From 1652 to 1906, economic considerations successively forced Europeans to acquire land deeper in the interior of South Africa. Although retaining their European culture, the frontier conditions heightened their individualism, reliance on private property, and dependence on Western technology. They opposed governmental controls even when their seizure of natural resources precipitated resistance from Africans. Hence, patterns of land settlement in South Africa were similar to happenings on America’s western frontier. But, unlike in North America, the indigenous people of South Africa exercised so much power against comparatively few Europeans that they survived better and experienced less subjugation than their Native American counterparts.
