topic 4 south arica

• Boers

  Descendants of original Dutch settlers on Cape also known as Afrikaners

  Established independent states of Orange Free State and Transvaal to ‘escape’ from British control

  Also other white settlers including British who were in conflict with or opposed Boer ‘culture’

  British established Cape Colony and Natal as colonies, recognise Boer states (in 1850s) but also claimed external control over them. By late 1870s British claim full control. British also annex other areas (in 1868- 1890s) to control resources (diamonds) and prevent Boers expanding further North or West to link with Germans.
• Bantu

  refers to 300-600 ethnic groups speaking bantu languages, eg Xhosa, Pedi, Zulu

  Their land was slowly eroded by annexation or other white settlement (eg Boers)

  Diamonds and Gold rushes – led to influx of settlers, wealth and land stayed with whites.

  New laws limited African mine claims or their ability to trade. Forced into low paid unskilled manual labour.

  Segregated into mining compounds meant African workers were not free to live where wanted, or vote.
• 1815


  Cape (Cape of Good Hope) area taken from Dutch by British established as Cape Colony
• 1833


  End slavery – limited African vote in Cape
• 1836


  The Great Trek – 6,000 Boers move to ’empty lands’ found Orange Free State and Transvaal
• 1845


  Annex Natal
• 1852: Independence of Transvaal and Orange Free State recognized by the British
• 1867: Diamonds discovered near Kimberley in West Griqualand, leading to a diamond rush
• 1868: Basutoland annexed by the British, claimed indigenous Africans wanted British protection from Boers
• 1871: West Griqualand annexed by the British; around 1880, 2000 Griqua moved to the east setting up Griqualand East in 1873
• 1875: British proposed Federation of British and Boer territory, but the Boers rejected the idea
• 1877: Lord Carnarvon appointed Bartle Frere as High Commissioner and Governor of Cape Colony with the aim to confederate British and Boer lands; Cape Colonists and Natal were hostile, and the Boers rejected the proposal
• 1879: British invaded Isandhlwana during the Zulu war, resulting in the defeat of Rorke’s Drift with heroism displayed
• 1880: Boers declared their independence, President Kruger attacked British posts in Transvaal
• 1881: First Boer War saw the British defeated at the Battle of Majuba in February
• 1881: Pretoria Convention in August - British recognized Boer self-government, but claimed the right to control external affairs, refined in the London Convention of 1884
• 1884: Germans annexed South West Africa, leading to British fears of a Boer/German alliance
• 1885: Bechuanaland annexed to block Boers from Germans following Maj-Gen Warren’s expedition
• 1886: Discovery of Gold at Witwatersrand
• 1889: Cecil Rhodes established Salisbury in Mashonaland (Rhodesia) under the British South Africa Company (BSAC) Chartered in October