Facts : 1 The British Conquest In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands, the mother country of the Dutch East India Company
Facts : 2 This prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to reach India
Facts : 3 The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simon s Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, took control of the territory
Facts : 4 The Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic (the Revolutionary period Dutch state) in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799
Facts : 5 Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its vassal state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape of Good Hope over to the Batavian Republic in 1803, under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens
Facts : 6 In 1806, the Cape, now nominally controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg
Facts : 7 The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, whilst Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic (which Napoleon would subsequently abolish later the same year)
Facts : 8 The British, who set up a colony on 8 January 1806, hoped to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes
Facts : 9 In 1814 the Dutch government formally ceded sovereignty over the Cape to the British, under the terms of the Convention of London
