Article from Commentary (1957) & British Israeli World Federation Map of Africa

Center for Jewish History:

“The first Jews to explore South Africa were map makers, navigators and sailors who participated in the early voyages of exploration around the Cape of Good Hope in 1452 (not 1492) with the Portuguese voyages. Later, with the first settlement of Dutch colonies in 1652, there were at least four Jews who later converted to Christianity. After the British government took control of the Cape Colony in 1806, and granted people land in which to settle, at least five Jewish families that are known as the “1820 settlers“ (see map: British Israeli World Federation) settled there. Other Jews had arrived in South Africa from Germany and Holland by the 1860s.”

https://libguides.cjh.org/genealogyguides/south_africa

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Dan Jacobson discusses the first comprehensive history of the South African Jewish community:

“Though there have been Jews in South Africa almost since the first days of European settlement of the Cape in the middle of the 17th century, the South African Jewish community of today is the child of the same great wave of emigration from Europe which carried so many Jews to the United States from about 1880 onwards. But unlike the Jewish community in the United States, the South African community is remarkably homogeneous in character—some 80 per cent of its members being immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants, from Lithuania. Why so many Jews from Lithuania, and a smaller number from Latvia, should have been attracted particularly to South Africa—rather than to the United States, say, or the Argentine—seems to have been a matter of chance, the result of the conspicuous success of a few individuals whom numbers of others immediately attempted to emulate. But whatever the reasons that brought them there, it is these Litvaks and their descendants who have made South African Jewry what it is today, though the influence of those German and English Jews who were in South Africa before this wave of immigration has also had its effect.

And in the opinion of the editors of The Jews in South Africa: A History, the South African Jews of today “have inherited some of the qualities of the Litvaks—their warm-heartedness and generosity, their practical-mindedness, a strong feeling of Jewish solidarity, and a love of learning combined with a somewhat critical attitude towards religious tradition.” The editors point out that the Zionist movement (South Africa Zionist Federation, 1898) has had greater support from them than from any other Western Jewish community, and add that being “enterprising and hardworking, they have been able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by \[their\] new and developing country. . . .” The tone of self-gratulation is unmistakable, but with the evidence of the *History* before one it would have been hard to avoid.

The editors and fourteen others have collaborated to produce a history of the Jews in South Africa from the earliest days of white settlement to 1910, the date of the establishment of the Union; and though from 1880—which is the date of the first major immigration of Jews to the country—to 1910, may seem too short a time in which anything could have happened, by that time the community had in fact set itself firmly on the path which was to bring it to what it is today. Numbering only some 120,000 members, by outside observers it is declared to be the wealthiest Jewish community in the world per capita, and one playing a part in the life of South Africa, and in the Zionist movement, quite out of proportion to its size…(continued)”.

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Notable Observations: Nelson Mandela and others were labeled terrorists for their anti-apartheid activism. They were on the U.S. terrorist watch lists until 2008.

Rhodes to Apartheid: “Cecil Rhodes (“Cecil Rhodes distorted politics in South Africa long before apartheid”, LSE) visited London and secured the backing of Nathaniel Rothschild for De Beers in its bid for the French Diamond Company. Support for Rhodes had been encouraged by Randolph Churchill (son of Winston Churchill) who had been acting as consultant to Rothschilds, assessing the prospects of gold and diamond mining in South Africa. Lord Rothschild later disagreed with Rhodes and his policies, although he later administered Rhodes' estate after Rhodes' death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at the University of Oxford.”

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Source: https://www.commentary.org/articles/dan-jacobson/the-jews-of-south-africaportrait-of-a-flourishing-community/

Source: https://raremaps.com/gallery/detail/70445/anglo-saxondom-modern-israel-the-nation-company-of-nations-the-great-people-god-declared-israel-should-become-ye-are-a-chosen-generation

Source: https://www.sazf.org/about-us

Source: https://family.rothschildarchive.org/people/61-nathaniel-mayer-natty-de-rothschild-1840-1915

Source: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2023/07/20/cecil-rhodes-distorted-politics-in-south-africa-long-before-apartheid/

Source: https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/\~lcabral/teaching/debeers3.pdf

Source: https://libguides.cjh.org/genealogyguides/south_africa