History of Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870
Encyclopedia
The history of Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870 spans the period of the history of Cape Colony
during the Cape Frontier Wars, also called the Kaffir Wars, which lasted from 1811 to 1858. The wars were fought between the Europe
an colonists and the native Xhosa who, having acquired firearms, rebelled against continuing European rule.
The Cape Colony was the first European colony in South Africa
, which was initially controlled by the Dutch
but subsequently invaded and taken over by the British
. After war broke out again, a British force was sent once more to the Cape
. After a battle in January 1806 on the shores of Table Bay
, the Dutch garrison of Cape Castle surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird
, and in 1814, the colony was ceded outright by the Netherlands to the British crown. At that time, the colony extended to the mountain
s in front of the vast central plateau
, then called "Bushmansland", and had an area of about 194,000 square kilometres and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were white, 17,000 free Khoikhoi
, and the rest slave
s. These slaves were mostly people brought in from other parts of Africa and Malays
.
. The Xhosa that crossed the colonial frontier had been expelled from the district between the Sundays River
and Great Fish River known as the Zuurveld, which became a neutral ground of sorts. For some time before 1811, the Xhosa had taken possession of the neutral ground and attacked the colonists. In order to expel them from the Zuurveld, Colonel John Graham
took the area with a mixed-race army in December 1811, and eventually the Xhosa were forced to fall back beyond the Fish River. On the site of Colonel Graham’s headquarters arose a town bearing his name: Graham's Town, subsequently becoming Grahamstown
.
A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the Xhosa arose in 1817, the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle. On 22 April 1817, led by a prophet-chief named Makana
, they attacked Graham’s Town, then held by a handful of white troops. Upon the arrival of reinforcements, the Xhosa troops retreated. It was then agreed that the land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers should be neutral territory.
of English settlers of any considerable scale, an event with far-reaching consequences. The then governor, Lord Charles Somerset, whose treaty arrangements with the Xhosa chiefs had proved untenable, desired to erect a barrier against the Xhosa by having white colonists settle in the border region. In 1820, upon the advice of Lord Somerset, parliament voted to spend £50,000 to promote migration to the Cape, prompting 4,000 British people to emigrate. These immigrants, who are now known as the 1820 Settlers
, formed the Albany settlement, later Port Elizabeth, and made Grahamstown
their headquarters. Intended primarily as a measure to secure the safety of the frontier, and regarded by the British government chiefly as a way of finding employment for a few thousand of the unemployed in Britain. Yet, the emigration scheme accomplished something with more far reaching implications than its authors had intended. The new settlers, drawn from every part of the United Kingdom
and from almost every grade of society, retained strong loyalty to Britain. In the course of time, they formed a counterpoint to the Dutch colonists.
The arrival of these immigrants also introduced the English language
to the Cape. English language ordinances were issued for the first time in 1825, and in 1827, its use was extended to the conduct of judicial proceedings. Dutch was not, however, ousted, and the colonists became largely bilingual.
Over the ensuing decades there was considerable political tension between the eastern and the western halves of the Cape Colony. The Eastern Cape, from its major port and urban centre Port Elizabeth, resented being ruled from Cape Town
in the Western Cape and frequently agitated to become a separate colony. These separatist tensions did not completely die down until the 1870s when Prime Minister John Molteno
restructured the Cape administration to meet the major eastern concerns and, in the Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1873, abolished the last formal distinctions.
had been established for the benefit of the Khoikhoi, and in 1799, the London Missionary Society
began to try to convert
both the Khoikhoi and the Xhosa. The championship of Khoikhoi grievances by the missionaries caused much dissatisfaction among the majority of the colonists, whose conservative views temporarily prevailed, for in 1812, an ordinance was issued which gave magistrates the power to bind Khoikhoi children as apprentices under conditions little different from those of slavery
. In the meantime, the movement for the abolition of slavery was gaining strength in England, and the missionaries appealed at length, from the colonists to Britain.
An incident, which occurred from 1815 to 1816, did much to make the Dutch frontiersmen permanently hostile to the British. A farmer named Bezuidenhout refused to obey a summons issued to him after a complaint from Khoikhoi was registered. He fired on the party sent to arrest him, and was killed by the return fire. This caused a miniature rebellion, and in its suppression five ringleaders were publicly hanged by the British at Slagter's Nek where they had originally sworn to expel "the English tyrants." The resentment caused by the hanging of these men was deepened by the circumstances of the execution, for the scaffold on which the rebels simultaneously were hanged broke from their united weight and the men were hanged one by one afterwards. The deeply religious Dutch frontiersmen believed the collapsing scaffold to be an act of God
. An ordinance passed in 1827 abolished the old Dutch "landdrost
" and "heemraden" courts, instead substituting resident magistrate
s. The ordinance further stipulated that all legal proceedings be henceforth conducted in English.
A subsequent ordinance in 1828 granted equal rights with white people to the Khoikhoi
and other free African people in the Cape. Another ordinance in 1830 imposed heavy penalties for harsh treatment of slaves, and finally the emancipation
of slaves was proclaimed in 1834. Each of these ordinances drew further ire from the Dutch farmers towards the Cape government. Moreover, the inadequate compensation awarded to slave-owners, and the suspicions engendered by the method of payment, caused much resentment, and in 1835 the trend where farmers trekked into unknown country in order to escape from a disliked government recommenced. Emigration beyond the colonial border had in fact been continuous for 150 years, but it now took on larger proportions.
