Summary in English. / The contention underlying this dissertation is that ethnic identity and notions of community in South Africa are the result of several intertwined processes, which include historic interventions by the state to create 'groups' and 'nations' as building blocks for apartheid structures. These processes also encompass initiatives by those oppressed to constitute 'oppositional' communities. Both sets of activities have occurred in specific historical and material circumstances. By focusing specifically on a 'group' descended largely from merchant forebears, this study of Cape Indians examines the significance over time of the class, caste and religious cleavages within a constructed 'community'. Moreover, this dissertation discusses the effects of political currents on Indians in the Western Cape whose relatively more privileged position in relation to Indians in Natal and the Transvaal has been instrumental in isolating them from most of the events in the other provinces. It is hoped that this dissertation will contribute not only to the history of the Western Cape but, in a broader sense, also to the history of Indians in South Africa.