The colony later became a permanent part of the British Empire following the Congress of Vienna that marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1814.

[4] Due to establishing permanent British rule over the Cape Colony, the battle would have many ramifications for southern Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

By holding both the Cape Colony, in addition to its possession of Mauritius, the British would be able to dominate maritime affairs in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans thereby protecting its wartime economy and assisting in the war effort against France.

A British fleet was dispatched to the Cape in July 1805, to forestall French troopships Napoleon had sent to reinforce the Batavian garrison there.

[5] The British naval squadron assembled for the invasion included nine warships and a number of transport vessels under the command of Cmdre.

The government instructed Baird that the colony would be "defended by not more than 1500 Regular Troops, not of the best description; and that the Militia and Inhabitants look with anxiety for the Arrival of a British Force".

When the main fleet sailed into Table Bay on 4 January 1806, he mobilised the garrison, declared martial law, and called up the militia.

After a delay caused by rough seas, two British infantry brigades, under the command of Baird, landed at Melkbosstrand, north of Cape Town, on 6 and 7 January.

Popham ordered a small merchantman to be scuttled at Losperd's Bay to form a breakwater, and Baird started landing his troops.

The two battalions to its flanks (the 22nd line and 9th Batavian rifles), which promptly began to collapse, though Janssens managed to rally some of his troops and keep them at the fray.

The 200 French sailors and marines, despite having their flanks exposed due to the Batavian line routing, fought ferociously and resisted the attack longer than the rest.

10 pieces of foot artillery placed in the centre, manned by 54 Javanese artillerists and 104 Mozambican slaves, were firing at the advancing Highlanders.

[5] Janssens began the battle with 2,049 troops and was bombarded, and lost either 337[11] or 353 in casualties and desertions[5] Although Baird gives the tally as "reputed to exceed 700 Men in killed and wounded", though he implicitly admitted uncertainty of the enemy's total losses.

For many years it has been claimed that it was the Goedeverwachting estate (where a copy of the treaty is on display), but more recent research, published in Dr Krynauw's book Beslissing by Blaauwberg suggests that Croeser's farm (now the Somerset West golf course) may have been the venue.

Following the Action of 21 April 1806 off the relatively nearby coast of Natal, the 40-gun French frigate, Cannonière, was nearly captured due to her crews outdated belief that the colony was still held by the Dutch.