Riding High: Horses, Humans and History in South Africa

An examination of the role of horses in the colonial economies of South Africa

Horses were key to the colonial economies of southern Africa, buttressing the socio-political order and inspiring contemporary imaginations. Just as they had done in Europe, Asia, the Americas and North Africa, these equine colonizers not only provided power and transportation to settlers (and later indigenous peoples) but also helped transform their new biophysical and social environments.
The horses introduced to...