On the eastern border, further trouble arose between the government and the Xhosa, towards whom the policy of the Cape government was marked by much vacillation. On 11 December 1834, a government commando party killed a Xhosa chief of high rank, incensing the Xhosa: an army of 10,000 men, led by Macomo, a brother of the chief who had been killed, swept across the frontier, pillaged and burned the homesteads and killed all who resisted. Among the worst sufferers was a colony of freed Khoikhoi who, in 1829, had been settled in the Kat River valley by the British authorities. There were few available soldiers in the colony, but the governor, Sir Benjamin d'Urban
acted quickly and all available forces were mustered under Colonel Sir Harry Smith
, who reached Graham’s Town on 6 January 1835, six days after news of the uprising had reached Cape Town. The British fought the Xhosa gunmen for nine months until hostilities were ended on 17 September 1836 with the signing of a new peace treaty, by which all the country as far as the River Kei was acknowledged to be British, and its inhabitants declared British subjects. A site for the seat of government was selected and named King William’s Town.
that "the great evil of the Cape Colony consists in its magnitude" and demanded that the boundary be moved back to the Fish River. He also eventually had d'Urban dismissed from office in 1837. "The Kaffirs," in Lord Glenelg's dispatch of 26 December, "had an ample justification for war; they had to resent, and endeavoured justly, though impotently, to avenge a series of encroachments.” This attitude towards the Xhosa was one of the many reasons given by the Voortrekkers for leaving the Cape Colony. The Great Trek
, as it is called, lasted from 1836 to 1840. The trekkers (Boers), numbering around 7,000, founded communities with a republic
an form of government beyond the Orange
and Vaal
rivers, and in Natal, where they had been preceded, however, by British emigrants. From this time on, Cape Colony ceased to be the only European community in South Africa, though it was the most predominant for many years.
Considerable trouble was caused by the emigrant Boers on either side of the Orange River, where the Boers, the Basotho
s, other native tribes, Bushmen, and Griquas fought for superiority, while the Cape government endeavoured to protect the rights of the native Africans. On the advice of the missionaries
, who exercised great influence on all non-Dutch people, a number of the "native states" were recognised and subsidised by the Cape government with the objective of creating peace on the northern frontier. The first "Treaty States" to be recognised was Griqualand West
of the Griqua people. Subsequent states were recognised between 1843 and 1844. While the northern frontier became more secure, the state of the eastern frontier was deplorable, with the government either unable or unwilling to settle disputes between Xhosa and Cape farmers.
Elsewhere, however, the colony was making progress. The change from slave to free labour proved to be advantageous to the farmers in the western provinces. An efficient education
system, owing its inception to Sir John Herschel
, an astronomer
who lived in Cape Colony from 1834 to 1838, was adopted. Road Boards were established and proved to be very effective in constructing new roads. A new stable industry, sheepraising, was added to the original set of wheat
growing, cattle rearing
, and wine making
. By 1846, wool
became the country's most valuable export. A legislative council
was established in 1835, giving the colonists a share in the government.
ed while transporting the man to Graham’s Town to be tried for stealing an axe. A party of Xhosa attacked and killed the escort. The surrender of the murderer was refused, and war was declared in March 1846. The Ngqika
s were the chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by the Ndlambe and Thembu. The Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset
on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. However, the war continued until Sandile
, the chief of the Ngqika, surrendered. Other chiefs gradually followed this action, and by the end of 1847 the violence died down after twenty-one months of fighting.
In December 1847, or what was to be the last month of the War of the Axe, Sir Harry Smith
reached Cape Town by boat to become the new governor of the colony. He reversed Glenelg's policy soon after arrival. A proclamation he issued on 17 December 1847, extended the borders of the colony northwards to the Orange river and eastward to the Keiskamma river, and at a meeting of the Xhosa chiefs on 23 December 1847, Sir Harry announced the annexation of the land between the Keiskamma and the Kei Rivers to the British crown, thus re-absorbing the territory abandoned by Lord Glenelg. The land was not, however, incorporated into the Cape Colony, but instead made a crown dependency under the name of British Kaffraria
. For a time, the Xhosa accepted the new government in British Kaifaria since they were mainly left alone as the governor had other serious matters to contend with, including the assertion of British authority over the Boers beyond the Orange river, and the establishment of amicable relations with the Transvaal Boers
.
. A circular written in 1848 by the third Earl Grey
, then colonial secretary, was sent to the governor of the Cape, as well as other colonial governors, asking them to ascertain the feelings of the colonists regarding the reception of a certain class of convicts. The Earl intended to send Irish
peasants who had been driven to crime by the famine of 1845 to South Africa. Due to a misunderstanding, a boat named the Neptune was sent to the Cape Colony before the colonists' opinion had been received. The boat had 289 convicts on board, among whom was the famous Irish rebel John Mitchel
, and his colleagues. When the news that this vessel was on her way reached the Cape, people became violently excited and established an anti-convict association whose members bound themselves to cease from all interaction of any kind with persons in any way associated "with the landing, supplying or employing convicts". Sir Harry Smith, confronted with violent public agitation, agreed not to allow the convicts to land when the Neptune arrived in Simon's Bay on 19 September 1849, but to keep them on board the ship until he received orders to send them elsewhere. When the home government became aware of the state of affairs, orders were sent directing the Neptune to proceed to Tasmania
, and it did so after staying in Simon’s Bay for five months. The agitation did not fade away without further achievements, as it led to another movement that intended to obtain a free, representative government for the colony. The British government granted this concession, which had been previously promised by Lord Grey, and a constitution was established in 1854 of almost unprecedented liberality.
and the other chiefs for a meeting. Sandile refused to attend the meeting, after which the governor declared him deposed from his chieftanship at an assembly of other chiefs in October 1850, and appointed an English magistrate named Mr Brownlee to be temporary chief of the Ngqika tribe. It seems that the governor believed that he would be able to prevent a war and that Sandile could be arrested without armed resistance. Colonel George Mackinnon
, who had been sent out with a small army with the goal of arresting the chief, was attacked in a narrow gorge on 24 December 1850 by a large number of Xhosa gunmen. After some casualties, Mackinnon's men were driven back under heavy fire. This minor shoot-out prompted a general rising among the whole Ngqika tribe. Settlers in military villages that had been established along the border, were caught in a surprise attack after they had gathered to celebrate Christmas Day
. Many of them were killed, and their houses set on fire.
