The Cape lay thousands of miles from Europe, but political, economic, and social revolutions occurring in Europe in the late eighteenth century had immediate and far-reaching consequences for the tiny Dutch Colony. Ideas promoting human equality and equal rights had inspired the French Revolution of 1789.

In February 1793, two weeks after the execution of Louis XVI, revolutionary France declared war on monarchical Britain. By this time France was at war with nearly all of Europe. France overthrew the Dutch Republic in 1795 and established the pro-French Batavian Republic in the Netherlands. The Batavian Republic then took charge of the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Britain quickly realized that a French occupation of the Cape would threaten their own trade with India and East Asia. Consequently, in 1797 British troops occupied the Cape Colony, a tiny territory of about 25,000 slaves, 20,000 White colonists, 15,000 Khoikhoi, and 1,000 free Blacks. By comparison, London's population alone was about 700,000 at this time.
[Taken from: The History of South Africa by Roger Beck, 2000]

1.1.1 Identify two countries that revolutionary France was at war with.
1.1.2 In your own words, explain how wars in Europe impacted the Cape Colony.
1.1.3 Using evidence from the source, explain the economic reason that prompted Britain to occupy and take control of the Cape Colony.

(2x1) (2)
(2x2) (2)
(1x2) (2)