Geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika

Geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika is a comprehensive, two-volume history of South Africa authored by A.J.H. van der Walt, J.A. Wiid and A.L. Geyer and published by Nasionale Boekhandel / Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery around 1961. Geskiedenis offers a sweeping narrative of the country’s past — from early settlement and colonial transition through to the political and social developments of the mid-20th century. This work emerged as one of the standard Afrikaans-language historical texts, used widely in schools and by scholars, providing both narrative detail and analytical insight.

The authors take care to balance academic rigour with readability: they trace political, economic, and social threads, paying significant attention to colonial institutions, cultural changes, economic exploitation, missionary influence, and the growth of Afrikaner nationalism. Their treatment includes careful documentary work, archival research and interpretative commentary that links local events to broader global and regional developments. While the focus leans toward European settlement and Afrikaner perspectives (as reflected in period historiography), the book remains an invaluable reference for understanding how South Africa’s history has been framed in Afrikaans scholarship.

Today, Geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika is valued by historians, genealogists, educators and collectors of Africana. Its mid-century publication captures a pivotal moment in the writing of South African history — before the dramatic changes of the later apartheid era — making it not just a textbook but a historical artifact. Readers will appreciate its narrative ambition, its detailed chronicle, and its role in the development of national historical identity in Afrikaans.