Other setbacks followed in quick succession. The greater part of the Xhosa police deserted, many of them leaving with their arms. Emboldened by their initial success, a large and powerful contingent of Xhosa troops surrounded and attacked Fort Cox
, where the governor was stationed with a small number of soldiers. More than one unsuccessful attempt was made to kill Sir Harry, and he began to explore ways to escape. Eventually, at the head of 150 mounted riflemen, accompanied by Colonel Mackinnon, he fought his way out of the fort, and rode to King William’s Town through heavy Xhosa fire — a distance of 12 miles (19 km).
Meanwhile, a new threat to the Cape arose. Some 900 of the Kat river Khoikhoi, who had in former wars been firm allies of the British, joined their former enemies: the Xhosa. They were not without justification. They complained that while serving as soldiers in former wars — the Cape Mounted Rifles consisted largely of Khoikhois — they had not received the same treatment as others serving in defence of the colony, that they got no compensation for the losses they had sustained, and that they were in various ways made to feel they were a wronged and injured race. A secret alliance was formed with the Xhosa to take up arms in order to remove the Europeans and establish a Khoikhoi republic. Within a fortnight of the attack on Colonel Mackinnon, the Kat river Khoikhoi were also in arms. Their revolt was followed by that of the Khoikhoi at other missionary stations, and some of the Khoikhoi of the Cape Mounted Rifles followed their example, including some of the very men who had escorted the governor from Fort Cox. But many of the Khoikhoi remained loyal, and the Fingo likewise sided with the Cape government.
After the confusion caused by the surprise attack had subsided, Sir Harry Smith and his force turned the tide of war against the Xhosa. The Amatola Mountains
were stormed, and Sarhili, the highest ranking chief, who had been secretly assisting the Ngqika all along, was harshly punished. In April 1852, Sir Harry Smith was recalled by Earl Grey, who accused him — unjustly, in the opinion of the Duke of Wellington — of a want of energy and judgement in conducting the war; he was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Cathcart. Sarhili was again attacked and forced to submit. The Amatolas were then cleared of Xhosa militia, and small forts were erected to prevent their reoccupation.
The British commanders were hampered throughout by their insufficient equipment, and it was not until March 1853 that the largest of the Frontier wars was brought to an end after the loss several hundred British soldiers. Shortly afterwards, British Kaffraria was made a crown colony
. The Khoikhoi settlement at Kat River remained, but the Khoikhoi power within the colony was crushed.
, went to scare birds out of the fields. When she returned, she told her uncle Mhlakaza that she had met three spirits at the bushes, and that they had told her that all cattle should be slaughtered, and their crops destroyed. On the day following the destruction, the dead Xhosa would return and help expel the whites. The ancestors would bring cattle with them to replace those that had been killed. Mhlakaza believed the prophecy, and repeated it to the chief Sarhili.
Sarhili ordered the commands of the spirits to be obeyed. At first, the Xhosa were ordered to destroy their fat cattle. Nongqawuse, standing in the river where the spirits had first appeared, heard unearthly noises, interpreted by her uncle as orders to kill more and more cattle. At length, the spirits commanded that not an animal of all their herds was to remain alive, and every grain of corn was to be destroyed. If that were done, on a given date, myriads of cattle more beautiful than those destroyed would issue from the earth, while great fields of corn, ripe and ready for harvest, would instantly appear. The dead would rise, trouble and sickness vanish, and youth and beauty come to all alike. Unbelievers and the hated white man would on that day perish.
Sarhili is believed by many people to have been the instigator of the prophecies. Certainly some of the principal chiefs believed that they were acting simply in preparation for a last struggle with the Europeans, their plan being to throw the whole Xhosa nation fully armed and famished upon the colony. Belief in the prophecy was bolstered by the death of Lieutenant-General Cathcart
in the Crimean War
in 1854. His death was interpreted as being due to intervention by the ancestors.
There were those who neither believed the predictions nor looked for success in war, but destroyed their last particle of food in unquestioning obedience to their chief’s command. Either in faith that reached the sublime
, or in obedience equally great, vast numbers of the people acted. Great kraal
s were also prepared for the promised cattle, and huge skin sacks to hold the milk that was soon to be more plentiful than water. At length the day dawned which, according to the prophecies, was to usher in the terrestrial paradise. The sun rose and sank, but the expected miracle did not come to pass. The chiefs who had planned to hurl the famished warriors upon the colony had committed an incredible blunder in neglecting to call the nation together under pretext of witnessing the resurrection. They realized their error too late, and attempted to fix the situation by changing the resurrection to another day, but blank despair had taken the place of hope and faith, and it was only as starving supplicants that the Xhosa sought the British.
Sir George Grey, governor of the Cape at the time ordered the European settlers not to help the Xhosa unless they entered labour contracts with the settlers who owned land in the area. In their extreme famine, many of the Xhosa turned to cannibalism
, and one instance of parents eating their own child is authenticated. Among the survivors was the girl Nongqawuse; however, her uncle perished. A vivid narrative of the whole incident is found in G. M. Theal’s History and Geography of South Africa (3rd edition, London, 1878). The partly depopulated country was afterwards settled by Europeans, among whom were members of the German legion which had served with the British army in the Crimea
, and some, 2000 industrious North German emigrants, who proved a valuable acquisition to the colony.
This movement drew to an end by early 1858. By then, approximately 40,000 people had starved to death and over 400,000 cattle were slaughtered.
