Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars

The Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars (or Khoekhoe–Dutch Wars) refers to a series of armed conflicts that took place in the latter half of the 17th century in what was then known as the Cape of Good Hope, in the area of present-day Cape Town, South Africa, fought primarily between Dutch colonisers, who came mostly from the Dutch Republic (today the Netherlands and Belgium) and the local African people, the indigenous Khoikhoi.

Under the Dutch East India Company (VOC), and starting in 1652, colonists (Vrijburghers) – initially and predominantly the VOC's European employees and emancipated servants, but later also including a minority of the VOC's Asian and African employees and emancipated servants and slaves – were permanently settled at the Cape of Good Hope on land which had been seized from the indigenous people, including the Khoikhoi (called Hottentots or Kaffirs by the Dutch), and the Bushmen (also known as the San), collectively referred to as the Khoisan. Though Europeans had already been trading with Khoikhoi for more than a century, the VOC's colonisation of the Cape in 1652 caused serious disputes to break out over the ownership of land, and especially livestock. Tense competition, deteriorating into violent attacks and counter-attacks by both sides, resulted in the Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars, which eventually ended with the defeat of the Khoikhoi.

The First Khoikhoi–Dutch War lasted from 1659–1660, and the Second Khoikhoi–Dutch War lasted from 1673–1677.