South Africa in 1885 show­ing the array of con­tend­ing juris­dic­tions. The four provinces of Cape Colony, Natal, Trans­vaal and Orange Free State were unit­ed in 1910. Ger­man South­west Africa was seized in 1915 and admin­is­tered by South Africa as a nom­i­nal fifth province until 1990, when it became Namib­ia. The British Pro­tec­torates, Basu­toland, Bechua­na­land and Swazi­land, achieved inde­pen­dence in 1966-68 as Botswana, Lesotho and Swazi­land (now Eswa­ti­ni). Gri­qua­land East and West were annexed by Cape Colony in 1878-80. Stel­la Land was annexed by the Trans­vaal (South African Repub­lic) in 1884. Zul­u­land was a British pro­tec­torate from 1887 to 1897, when it was absorbed by Natal. (Wiki­me­dia Commons)