Historians now view this movement as a millennialist response both directly to a lung disease spreading among Xhosa cattle at the time, and less directly to the stress to Xhosa society caused by the continuing loss of their territory and autonomy.
became governor of the Cape Colony in 1854, and the development of the colony owes much to his administration. In his opinion, policy imposed upon the colony by the home government's policy of not governing beyond the Orange River was mistaken, and in 1858 he proposed a scheme for a confederation
that would include all of South Africa, however it was rejected by Britain as being impractical. Sir George kept open a British road through Bechuanaland to the far interior, gaining the support of the missionaries Robert Moffat
and David Livingstone
. Sir George also attempted for the first time, missionary effort apart, to educate the Cape Xhosa and to firmly establish British authority among them, which the self-destruction of the Xhosa rendered easy. Beyond the Kei River, the Transkei
Xhosa were left to their own devices.
Sir George Grey left the Cape in 1861. During his governorship the resources of the colony had increased with the opening of the copper
mines in Little Namaqualand, the mohair
wool industry had been established and Natal made a separate colony. The opening, in November 1863, of the railway from Cape Town
to Wellington, and the construction in 1860 of the great breakwater in Table Bay
, long needed on that perilous coast, marked the beginning in the colony of public works
on a large scale. They were the more-or-less direct result of the granting to the colony of a large share in its own government.
The province of British Kaffraria was incorporated into the colony in 1865, under the title of the Electoral Divisions of King William’s Town and East London. The transfer was marked by the removal of the prohibition of the sale of alcohol
ic beverages to the natives, and the free trade in intoxicants which followed had most deplorable results among the Xhosa tribes. A severe drought, affecting almost the entire colony for several years, caused great economic depression, and many farmers suffered severely. It was at this period in 1869 that ostrich
-farming was successfully established as a separate industry
.
Whether by or against the wish of the home government, the limits of British authority continued to extend. The Basotho
, who dwelt in the upper valleys of the Orange River, had subsisted under a semi-protectorate of the British government from 1843 to 1854; but having been left to their own resources on the abandonment of the Orange sovereignty, they fell into a long exhaustive warfare with the Boers of the Orange Free State
. On the urgent petition of their chief Moshesh, they were proclaimed British subjects in 1868, and their territory became part of the Cape Colony in 1871 (see Basutoland
). In the same year, the southeastern part of Bechuanaland was annexed to Britain under the title of Griqualand West. This annexation was a consequence of the discovery there of rich diamond
mines, an event which was destined to have far-reaching results.
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
during the Cape Frontier Wars, also called the Kaffir Wars, which lasted from 1811 to 1858. The wars were fought between the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an colonists and the native Xhosa who, having acquired firearms, rebelled against continuing European rule.
The Cape Colony was the first European colony in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, which was initially controlled by the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
but subsequently invaded and taken over by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. After war broke out again, a British force was sent once more to the Cape
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
. After a battle in January 1806 on the shores of Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
, the Dutch garrison of Cape Castle surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird
Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet
General Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet GCB was a British military leader.-Military career:He was born at Newbyth House in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the son of an Edinburgh merchant family, and entered the British Army in 1772. He was sent to India in 1779 with the 73rd Highlanders, in which he...
, and in 1814, the colony was ceded outright by the Netherlands to the British crown. At that time, the colony extended to the mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
s in front of the vast central plateau
Highveld
The Highveld is a high plateau region of inland South Africa which is largely home to the largest metropolitan area in the country, the Gauteng City Region, which accounts for one-third of South Africa's population.-Location and description:...
, then called "Bushmansland", and had an area of about 194,000 square kilometres and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were white, 17,000 free Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
, and the rest slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s. These slaves were mostly people brought in from other parts of Africa and Malays
Cape Malays
The Cape Malay community is an ethnic group or community in South Africa. It derives its name from the present-day Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from Maritime Southeast Asia, mostly Javanese from modern-day Indonesia, a Dutch colony for several centuries, and Dutch...
.
First and second frontier wars
The first of several wars with the Xhosa had already been fought by the time that the Cape Colony had been ceded to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Xhosa that crossed the colonial frontier had been expelled from the district between the Sundays River
Sundays River
The Sundays River is a river in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and is said to be the fastest flowing river in South Africa. The Khoisan people originally named this river Nukakamma because the river's banks are always green and grassy despite the arid terrain that it runs...
and Great Fish River known as the Zuurveld, which became a neutral ground of sorts. For some time before 1811, the Xhosa had taken possession of the neutral ground and attacked the colonists. In order to expel them from the Zuurveld, Colonel John Graham
John Graham (Albany)
Colonel John Graham was a soldier notable for founding Grahamstown, South Africa in 1814. Grahamstown went on to become a military, administrative, judicial and educational centre for its surrounding region.-Family origins:...
took the area with a mixed-race army in December 1811, and eventually the Xhosa were forced to fall back beyond the Fish River. On the site of Colonel Graham’s headquarters arose a town bearing his name: Graham's Town, subsequently becoming Grahamstown
Grahamstown
Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
.
A difficulty between the Cape Colony government and the Xhosa arose in 1817, the immediate cause of which was an attempt by the colonial authorities to enforce the restitution of some stolen cattle. On 22 April 1817, led by a prophet-chief named Makana
Makana
Makana is a mountain located on northern shore of the island of Kauai, where it rises above Limahuli Valley at .Makana is a Hawaiian language term meaning gift or reward. It is often used as a person's name or as part of a name....
, they attacked Graham’s Town, then held by a handful of white troops. Upon the arrival of reinforcements, the Xhosa troops retreated. It was then agreed that the land between the Fish and the Keiskamma rivers should be neutral territory.
