1883 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1883 in South Africa.

← 1882 1881 1880 1883 in South Africa → 1884 1885 1886
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	List of years in South Africa

Incumbents

• Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa: Hercules Robinson.
• Governor of the Colony of Natal: Henry Ernest Gascoyne Bulwer.
• State President of the Orange Free State: Jan Brand.
• State President of the South African Republic: Triumviate of Paul Kruger, Marthinus Wessel Pretorius and Piet Joubert (until 9 May), Paul Kruger (starting 9 May).
• Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope: Thomas Charles Scanlen.

Events

April

• 16 – Paul Kruger is re-elected president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

May

• 9 – Paul Kruger is sworn in as president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek.

July

• 22 – Zulu King Cetshwayo barely escapes with his life in a rebel attack.

August

• 6 – The United States of Stellaland is established when the Republics of Stellaland and Goshen unite.
• 12 – The last Quagga in the world dies in captivity at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, making the species extinct.

Births

• February – Zakea Dolphin Mangoaela, Basotho folklorist and writer. (d. 1963)

Deaths

• 9 August – Robert Moffat, Scottish Congregationalist missionary. Dies in Leigh near Tunbridge Wells, England.

Railways

Railway lines opened

CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0

• 5 May – Cape Western – Muizenberg to Kalkbaai, 1 mile 45 chains (2.5 kilometres).[1]
• 14 May – Cape Western – Beaufort West to Victoria West Road, 80 miles 41 chains (129.6 kilometres).[1]
• 15 October – Cape Eastern – Queenstown to Sterkstroom, 35 miles 28 chains (56.9 kilometres).[1]
• 16 October – Cape Midland – Cradock to Colesberg, 126 miles 19 chains (203.2 kilometres).[1]

Locomotives

• Eighteen 3rd Class 4-4-0 tender passenger locomotives are delivered to the Cape Government Railways from Neilson and Company and placed in passenger service out of Cape Town, East London and Port Elizabeth respectively.[2][3]

References

1. Report for year ending 31 December 1909, Cape Government Railways, Section VIII - Dates of Opening and the Length of the different Sections in the Cape Colony, from the Year 1873 to 31 December 1909.
2. Holland, D.F. (1971). Steam Locomotives of the South African Railways. 1: 1859–1910 (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. pp. 37–38, 106–108. ISBN 978-0-7153-5382-0.
3. Paxton, Leith; Bourne, David (1985). Locomotives of the South African Railways (1st ed.). Cape Town: Struik. p. 17. ISBN 0869772112.