South Africa

• Boers: Dutch farmers who settled in South Africa
• Bantu: 300-600 ethnic groups who speak the Bantu language ethnolinguistic
• Federation: Lots of self-governed or partially self-governed smaller states who are under a political system
• Bechuanaland: short lived crown colony until Britain colonised Cape Colony
• Ethnonationalism: advocating for a specific ethnic group
• Groot Trek (great trek)
• Voortrekkers – Afrikaans
• Migration away from British controlled Cape
• 1867: discovery of diamonds in Kimberly
• Boers are on high alert
• Diamond rush
• Largest hand-dug excavation in the world with over 3 tonnes of diamonds
• Cullinan: one of the largest diamonds ever
• Brought by Boers and gifted to the King Edawrd to mark his 66th birthday
• Gold in the Transvaal
• 1886: gold discovered in Witwatersrand (The rand) the richest gold field in the world
• Estimated reserves at 700 million a profit of 200 million
• Very labour intensive = deep layer mining
• Expensive due to equipment and infrastructure
• Randlords established large mining companies
• Paul Kruger:

  • Dutch speaking Afrikaner background making him local and popular
  • Vice President in 1877
  • President of the South African Republic from 1882 to 1902
  • Revised Convention of Pretoria making European Allies
  • Later moved to Europe
• Lord Salisbury:

  • Prime Minister from 1895 to 1902
  • Conservative and reluctant expansionist
  • Emphasized peace and negotiations
  • Became his own foreign secretary
  • Often persuaded by jingoists like Chamberlain
• Joseph Chamberlain:

  • Born in Birmingham to a working-class family
  • Colonial secretary/secretary of state for the colonies from 1895 to 1903
  • Expansionist who conspired with Rhodes
• Leander Star Jameson:

  • Assistant/agent to Cecil Rhodes and BSAC
  • Administrator of Southern Rhodesia
  • Launched Jameson Raid
  • Engaged in nepotism by favoring friends and family
• Boers and Uitlanders:

  • Transvaal lacked workers
  • Immigration of Uitlanders (British and Germans) who became mine owners
  • Uitlanders' population in the 1890s was larger than Boers
  • Uitlanders paid 90% of taxes
  • Transvaal government and President Kruger worried about the loss of power
• How did Kruger reduce the power of Uitlanders?

  • Insisted Uitlanders reside for 14 years to apply for citizenship
  • Disenfranchised (denied votes) Uitlanders
  • Unsuccessful attempt
  • British government justified interference due to economic motives
• Salisbury's aims:

  • Pressured by press and public opinion
• Cecil Rhodes and BSAC:

  • Aimed to unite Africa
  • Sent men north of Limpopo River to discover gold and remove Transvaal's advantage
  • Annexed Rhodesia in 1895 without finding gold
  • Established political control through war with Matabele people in 1893
• Jameson Raid causes:

  • Rhodes encouraged Uitlanders to fight for voting rights
  • Seen as a deliberate plot by Boers
• Events:

  • Aimed for Uitlanders to get the vote
  • Plan for Uitlanders to rebel with BSAC support
  • Dr. Jameson would wait for revolt in Johannesburg then cross the border to help
  • Secret plan that failed miserably
• Short-term Impacts of Jameson Raid:

  • Jameson seen as a hero by the public but sentenced to 15 months in prison
  • Rhodes forced to resign as Cape Prime Minister and BSAC chairman
  • Raid strengthened Paul Kruger's anti-British stance
  • Failure led to humiliation for Salisbury and Chamberlain