The British and the Boers

In 1795 Great Britain temporarily occupied Cape Colony in order to protect its trade with India from French interference. The British returned in 1806, and at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 gained permanent possession of the colony. British colonization, which began in 1820, was resented by the Boers.

Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833. Compensation paid to the Boers was less than promised, arousing further resentment. They were also irritated by British interference in other matters and they wanted more land. In 1836 they began moving out of Cape Colony in what came to be known as the Great Trek, which took several thousand Boer families into Transvaal (present-day Limpopo, Gauteng, and Mpumalanga), Orange Free State (present-day Free State), and Natal (present-day KwaZulu/Natal).

The Zulus, a Bantu-speaking people that ruled a vast region, tried unsuccessfully to keep the Boers from settling in Natal. The British, already settled at Durban, began fighting the Boers in 1840 and were victorious in 1843. Natal was annexed to Cape Colony in 1845, and British sovereignty was soon extended over the other Boer domains. However, Britain restored the independence of Transvaal in 1852 and of Orange Free State in 1854. Both countries organized themselves as republics. Natal was made a separate British colony in 1856.

As Cape Colony extended its borders, there was constant conflict with blacks, and the British began assigning reserves to them. In Natal indentured laborers were brought from India to work on sugar plantations. Basutoland (now Lesotho) accepted British sovereignty in 1868, becoming part of Cape Colony. (Basutoland became a separate colony in 1884, and gained independence in 1966.)

Diamonds were discovered in the 1860's. The major field, at what is now Kimberley, was in a border area of disputed ownership; Britain annexed it in 1871. Cecil Rhodes, a British prospector who grew rich on diamonds, gained control of the industry.

Transvaal, weakened by disunity, was annexed by Britain in 1877, and the Zulus were subdued in 1879 by a British invasion of Zululand. After a Boer rebellion, Transvaal in 1881 was made a self-governing colony. In the mid-1880's gold was found in quantity in the Transvaal. Under the presidency of “Oom Paul” Kruger, the country won a greater degree of independence and again began using the name “republic.

Meanwhile, urged on by Rhodes, Britain was expanding its territory. In 1885 the southern portion of Bechuanaland was annexed to Cape Colony and the northern portion (now Botswana) was made a British protectorate. Rhodes himself was granted a charter to develop the region that is now Zimbabwe. Rhodes became prime minister of Cape Colony in 1890. Seeking to restore British control of the Transvaal, he organized a conspiracy against the Boer government that culminated in the Jameson raid of 1895. The raid failed and Rhodes resigned. (

Transvaal joined the Orange Free State in a military alliance. Tension between the British and the Boers became acute, and war was declared in 1899. Britain, victorious, in 1902 made the Boer republics British colonies. ( Swaziland, a native kingdom surrounded by Transvaal, was made a protectorate.