About 280 million years ago (mya), Pangea emerged from the Ice Age. The outlines of the southern African coast formed around 140 mya.
Eruptions below the earth's surface about 290 mya caused rock buckling that formed the Cape Fold Mountains. About 150 mya some sediment was eroded away, leaving Table Mountain isolated.
20 000 years ago Homo sapiens were widely dispersed throughout southern Africa: The world without us had become the world of the San. The 'pastoral revolution' began 2 000 years ago when the Khoikhoi acquired sheep and cattle and grazing territory had to be owned.
Under pressure from San stock raiders the Khoikhoi migrated south. When the first Europeans arrived at the Cape in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Khoikhoi were the dominant society.
Timeline
| 290 mya |
Cape Fold Mountains formed. |
| 150 mya |
Table Mountain is formed. |
| 140 mya |
Super-continent Pangea breaks up into separate continents. |
| 5 mya |
Australopithecus, the southern ape, lives. |
| 100 000 ya |
Anatomically modern humans live in caves in southern Cape. |
| 14 000 ya |
San hunter-gatherers widely dispersed across southern Africa. |
| 2 000 ya |
Khoikhoi pastoralists live alongside the San; move south to the Cape coastline. |
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