Answer to Question #179167 in History for Marno

Question

How did the majority of people in Cape Town experience life in the early 19th century?

Answer 1

The discovery and subsequent exploitation of diamonds and gold in the former Transvaal region in the central highveld in the 1870s and 1880s and early 90s led to rapid change in Cape Town, as well as in Cape Colony as a whole. In particular, the rise to power of the ambitious colonialist Cecil Rhodes, fueled by the new diamond industryled to great instability. On becoming the Cape's new Prime Minister, he restricted the multiracial Cape franchise, and instigated a rapid expansion of British influence into the hinterland.