Introduction
August 2004,
revised November 2006
This website is a brief introduction to heraldry in South Africa. It is the product of more than thirty years interest in the subject.
What you will find on this website are:
- an overview of the development of heraldry in South Africa since the beginning of European settlement in 1652
- an overview of the law of arms in South Africa
- an overview of South Africa heraldic design, including new charges and lines of partition that have been developed since the 1970s
- overviews of each of the major categories of arms: family, corporate, official, municipal, and military
- galleries of more than 200 selected arms (shields only), with blazons and notes on the origins or symbolism of the arms.
What you will not find (because there are already plenty of websites which provide such information) are:
- a general history of heraldry
- an explanation of basics such as lines of partition, ordinaries and sub-ordinaries, tinctures, charges, principles of blazon, marshalling and so on
- details of how to register arms at the Bureau of Heraldry.
Enjoy the website!
This website has been created for interest and entertainment. It is unofficial, and not connected with or endorsed by any authority or organisation. It is the product of the webmaster's research, and the content is his copyright. So are the illustrations, except for a few which were derived from other sources, as acknowledged in the "references/ sources/ links" sections on the pages concerned. Additional information, and correction of errors, will be welcome.
