History of the Cape Colony before 1806 Reinet. The Netherlands fell to the French army under the leadership of Napoléon Bonaparte in 1795. Reacting to the weakness of the Dutch East India Company holdings, a British army under General Sir James Henry Craig set out for Cape Town to secure the colony for the Stadtholder Prince William V of Orange against the French. The governor of Cape Town refused at first to obey any instructions from the prince, but after the British threatened to use force, he capitulated. The boers of Graaff Reinet did not surrender until an army had been sent against them, and in 1799
Gold Coast (British colony) title. From 1895–96 the British and Ashanti fought in the Fourth and final Ashanti War, where the Ashanti fought for and lost their independence. In 1900 the Ashanti Uprising took place. The British suppressed the violence and captured of the city of Kumasi. At the end of this last Ashanti War, the territory of the Ashanti people became a British protectorate on 1 January 1902. By 1901, British had established a colony incorporating all of the Gold Coast, with its kingdoms and tribes considered a single unit. The British exploited and exported a variety of natural resources such as gold,