Beginning in the sixteenth century, the Portuguese charted a course for the exploration and eventual settlement of the southern tip of the African continent. The English and Dutch would follow in the seventeenth century, settling in various regions inhabited by the Tswana, Zulu, and Xhosa nations. Cape Town, a port at the southwestern tip of Africa, became a hub for the Boers—groups of French, Dutch, and German travelers, traders, and colonialists moving between Europe and the East. The Boers eventually expanded their territories, engaging in conflict with both the indigenous nations and the British who had established rule over this territory, resulting in the Union of South Africa—an early precursor to the Republic of South Africa.