1820 settlers
The war of 1817–19 led to the first wave of immigrationImmigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
of English settlers of any considerable scale, an event with far-reaching consequences. The then governor, Lord Charles Somerset, whose treaty arrangements with the Xhosa chiefs had proved untenable, desired to erect a barrier against the Xhosa by having white colonists settle in the border region. In 1820, upon the advice of Lord Somerset, parliament voted to spend £50,000 to promote migration to the Cape, prompting 4,000 British people to emigrate. These immigrants, who are now known as the 1820 Settlers
1820 Settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....
, formed the Albany settlement, later Port Elizabeth, and made Grahamstown
Grahamstown
Grahamstown is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana municipality. The population of greater Grahamstown, as of 2003, was 124,758. The population of the surrounding areas, including the actual city was 41,799 of which 77.4% were black,...
their headquarters. Intended primarily as a measure to secure the safety of the frontier, and regarded by the British government chiefly as a way of finding employment for a few thousand of the unemployed in Britain. Yet, the emigration scheme accomplished something with more far reaching implications than its authors had intended. The new settlers, drawn from every part of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and from almost every grade of society, retained strong loyalty to Britain. In the course of time, they formed a counterpoint to the Dutch colonists.
The arrival of these immigrants also introduced the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to the Cape. English language ordinances were issued for the first time in 1825, and in 1827, its use was extended to the conduct of judicial proceedings. Dutch was not, however, ousted, and the colonists became largely bilingual.
Over the ensuing decades there was considerable political tension between the eastern and the western halves of the Cape Colony. The Eastern Cape, from its major port and urban centre Port Elizabeth, resented being ruled from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in the Western Cape and frequently agitated to become a separate colony. These separatist tensions did not completely die down until the 1870s when Prime Minister John Molteno
John Charles Molteno
Sir John Charles Molteno KCMG was a soldier, businessman, champion of responsible government and the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony.-Early life:...
restructured the Cape administration to meet the major eastern concerns and, in the Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1873, abolished the last formal distinctions.
Dutch hostility to British rule
Although the colony was prosperous, many Dutch farmers were as dissatisfied with British rule as they had been with that of the Dutch East India Company, though their grievances were not the same. In 1792, Moravian missionsMission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
had been established for the benefit of the Khoikhoi, and in 1799, the London Missionary Society
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and Nonconformists, largely Congregationalist in outlook, with missions in the islands of the South Pacific and Africa...
began to try to convert
Convert
The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...
both the Khoikhoi and the Xhosa. The championship of Khoikhoi grievances by the missionaries caused much dissatisfaction among the majority of the colonists, whose conservative views temporarily prevailed, for in 1812, an ordinance was issued which gave magistrates the power to bind Khoikhoi children as apprentices under conditions little different from those of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. In the meantime, the movement for the abolition of slavery was gaining strength in England, and the missionaries appealed at length, from the colonists to Britain.
An incident, which occurred from 1815 to 1816, did much to make the Dutch frontiersmen permanently hostile to the British. A farmer named Bezuidenhout refused to obey a summons issued to him after a complaint from Khoikhoi was registered. He fired on the party sent to arrest him, and was killed by the return fire. This caused a miniature rebellion, and in its suppression five ringleaders were publicly hanged by the British at Slagter's Nek where they had originally sworn to expel "the English tyrants." The resentment caused by the hanging of these men was deepened by the circumstances of the execution, for the scaffold on which the rebels simultaneously were hanged broke from their united weight and the men were hanged one by one afterwards. The deeply religious Dutch frontiersmen believed the collapsing scaffold to be an act of God
Act of God
Act of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.- Contract law :...
. An ordinance passed in 1827 abolished the old Dutch "landdrost
Landdrost
Landdrost was the title of various officials with local jurisdiction. It is of Dutch origin, with land- corresponding to the English meaning of an area, suggesting a somewhat larger jurisdiction than just a village or estate; and drost being a short form of Drossaard, one of many similar titles in...
" and "heemraden" courts, instead substituting resident magistrate
Resident Magistrate
A resident magistrate is a title for magistrates used in certain parts of the world, that were, or are, governed by the British. Sometimes abbreviated as RM, it refers to suitably qualified personnel - notably well versed in the law - brought into an area from outside as the local magistrate,...
s. The ordinance further stipulated that all legal proceedings be henceforth conducted in English.
A subsequent ordinance in 1828 granted equal rights with white people to the Khoikhoi
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
and other free African people in the Cape. Another ordinance in 1830 imposed heavy penalties for harsh treatment of slaves, and finally the emancipation
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
of slaves was proclaimed in 1834. Each of these ordinances drew further ire from the Dutch farmers towards the Cape government. Moreover, the inadequate compensation awarded to slave-owners, and the suspicions engendered by the method of payment, caused much resentment, and in 1835 the trend where farmers trekked into unknown country in order to escape from a disliked government recommenced. Emigration beyond the colonial border had in fact been continuous for 150 years, but it now took on larger proportions.
Third cape frontier war
Benjamin d'Urban
Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin d'Urban, GCB, KCH, KCTS was a British general and colonial administrator, who is best known for his frontier policy when he was the Governor in the Cape Colony .-Early career:...
acted quickly and all available forces were mustered under Colonel Sir Harry Smith
Harry Smith (army)
Lieutenant General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet of Aliwal GCB , known as Sir Harry Smith, was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century...
, who reached Graham’s Town on 6 January 1835, six days after news of the uprising had reached Cape Town. The British fought the Xhosa gunmen for nine months until hostilities were ended on 17 September 1836 with the signing of a new peace treaty, by which all the country as far as the River Kei was acknowledged to be British, and its inhabitants declared British subjects. A site for the seat of government was selected and named King William’s Town.
Great Trek
The British government did not approve of the actions of Sir Benjamin d'Urban, and the British Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, declared in a letter to the KingBritish monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
that "the great evil of the Cape Colony consists in its magnitude" and demanded that the boundary be moved back to the Fish River. He also eventually had d'Urban dismissed from office in 1837. "The Kaffirs," in Lord Glenelg's dispatch of 26 December, "had an ample justification for war; they had to resent, and endeavoured justly, though impotently, to avenge a series of encroachments.” This attitude towards the Xhosa was one of the many reasons given by the Voortrekkers for leaving the Cape Colony. The Great Trek
Great Trek
The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers . The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, northwest Germany and French Huguenots...
