This volume has been planned and written in the belief that the central theme of South African history is interaction between peoples of diverse origins, languages, technologies, ideologies, and social systems, meeting on South African soil. The study differs from previous works on the subject in that it starts with detailed surveys of what is known about the pre-colonial history of the African inhabitants. The later chapters describe the origins and expansion of the Afrikaners, the English settlements, the struggle for land, and the rise of the kingdoms of Shaka and Moshweshwe, and the consequent interactions down to the time when diamonds were discovered in Griqualand West.