State · 1803 – 1872

Dutch Cape Colony

A state of 1803 – 1872 — 69 years in sub-Saharan Africa. The atlas records 1 thing within it — wars and battles 1.

Wikidata dates it 1652 to 1795, years the borders dataset never draws it in; the borders dataset maps it from 1803 to 1872, and those are the years drawn here.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 69 years; 1803 – 1872
Most ground: 284,900 km²; in 1805
Within it: 1; recorded row
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Dutch Cape Colony in 1805, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Dutch Cape Colony in 1805, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 284,900 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Dutch Cape Colony in 1805, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Dutch Cape Colony in 1868, last mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

278,800 km² in 1803, 5,800 km² in 1872; at its largest 284,900 km² in 1813. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedFlag of the Dutch East India Company · Public domain

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1800 – 18991 row · 1 wars and battles

Battle of Blaauwberg · battle · 1806

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood69 years
stood longer than 39% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held284,900 km²
held more ground at its peak than 65% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1793 – 1882, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1805, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q4807130 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.