, as it is called, lasted from 1836 to 1840. The trekkers (Boers), numbering around 7,000, founded communities with a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
an form of government beyond the Orange
Orange River
The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...
and Vaal
Vaal River
The 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 Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...
rivers, and in Natal, where they had been preceded, however, by British emigrants. From this time on, Cape Colony ceased to be the only European community in South Africa, though it was the most predominant for many years.
Considerable trouble was caused by the emigrant Boers on either side of the Orange River, where the Boers, the Basotho
Basotho
The ancestors of the Sotho people have lived in southern Africa since around the fifth century. The Sotho nation emerged from the accomplished diplomacy of Moshoeshoe I who gathered together disparate clans of Sotho–Tswana origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early 19th century...
s, other native tribes, Bushmen, and Griquas fought for superiority, while the Cape government endeavoured to protect the rights of the native Africans. On the advice of the missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, who exercised great influence on all non-Dutch people, a number of the "native states" were recognised and subsidised by the Cape government with the objective of creating peace on the northern frontier. The first "Treaty States" to be recognised was Griqualand West
Griqualand West
Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km² that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people - a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, who established several states outside the expanding frontier...
of the Griqua people. Subsequent states were recognised between 1843 and 1844. While the northern frontier became more secure, the state of the eastern frontier was deplorable, with the government either unable or unwilling to settle disputes between Xhosa and Cape farmers.
Elsewhere, however, the colony was making progress. The change from slave to free labour proved to be advantageous to the farmers in the western provinces. An efficient education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
system, owing its inception to Sir John Herschel
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
, an astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
who lived in Cape Colony from 1834 to 1838, was adopted. Road Boards were established and proved to be very effective in constructing new roads. A new stable industry, sheepraising, was added to the original set of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
growing, cattle rearing
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, and wine making
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
. By 1846, wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
became the country's most valuable export. A legislative council
Legislative Council
A Legislative Council is the name given to the legislatures, or one of the chambers of the legislature of many nations and colonies.A Member of the Legislative Council is commonly referred to as an MLC.- Unicameral legislatures :...
was established in 1835, giving the colonists a share in the government.
War of the Axe
Another war with the Xhosa, known as the War of the Axe or Amatola War, broke out in 1846, when a Khoikhoi escort who had been manacled to a Xhosa thief was murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed while transporting the man to Graham’s Town to be tried for stealing an axe. A party of Xhosa attacked and killed the escort. The surrender of the murderer was refused, and war was declared in March 1846. The Ngqika
Ngqika
The Ngqika are a tribe of the Rharhabe Xhosa whose homeland is in the former Ciskei area of the Eastern Cape.Their famous chief Sandile led most of the Rharhabe Xhosa in a series of the frontier wars with the Cape Colony....
s were the chief tribe engaged in the war, assisted by the Ndlambe and Thembu. The Xhosa were defeated on 7 June 1846 by General Somerset
Henry Somerset (British Army officer)
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Somerset KCB KH was a British Army officer, the eldest son of Lord Charles Somerset....
on the Gwangu, a few miles from Fort Peddie. However, the war continued until Sandile
Mgolombane Sandile
Mgolombane Sandile was a Chief of the Ngqika and King of the Rharhabe tribe - a sub-group of the Xhosa nation. A dynamic and charismatic chief, he led the Xhosa armies in several of the Cape-Xhosa Frontier Wars. Newly armed with guns, Sandile's forces successfully inflicted losses on their enemies...
, the chief of the Ngqika, surrendered. Other chiefs gradually followed this action, and by the end of 1847 the violence died down after twenty-one months of fighting.
Extension of British sovereignty
Harry Smith (army)
Lieutenant General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet of Aliwal GCB , known as Sir Harry Smith, was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century...
reached Cape Town by boat to become the new governor of the colony. He reversed Glenelg's policy soon after arrival. A proclamation he issued on 17 December 1847, extended the borders of the colony northwards to the Orange river and eastward to the Keiskamma river, and at a meeting of the Xhosa chiefs on 23 December 1847, Sir Harry announced the annexation of the land between the Keiskamma and the Kei Rivers to the British crown, thus re-absorbing the territory abandoned by Lord Glenelg. The land was not, however, incorporated into the Cape Colony, but instead made a crown dependency under the name of British Kaffraria
British Kaffraria
British Kaffraria was a British colony/subordinate administrative entity in present-day South Africa, consisting of the districts now known as King Williams Town and East London.The term Kaffraria stems from the word "Kaffir"...
. For a time, the Xhosa accepted the new government in British Kaifaria since they were mainly left alone as the governor had other serious matters to contend with, including the assertion of British authority over the Boers beyond the Orange river, and the establishment of amicable relations with the Transvaal Boers
South African Republic
The 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...
.
Convict agitation and granting of a constitution
A crisis arose in the colony over a proposal to make the Cape Colony a convict stationConvict
A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison", sometimes referred to in slang as simply a "con". Convicts are often called prisoners or inmates. Persons convicted and sentenced to non-custodial sentences often are not termed...
. A circular written in 1848 by the third Earl Grey
Earl Grey
Earl Grey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. He had already been created Baron Grey, of Howick in the County of Northumberland, in 1801, and was made Viscount Howick, in the County of Northumberland, at the same time as...
, then colonial secretary, was sent to the governor of the Cape, as well as other colonial governors, asking them to ascertain the feelings of the colonists regarding the reception of a certain class of convicts. The Earl intended to send Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
peasants who had been driven to crime by the famine of 1845 to South Africa. Due to a misunderstanding, a boat named the Neptune was sent to the Cape Colony before the colonists' opinion had been received. The boat had 289 convicts on board, among whom was the famous Irish rebel John Mitchel
John Mitchel
John Mitchel was an Irish nationalist activist, solicitor and political journalist. Born in Camnish, near Dungiven, County Londonderry, Ireland he became a leading member of both Young Ireland and the Irish Confederation...
