The following lists events that happened during 1864 in South Africa.

Incumbents

High Commissioner for Southern Africa The British office of high commissioner for Southern Africa was responsible for governing British possessions in Southern Africa, latterly the protectorates of Basutoland (now Lesotho), the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) and Swaziland ...

: Sir Philip Wodehouse. * Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal: ** John Scott (until 30 December). ** John Maclean (from 31 December). * State President of the Orange Free State: **

Jacobus Johannes Venter Jacobus Johannes Venter (1814–1889) was a South African (Boer) statesman. He was a member of the Volksraad of the Orange Free State, chairman of the Joint Commission for Administering the Government in 1855 and served as Acting State Pre ...

(acting until 1 February).Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices, Orange Free State: Heads of State: 1854-1902 (Accessed on 14 April 2017)
/ref> ** Jan Brand (from 2 February). * President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic: ** W.C. Janse van Rensburg (until 9 May).Archontology.org: A Guide for Study of Historical Offices, South African Republic (Transvaal): Heads of State: 1857-1877
(Accessed on 14 April 2017) **

Marthinus Wessel Pretorius Marthinus Wessel Pretorius (17 September 1819 – 19 May 1901) was a South African political leader. An Afrikaner (or "Boer"), he helped establish the South African Republic (''Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek'' or ZAR; also referred to as Transva ...

(from 10 May).

Events

;January * 5 – The

Transvaal Civil War The Transvaal Civil War was a series of skirmishes during the early 1860s in the South African Republic, or Transvaal, in the area now comprising the Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West provinces of South Africa. It began after the Bri ...

ends with

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South African Republic, South Africa, and President of the So ...

's victory over Jan Viljoen's commando at the Crocodile River. ;February * 2 – Jan Brand is inaugurated as the fourth president of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. ;May * 10 –

, State President of the Orange Free State from 1860 to 1863, is inaugurated as President of the Executive Council of the South African Republic for a second term. ;August *

Bloemhof Bloemhof is an agricultural town of about 2,000 inhabitants situated on the banks of the Vaal River in North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of South Africa. History It was founded in August 1864 when diamonds were discovered i ...

is founded on the banks of the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

when

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

s are discovered in the area. ;December * 19 – A railway line to Wynberg, constructed with private capital, is opened to the public. * 31 – John Maclean becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal. ;Unknown date * The Republic of New Scotland is set up in Roburnia in what is now the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

region.

Births

* 2 February - Jan Brand, lawyer and politician, and the fourth state president of the

. (d. 1888) * 6 November - Abraham Bailey, diamond tycoon, politician, financier and cricketer. (d. 1940)

Deaths

* 1 February –

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment phil ...

, explorer and big-game hunter. (b. 1796) * 5 October – John Fairbairn, newspaper proprietor, educator, financier and politician. (b. 1794)

Railways

Railway lines opened

* 19 December – Cape Western – Salt River to Wynberg, .''Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway'', Statement No. 19, p. 181, ref. no. 200954-13

Locomotives

* The first of three 2-4-0 tank locomotives are acquired as motive power for the Wynberg line, one by the Wynberg Railway Company and the other two by the Cape Town Railway and Dock Company who undertakes to rent and operate the line.''Blackie'', Article by D. Littley, SA Rail September–October 1989, p. 133.

References

{{Africa topic, 1864 in, state=collapsed

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Years in South Africa History of South Africa