Research On Colonialism And South Africa’s Urbanization

Cities are constantly changing the world of human life,and the process of urban emergence and the process of population migration are understood as urbanization.In sub-Saharan Africa,city did not exist at the beginning,many indigenous tribes occupy most of the land in southern Africa,and develop lives belonging to different tribes with different cultural characteristics.However,South African cities was born from the great process of colonialism in 17 th century.Colonial history has not only dragged subSaharan Africa,especially southern Africa,into the colonial world,also brings a‘civilized world’ that is very different from the indigenous world,colonial city is one of them.Cape town,as the first European immigrant settlement in Southern Africa,was founded by the Dutch East India Company in the mid-17 th century,and gradually developed into a small town under the management of more than a century,the colonists continued to expand into southern Africa,opening up more white farms and white towns.Cape Colony became a part of British Empire,colonial government’s urban management strategy was also transplanted to Southern Africa.The ensuing colonial annexation activities continued to affect the development of Cape Town and more inland cities.In the late 20 th century after the end of colonial rule,South Africa was still managed by the descendants of European immigrants,everywhere in the city exudes a similar atmosphere of the distant home country.The atmosphere has been precipitated among South African cities and become one of the important features of South African urban landscape.This study starts from urban development itself,discuss the development and changes of South Africa’s urban form and urbanization process in different periods.At the same time,it analyzes many aspects of South African cities affected by colonial culture,explores the positive and negative effects of colonialism on South Africa’s urbanization.The study first introduces the history of the city during the colonial rule of southern Africa.For clarity,the construction of Cape Town under the management of Dutch East India Company from the mid-17 th century to the end of the 18 th century was introduced as a background,as the first settlement established by the colonial rule of southern Africa.Its emergence and development have to a certain extent determined the regional scope of urban development;The British Cape Colony helped Cape Town enter a more serious city construction process.Take the construction of Cape Town,South Africa’s mother city,as an example to introduce the construction work under the early British colonial government,it includes housing,transportation,water channel construction,etc.Through the introduction of the British colonial government city construction,introduce the impact of colonial rule on early southern Africa.After that,the study explores the urbanization process under the jurisdiction of federal government which dominated by descendants of European immigrants.Combined with the world’s third pandemic,discuss the logic of urban development and construction in South Africa from the perspective of health discourse,Introduce Cape Town’s urban health reform and successive housing reforms;The end of the World War provided an opportunity for the post-war reconstruction of Cape Town,also provides space for urban spatial isolation;the popularity of garden city planning and workerhouse models also prompted cape town’s city form change;from ‘Natives(Urban Areas)Act’ to ‘Group Areas Act’ marked the arrival of great apartheid era,city is artificially divided into white areas and African areas by the government,urban economic development and labor supply have also been seriously affected.After South Africa broke away from colonial administration,it seems that it has not been able to break away from the development logic of colonialism,urban management and development are still affected by different degrees of colonialism.The third part discusses the new government’s attempts to change the city of South Africa and improve the urban living environment of black South Africans through various reforms to build a new South Africa.The informal economic sector developed by colonial management has brought new impetus to the development of South Africa.However,the existence of informal settlements in cities still haunts New South Africa;This also makes the relationship between colonialism and South Africa’s urbanization more complex and diverse.From the birth of Cape Town to the emergence of rainbow country-new South Africa,South African cities have experienced a long and complicated development process.On the one hand,long-term colonial rule brings cities,modernization,and more advanced culture and infrastructure to South Africa;But on the other hand,colonialism also shaped South Africa as two-fold,one side is a civilized city where European immigrants live,committed to solving urban problems,let the city be civilized,developed;and on the other is a decayed city where African live,due to various factors,African have never left the city.As the demand for native labor in the urban economy increases,as native settled in cities,as native segregated by cities,the contrast is getting stronger and stronger.Not only cities,but cultural,political,and economic development are all influenced by colonialism,even after the 1994 democratic elections.The dark clouds of colonialism still seem to hang over South Africa,but at the same time,rainbows are gradually emerging in South Africa,bringing more uncertainty to South African cities.