, and his colleagues. When the news that this vessel was on her way reached the Cape, people became violently excited and established an anti-convict association whose members bound themselves to cease from all interaction of any kind with persons in any way associated "with the landing, supplying or employing convicts". Sir Harry Smith, confronted with violent public agitation, agreed not to allow the convicts to land when the Neptune arrived in Simon's Bay on 19 September 1849, but to keep them on board the ship until he received orders to send them elsewhere. When the home government became aware of the state of affairs, orders were sent directing the Neptune to proceed to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, and it did so after staying in Simon’s Bay for five months. The agitation did not fade away without further achievements, as it led to another movement that intended to obtain a free, representative government for the colony. The British government granted this concession, which had been previously promised by Lord Grey, and a constitution was established in 1854 of almost unprecedented liberality.
Eighth frontier war of 1850-1853
The anti-convict move had scarcely ended when the colony was once again involved in a war. The Xhosa bitterly resented their loss of independence, and had secretly been preparing to renew their struggle ever since the last war. Sir Harry Smith, informed of the increasing Xhosa mobilisation, went to the border region and summoned SandileMgolombane Sandile
Mgolombane Sandile was a Chief of the Ngqika and King of the Rharhabe tribe - a sub-group of the Xhosa nation. A dynamic and charismatic chief, he led the Xhosa armies in several of the Cape-Xhosa Frontier Wars. Newly armed with guns, Sandile's forces successfully inflicted losses on their enemies...
and the other chiefs for a meeting. Sandile refused to attend the meeting, after which the governor declared him deposed from his chieftanship at an assembly of other chiefs in October 1850, and appointed an English magistrate named Mr Brownlee to be temporary chief of the Ngqika tribe. It seems that the governor believed that he would be able to prevent a war and that Sandile could be arrested without armed resistance. Colonel George Mackinnon
George MacKinnon
George Edward MacKinnon was appointed by President Nixon to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in May 1969, where he served until his death in 1995. Judge MacKinnon is also the father of feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon.According to Judge Harry T...
, who had been sent out with a small army with the goal of arresting the chief, was attacked in a narrow gorge on 24 December 1850 by a large number of Xhosa gunmen. After some casualties, Mackinnon's men were driven back under heavy fire. This minor shoot-out prompted a general rising among the whole Ngqika tribe. Settlers in military villages that had been established along the border, were caught in a surprise attack after they had gathered to celebrate Christmas Day
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. Many of them were killed, and their houses set on fire.
Other setbacks followed in quick succession. The greater part of the Xhosa police deserted, many of them leaving with their arms. Emboldened by their initial success, a large and powerful contingent of Xhosa troops surrounded and attacked Fort Cox
Fort Cox
Fort Cox or Cox's Fort was a French and Indian War stockade at the mouth of the Little Cacapon River on the Potomac River near Little Cacapon in Hampshire County, West Virginia.- History :...
, where the governor was stationed with a small number of soldiers. More than one unsuccessful attempt was made to kill Sir Harry, and he began to explore ways to escape. Eventually, at the head of 150 mounted riflemen, accompanied by Colonel Mackinnon, he fought his way out of the fort, and rode to King William’s Town through heavy Xhosa fire — a distance of 12 miles (19 km).
Meanwhile, a new threat to the Cape arose. Some 900 of the Kat river Khoikhoi, who had in former wars been firm allies of the British, joined their former enemies: the Xhosa. They were not without justification. They complained that while serving as soldiers in former wars — the Cape Mounted Rifles consisted largely of Khoikhois — they had not received the same treatment as others serving in defence of the colony, that they got no compensation for the losses they had sustained, and that they were in various ways made to feel they were a wronged and injured race. A secret alliance was formed with the Xhosa to take up arms in order to remove the Europeans and establish a Khoikhoi republic. Within a fortnight of the attack on Colonel Mackinnon, the Kat river Khoikhoi were also in arms. Their revolt was followed by that of the Khoikhoi at other missionary stations, and some of the Khoikhoi of the Cape Mounted Rifles followed their example, including some of the very men who had escorted the governor from Fort Cox. But many of the Khoikhoi remained loyal, and the Fingo likewise sided with the Cape government.
After the confusion caused by the surprise attack had subsided, Sir Harry Smith and his force turned the tide of war against the Xhosa. The Amatola Mountains
Amatola Mountains
Amatola, Amatole or Amathole are a range of densely forested mountains, situated in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The word Amatole means "calves", and Amatole District Municipality, which lies to the south, is named after these mountains.-Natural history:Part the 'Amatola and...
were stormed, and Sarhili, the highest ranking chief, who had been secretly assisting the Ngqika all along, was harshly punished. In April 1852, Sir Harry Smith was recalled by Earl Grey, who accused him — unjustly, in the opinion of the Duke of Wellington — of a want of energy and judgement in conducting the war; he was succeeded by Lieutenant-General Cathcart. Sarhili was again attacked and forced to submit. The Amatolas were then cleared of Xhosa militia, and small forts were erected to prevent their reoccupation.
The British commanders were hampered throughout by their insufficient equipment, and it was not until March 1853 that the largest of the Frontier wars was brought to an end after the loss several hundred British soldiers. Shortly afterwards, British Kaffraria was made a crown colony
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
. The Khoikhoi settlement at Kat River remained, but the Khoikhoi power within the colony was crushed.
