The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in South Africa (numbers may be approximate).
List NameDateLocationCasualtiesNotes Battle of Salt River 1 March 1510 Cape of Good Hope 64 Portuguese seamen The Battle of Salt River was a small military engagement between the crew of a Portuguese fleet led by Francisco de Almeida and the indigenous Goringhaiqua Khoikhoi, a military encounter between Europeans and indigenous people in what would later become South Africa. The battle resulted in a massacre of Portuguese forces and a victory for the Khoikhoi. The Mfecane / Difaqane 1818–1828 Highveld and Natal south of the Tugela 1,000,000–2,500,000 black Africans The mfecane / difaqane was a period of mass migration and warfare caused by the political changes that occurred during the reign of King Shaka.Ransford, Oliver. The Great Trek. John Murray. Great Britain. 1972. p. 26, The word "mfecane" was invented by Eric A. Walker in 1928 and the theory is increasingly disputed by scholars. The Janse van Rensburg Trek massacre 1836 Inhambane (Djinjispruit, Limpoporiver, Mozambique)Visagie, Jan C., Voortrekkerstamouers 1835 - 1845. Protea Boekhuis. Pretoria. 2011. Page 406 49 Voortrekkers Ordered by Manukosi, a chieftain. Johannes Jacobus (Lang Hans) Janse van Rensburg, leader of one of the early Voortrekker treks and his entire trek, except two children saved by a Zulu warrior, were killed by an impi of Manukosi. Included in the party was Nicholaas Balthasar Prinsloo, who was a Slagtersnek rebel, his wife, Petronella Maria Krugel/Kruger and their family. Piet Retief Delegation massacre 1838-02-06 Hloma mabuto, uMgungundlovu, Natal also known as kwaMatiwane Hill 100 Boers and servants Ordered by Dingane, a Zulu chieftain. The place, at kwaMatiwane Hill, was a site where Dingane had thousands of other enemies executed. Voortrekker leader Piet Retief was killed last. The treaty handing over a tract of land to the Voortrekkers signed between Dingane and Piet Retief two days before the massacre was later found on Retief's remains. A copy of the original still exists. The treaty led to the establishment of the Natalia Republic in 1838 which stretched from the Tugela River to present-day Port St. Johns.Weenen massacre1838-02-17Doringkop, Bloukrans River, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites around present-day Weenen, KwaZulu-Natal532 (282 Boer men, women and children, and 250 Khoikhoi and Basuto)Amongst those killed were Joachim Johannes Prinsloo, (Acquitted Slagtersnek rebel)Visagie, Jan C., Voortrekkerstamouers 1835 - 1845. Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria, 2011. . Page 401. and his wife Martha Louisa Prinsloo. The Piet Retief Massacre and the Weenen Massacre was the motivation for the Voortrekkers to confront the Zulus in battle on 16 December 1838 when 470 Voortrekkers fought against an estimated 15,000 to 21,000 Zulus; which the Voortrekkers won. The battle is known as the Battle of Blood River.Derdepoort massacreVan Heyningen, Elizabeth., The Concentration Camps of the Anglo-Boer War, A Social History. Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. Auckland Park, Johannesburg. 2013. Page 112 - 1131899-11-25Van Heyningen, Elizabeth., The Concentration Camps of the Anglo-Boer War, A Social History. Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd. Auckland Park, Johannesburg. 2013. Page 112 - 113Derdepoort, North-West, Transvaal2 Boer women were killed, and 17 women and children taken captiveOn 25 November 1899 some of the Bechuanaland Kgatla, under Lentshwe and in alliance with the British under Colonel G. L. Holdsworth, attacked a Boer laager on the Bechuanaland border of the Transvaal. Two women were killed, and 17 women and children taken captive.Leliefontein massacre1902-01-31Northern Cape, South Africa3535 Khoikhoi executed by Boer forces under Manie Maritz as reprisal for an attack on his troops by pro-British locals.Bulhoek massacre1921-05-24Ntabelanga, Queenstown, Eastern Cape163Enoch Mgijima led the gathering to defend their land against a Union of South Africa police force led by Colonel Johan Davey and General Koos van der Venter.Rand Rebellion1922-03-08 to 1922-03-18Johannesburg, Transvaal153The rebellion started as a strike by white mineworkers on 28 December 1921 and shortly thereafter, it became an open rebellion against the state. Subsequently, the workers, who had armed themselves, took over the cities of Benoni and Brakpan, and the Johannesburg suburbs of Fordsburg and Jeppe. Several communists and syndicalists, the latter including the strike leaders Percy Fisher and Harry Spendiff, were killed as the rebellion was quelled by state forces.V.I. Lenin. "Lenin: 703. TO G. Y. ZINOVIEV". marxists.org. The rebellion was eventually crushed by "considerable military firepower and at the cost of over 200 lives".Butler, A. 2004. Contemporary South Africa. Hampshire and New York: Palgrave MacmillanDurban Riot1949-01-13 to