the Orange Free State
  Orange Free State
  The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
  
   in the Netherlands
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
  
  
• 13 October - State President Boshoff of the Orange Free State
  Orange Free State
  The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
  
   lays the foundation stone of Grey College
  Grey College, Bloemfontein
  Grey College is a public school for boys located in Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa, one of the 23 elite, historically significant and prestigious Milner Schools...
  
   in Bloemfontein
  Bloemfontein
  Bloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa; and, as the judicial capital of the nation, one of South Africa's three national capitals – the other two being Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.Bloemfontein is popularly and...
  
  
• 17 December - The Boer
  Boer
  Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
  
   republic of Lydenburg
  Lydenburg
  Lydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The town is slated to be renamed Mashishing, according to an announcement made on June 30, 2006 by the South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan. Lydenburg is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Olifants River at...
  
   is established
• The Battle of Ndondakusuka: Mpande
  Mpande
  Mpande , uMsimude owavela ngesiluba phakathi kwamaNgisi namaQadasi, as he was praised, was king of the Zulu nation from 1840 to 1872, making him the longest reigning Zulu king. He was a half-brother of Shaka and Dingane, who both preceded him as kings of the Zulu...
  
  's sons Mbuyazwe and Cetshwayo
  Cetshwayo
  Cetshwayo kaMpande was the King of the Zulu Kingdom from 1872 to 1879 and their leader during the Anglo-Zulu War . His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchwayo.- Early life :...
  
   battle for kingship of Zululand
  Zulu Kingdom
  The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....
  
  . Cetshwayo is successful, and 23,000 Zulu die.

Births

• 26 March - Christiaan Willem Hendrik van der Post, member of the Orange Free State
  Orange Free State
  The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
  
   Volksraad and poet, is born in Leiden, Netherlands
  Netherlands
  The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...