The
Boer Republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent self-governed
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
s created by the
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
-speaking (proto
AfrikaansAfrikaans is an Indo-European language derived from Dutch and thus classified as Low Franconian West Germanic. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, the United...
) inhabitants of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
and their descendants (variously named
TrekboerThe Trekboers were nomadic pastoral descendants of Dutch settlers of the Cape Colony, Flemish settlers, French Huguenot refugees, German Protestants, and smaller numbers of Danes, and Scots as well as Indians, Malays and Khoi...
s,
BoerBoer is the Dutch word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking pastoralists of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
s, Afrikaners, and
VoortrekkersThe Voortrekkers were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony moving into the interior of what is now South Africa...
) in mainly the northern and eastern parts of what is now the country of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
Although some of these republics were already founded from 1795 onwards during the period of
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
colonial rule at the Cape, most of these states were established after
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
took over from the Netherlands as the colonial power at the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
.
The
Boer Republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent self-governed
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
s created by the
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
-speaking (proto
AfrikaansAfrikaans is an Indo-European language derived from Dutch and thus classified as Low Franconian West Germanic. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, the United...
) inhabitants of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
and their descendants (variously named
TrekboerThe Trekboers were nomadic pastoral descendants of Dutch settlers of the Cape Colony, Flemish settlers, French Huguenot refugees, German Protestants, and smaller numbers of Danes, and Scots as well as Indians, Malays and Khoi...
s,
BoerBoer is the Dutch word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking pastoralists of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
s, Afrikaners, and
VoortrekkersThe Voortrekkers were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony moving into the interior of what is now South Africa...
) in mainly the northern and eastern parts of what is now the country of
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
History
Although some of these republics were already founded from 1795 onwards during the period of
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
colonial rule at the Cape, most of these states were established after
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
took over from the Netherlands as the colonial power at the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
. Subsequently a number of its
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
-speaking (proto-
AfrikaansAfrikaans is an Indo-European language derived from Dutch and thus classified as Low Franconian West Germanic. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, the United...
often called "die taal"
the language) inhabitants trekked inland in 1835 in order to escape British administrative control in a movement that became known as the
Great TrekThe Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers...
. Several of these states were established after military defeats of the local population by the Voortrekkers/Boers by virtue of their technologically superior weaponry.
The Voortrekkers usually skirted the most densely populated areas, trekking into largely depopulated areas which were the result of the
MfecaneMfecane , is an African expression which means something like "the crushing" or "scattering"...
or Difaqane initiated by the
ZuluThe Zulu are the largest South African ethnic group of an estimated 10–11 million people who live mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Small numbers also live in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. Their language, Zulu, is a Bantu language; more specifically, part of the Nguni...
King
ShakaShaka was the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom....
in the 1820s. When the Voortrekkers encountered locally established groups/nations, they tended to opt to negotiate, turning to warfare only when attacked.
The Voortrekkers under the leadership of
Piet RetiefPieter Mauritz Retief , was a South African Boer leader. Settling in the Cape Colony's strife ridden frontier region in 1814, he assumed command of punitive expeditions and acted as spokesperson for the frontier farmers...
obtained a treaty from the Zulu King
DinganeDingane kaSenzangakhona Zulu —commonly referred to as Dingane or Dingaan—was a Zulu chief who became king in 1828, setting up his kraal Ngungundlovu.-Rise to power:...
to settle part of the lands the Zulus administered or held sway over, but Dingane later changed his mind, killing Retief and 70 members of his delegation. Dingane's
impiAn impi is an isiZulu word for any armed body of men. However, in English it is often used to refer to a Zulu regiment, which is called an ibutho in Zulu...
s (Zulu warriors) then went on to kill almost 300 Voortrekkers who had settled in the
NatalNatal was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu...
region.
After
Andries PretoriusAndries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic in present-day South Africa....
was recruited to fill the leadership vacuum created by the deaths of Piet Retief and Gerhard Maritz, he initially offered to negotiate for peace with Dingane if he were to restore the land he had initially offered to Retief. Dingane responded by attacking the Voortrekkers; on 16 December 1838 the battle of Nacome River (later named the
Battle of Blood RiverThe Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838 was fought between 470 Voortrekkers, led by Andries Pretorius, and an estimated 10,000 Zulu attackers on the banks of the Ncome River at in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa...
) occurred, during which 300 Voortrekkers survived and won a decisive battle against thousands of Dingane's impis.
The
Natalia RepublicThe Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic, established in 1839 by local Afrikaans-speaking Voortrekkers shortly after the Battle of Blood River. The republic was located on the coast of the Indian Ocean beyond the Eastern Cape, and was previously named Natalia by Portuguese sailors. The...
was established in 1839 by the local Boers after Pretorius entered into an alliance with
MpandeMpande was king of the Zulu nation from 1840 to 1872, making him the longest reigning Zulu king. He was a half-brother of Shaka and Dingane, who both preceded him as kings of the Zulu. He was born in Babanango, Zululand....
, the new Zulu king.
