In 1971, the historians Shula Marks and Anthony Atmore wrote that during the colonial period South Africa became a “gun society.” They suggested that “the role of firearms in southern African society deserves at least one major study.” 1 Their challenge is taken up by the present study, which focuses on the history of South Africa prior to 1910

The first three chapters trace the spread of guns in South Africa during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Beginning in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) encouraged settlers to procure firearms and to serve in the militi