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Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope

Literature › Primary sources
Kind population census
Producer Cape of Good Hope colonial government
Coverage 1865-1904
Works using it 12

Debates

Debate Works
Census, race classification and demographic data 5
Pre-Union colonial economy, the mineral revolution and the South African War 4
Agrarian transition to capitalism and the fate of the African peasantry 2
Agricultural policy, productivity, farm size and land reform 1
Cheap labour thesis and the function of the reserves 1
The job colour bar, white labour and its erosion 1
Did the apartheid economy fail? Growth, productivity, investment and the post-1970s crisis 1
Historiographical approaches 1
Industrialisation, protection and industrial structure 1
The mine migrant labour system: origins, recruitment, foreign labour and stabilisation 1
Origins, coherence and ideology of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism 1
Urban segregation, Group Areas and the apartheid city 1
The state and capital: instrumentalism, autonomy and fractions of capital 1
Living standards, health and social policy 1

Works using this source

Work As cited Period How used
Beinart (1982) Cape Statistical Registers and Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1904 (G.19-1905) 1895-1909; 1904 Source for population, cattle, sheep, goat, plough and grain estimates.
Christopher (1994b) Census of the Colony 1904 (Cape of Good Hope 1905) 1904 Used to map the distribution of the Khoisan population and to describe the census racial classification categories.
Christopher (2002a) Census of the Cape of Good Hope 1875 (G42-'76) 1875 Shows the elaborated six-category classification based on skin colour, features, assimilation, origin and language.
Christopher (2002a) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1865 (G20-'66) 1865 Establishes the first modern census's fourfold classification (European, Hottentot, Kafir, Other) and group shares.
Christopher (2002a) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1891 (G6-'92) 1891 Supplies enumerator instructions and the rationale for listing Fingo and Hottentot separately.
Christopher (2002a) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1904 (G19-1905) 1904 Source of the Cape census report's criticism of the existing groups as unscientific and of its recommended threefold colour classification.
Christopher (2002b) Census of the Cape of Good Hope 1875 (G42-'76) and its 1891 report (G6-'92) 1875, 1891 Documents the elaborate six-category classification and enumerator instructions on Fingo and Hottentot identification, retained in 1891 and 1904.
Christopher (2002b) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1865 (G20-'66) 1865 Establishes the first modern census in South Africa and its fourfold classification (European, Hottentot, Kafir, Other) and group shares.
Christopher (2002b) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1904 (G19-1905) 1904 Shows the census report's criticism of the existing classification as unscientific and its recommended threefold colour-based scheme.
Christopher (2009a) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1865 (G20-'66) and later Cape censuses 1875, 1891 (G6-'92), 1904 (G19-1905) 1865-1904 Examines questionnaire content, race and religion categories and their changing number of race groups to show the inclusive imperial approach in the Cape.
Christopher (2009b) Cape of Good Hope censuses 1875, 1891 and 1904 (including 1891 report G6-'92 and 1904 report G19-1905) 1875-1904 Documents the extension to six race groups and cross-tabulation by race, and the pragmatic construction of race categories.
Christopher (2009b) Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1865 [G20-'66] 1865 Shows the first modern scientific census, with a comprehensive enumeration and a four-fold race division following imperial guidelines.
Houghton and Dagut (1972) Cape Census 1865 (Census Act 1864) and Census Report G 20-'66 1865 Gives population by race, sex and occupation for each division in the first general Cape census.
Lewis (1984a) General Census of the Cape of Good Hope 1875 (G42-1875) and enumeration papers Tam 7/1, Tam 9/2, Tam 9/3 1875-1876 Provides harvest, household, population, sheep and plough figures to assess economic performance and grain adequacy at the height of the boom.
Mabin (1984) Cape Colony population censuses 1865, 1875, 1891 and 1904 1865-1904 Population by region and race, town sizes over 2000, manufacturing employment and output, ostrich and wool numbers.
Mabin (1986b) Census of the Cape of Good Hope 1904 (and 1891) 1891, 1904 Wesselton compound population and African population growth.
Schirmer (2008) Cape Colony census of 1891 (industrial establishments), as reported via De Kock, Selected subjects in the economic history of South Africa 1891 Establishes that about 2,000 industrial establishments and £2.3m manufacturing value added existed in the Cape by 1891, so manufacturing predated Union statistics.
Simkins and Van Heyningen (1989) Census of the Cape Colony 1891, Final Report (G6-1892) 1891 Supplies age/sex/ethnic-group distributions used as the first census in indirect estimation of fertility, mortality and migration, plus urban counts and occupations.
Simkins and Van Heyningen (1989) Census of the Cape Colony 1904, Final Report (G19-1905) 1904 Second census in intercensal methods (Preston-Bennett, Coale, Preston), also source for birthplace, urban definitions and ethnic categories.