The territories north of the
Vaal RiverThe Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Clarens in the Free State )at a source known as the Ash River...
in the
TransvaalThe Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa. Originally the bulk of the independent Boer South African Republic, after the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 it became the Transvaal Colony, and one of the founding provinces of the Union of South Africa, with its regional capital in...
were officially recognized as independent by
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
with the signing of the
Sand River ConventionThe Sand River Convention was a convention whereby Great Britain formally recognised the independence of the Boers living beyond the Vaal River. In return, the Boers promised that slavery would be outlawed in the Transvaal and that they would not interfere in the Orange River Sovereignty's affairs...
on 17 January, 1852. The territories and districts of the Transvaal were Potchefstroom,
LydenburgLydenburg is a town in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The town is slated to be renamed Mashishing, according to an announcement made on June 30, 2006 by the South African Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan. Lydenburg is situated on the Sterkspruit/Dorps River tributary of the Olifants River at...
and
ZoutpansbergZoutpansberg was the north-eastern division of the Transvaal, South Africa. This was the district to which Louis Trichardt and Jan van Rensburg, the forerunners of the Great Trek, journeyed in 1835. In 1845 Hendrik Potgieter, a prominent leader of the Voortrekkers, moved there...
, which united in 1857 to form the
South African RepublicThe South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...
.
The
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
was recognized as independent by Great Britain on 17 February 1854. The Orange Free State became officially independent on 23 February 1854 with the signing of the
BloemfonteinBloemfontein is the capital city of the Free State Province of South Africa as well as one of the nation's three capitals, the judicial capital. The city's Sesotho name is Mangaung, meaning "place of cheetahs" and became part of the Mangaung Local Municipality in 2000...
or
Orange River ConventionThe Orange River Convention was a convention whereby Great Britain formally recognised the independence of the Boers in the area between the Orange and Vaal rivers, which had previously been known as the Orange River Sovereignty...
. The Orange Free State was nicknamed the model republic.
The
New Republic (comprising the town of Vryheid) was established in 1884 on land given to the local Boers by the Zulu King Dinuzulu the son of
CetshwayoCetshwayo kaMpande was the king of the Zulu nation from 1872 to 1879 and their leader during the Zulu War. His name has also been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchwayo....
after he recruited local Boers to fight on his side. The Boers were promised and granted land for their services & were led by
Louis BothaLouis Botha was an Afrikaner and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa—the forerunner of the modern South African state...
who would go on to prominence during the second Anglo-Boer War. This republic was later absorbed into the Transvaal/South African Republic.
States were also established by other population groups, most notably the
GriquaThe Griqua are a subgroup of South Africa's heterogeneous and multiracial Coloured people....
, a subgroup of South Africa's heterogeneous and multiracial
ColouredIn the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers or referred to an ethnic group of mixed-race people who possess some sub-Saharan African ancestry, but not enough to be considered Black under the law of South Africa...
people. Most notable among these were
Griqualand WestGriqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km² that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province, which was inhabited by the Griqua people. In 1873 it was proclaimed as a British colony, with its capital at Kimberley, and in 1880 it was annexed by the Cape Colony...
and
Griqualand EastGriqualand East was one of four short-lived Griqua states in Southern Africa from the early 1860s until the late 1870s and was located between the Umzimkulu and Kinira Rivers, south of the Sotho Kingdom.Griqualand East's capital, Kokstad, was the final place of...
.
While some of these were mini-states which were relatively short-lived, some, especially the
TransvaalThe Transvaal is the name of an area of northern South Africa. Originally the bulk of the independent Boer South African Republic, after the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 it became the Transvaal Colony, and one of the founding provinces of the Union of South Africa, with its regional capital in...
and the
Orange Free StateThe Republic of the Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...
, developed into successful independent countries which along with Britain were also officially recognized by the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. These two countries continued to exist for several decades, despite the
First Boer WarThe First Boer War also known as the First Anglo-Boer War or the Transvaal War, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881.-1877 annexation:...
with Britain. However, later developments, including the discovery of
diamondIn mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is the second most stable form of carbon, after graphite; however, the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is...
s and
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
in these states, led to
Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War , commonly referred to as The Boer War and also known as the South African War , the Anglo-Boer War and in Afrikaans as the Anglo-Boereoorlog or Tweede Vryheidsoorlog , or the Engelse oorlog was fought...
. In this war the Transvaal and Orange Free State were defeated and annexed by the overwhelmingly larger British forces and they officially ceased to exist on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the
Treaty of VereenigingThe Treaty of Vereeniging was the peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War between the alliance of the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State and the British Empire on the other.- Terms of the settlement :This settlement entailed the end of...
. A new British colony, the
Union of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day state of the Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unity of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
, was subsequently established in which the Transvaal and the Orange Free State became provinces along with the Cape and Natal.
Popular Culture
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Joe Buff is a naval author. He lives in Dutchess County, New York, with his wife. He has 5 siblings, who are involved in the medical field.Buff's stories take place in the years 2011-2012. In his novels, Boer reactionaries seize control of the government of South Africa. The UN places economic...
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