Xhosa cattle-killing movement and famine
In 1854, a disease spread through the cattle of the Xhosa. It was believed to have spread from cattle owned by the Settlers. Widespread cattle deaths resulted, and the Xhosa believed that the deaths were caused by ubuthi, or witchcraft. In April, 1856 two girls, one named NongqawuseNongqawuse
Nongqawuse was the Xhosa prophetess whose prophecies led to a millennialist movement that culminated in the Xhosa cattle-killing crisis of 1856–1857, in what is now the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa....
, went to scare birds out of the fields. When she returned, she told her uncle Mhlakaza that she had met three spirits at the bushes, and that they had told her that all cattle should be slaughtered, and their crops destroyed. On the day following the destruction, the dead Xhosa would return and help expel the whites. The ancestors would bring cattle with them to replace those that had been killed. Mhlakaza believed the prophecy, and repeated it to the chief Sarhili.
Sarhili ordered the commands of the spirits to be obeyed. At first, the Xhosa were ordered to destroy their fat cattle. Nongqawuse, standing in the river where the spirits had first appeared, heard unearthly noises, interpreted by her uncle as orders to kill more and more cattle. At length, the spirits commanded that not an animal of all their herds was to remain alive, and every grain of corn was to be destroyed. If that were done, on a given date, myriads of cattle more beautiful than those destroyed would issue from the earth, while great fields of corn, ripe and ready for harvest, would instantly appear. The dead would rise, trouble and sickness vanish, and youth and beauty come to all alike. Unbelievers and the hated white man would on that day perish.
Sarhili is believed by many people to have been the instigator of the prophecies. Certainly some of the principal chiefs believed that they were acting simply in preparation for a last struggle with the Europeans, their plan being to throw the whole Xhosa nation fully armed and famished upon the colony. Belief in the prophecy was bolstered by the death of Lieutenant-General Cathcart
George Cathcart
General The Honourable Sir George Cathcart GCB was a British general and diplomat.-Military career:He was born in Renfrewshire, son of William Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart. After receiving his education at Eton and in Edinburgh, he was commissioned into the Life Guards in 1810...
in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
in 1854. His death was interpreted as being due to intervention by the ancestors.
There were those who neither believed the predictions nor looked for success in war, but destroyed their last particle of food in unquestioning obedience to their chief’s command. Either in faith that reached the sublime
Sublime (philosophy)
In aesthetics, the sublime is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic...
, or in obedience equally great, vast numbers of the people acted. Great kraal
Kraal
Kraal is an Afrikaans and Dutch word for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form.In the Dutch language a kraal is a term derived from the Portuguese word , cognate...
s were also prepared for the promised cattle, and huge skin sacks to hold the milk that was soon to be more plentiful than water. At length the day dawned which, according to the prophecies, was to usher in the terrestrial paradise. The sun rose and sank, but the expected miracle did not come to pass. The chiefs who had planned to hurl the famished warriors upon the colony had committed an incredible blunder in neglecting to call the nation together under pretext of witnessing the resurrection. They realized their error too late, and attempted to fix the situation by changing the resurrection to another day, but blank despair had taken the place of hope and faith, and it was only as starving supplicants that the Xhosa sought the British.
Sir George Grey, governor of the Cape at the time ordered the European settlers not to help the Xhosa unless they entered labour contracts with the settlers who owned land in the area. In their extreme famine, many of the Xhosa turned to cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
, and one instance of parents eating their own child is authenticated. Among the survivors was the girl Nongqawuse; however, her uncle perished. A vivid narrative of the whole incident is found in G. M. Theal’s History and Geography of South Africa (3rd edition, London, 1878). The partly depopulated country was afterwards settled by Europeans, among whom were members of the German legion which had served with the British army in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, and some, 2000 industrious North German emigrants, who proved a valuable acquisition to the colony.
This movement drew to an end by early 1858. By then, approximately 40,000 people had starved to death and over 400,000 cattle were slaughtered.
Historians now view this movement as a millennialist response both directly to a lung disease spreading among Xhosa cattle at the time, and less directly to the stress to Xhosa society caused by the continuing loss of their territory and autonomy.
Sir George Grey’s governorship
Sir George GreyGeorge Edward Grey
Sir George Grey, KCB was a soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony , the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer.-Early life and exploration:...
became governor of the Cape Colony in 1854, and the development of the colony owes much to his administration. In his opinion, policy imposed upon the colony by the home government's policy of not governing beyond the Orange River was mistaken, and in 1858 he proposed a scheme for a confederation
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
that would include all of South Africa, however it was rejected by Britain as being impractical. Sir George kept open a British road through Bechuanaland to the far interior, gaining the support of the missionaries Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat
Robert Moffat was a Scottish Congregationalist missionary to Africa, and father in law of David Livingstone....
and David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
. Sir George also attempted for the first time, missionary effort apart, to educate the Cape Xhosa and to firmly establish British authority among them, which the self-destruction of the Xhosa rendered easy. Beyond the Kei River, the Transkei
Transkei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
Xhosa were left to their own devices.
Sir George Grey left the Cape in 1861. During his governorship the resources of the colony had increased with the opening of the copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
mines in Little Namaqualand, the mohair
Mohair
Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. The word "mohair" was adopted into English before 1570 from the Arabic: mukhayyar, a type of haircloth, literally 'choice', from khayyara, 'he chose'. Mohair fiber is approximately 25-45 microns in...
wool industry had been established and Natal made a separate colony. The opening, in November 1863, of the railway from Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
to Wellington, and the construction in 1860 of the great breakwater in Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
, long needed on that perilous coast, marked the beginning in the colony of public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
on a large scale. They were the more-or-less direct result of the granting to the colony of a large share in its own government.
The province of British Kaffraria was incorporated into the colony in 1865, under the title of the Electoral Divisions of King William’s Town and East London. The transfer was marked by the removal of the prohibition of the sale of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
ic beverages to the natives, and the free trade in intoxicants which followed had most deplorable results among the Xhosa tribes. A severe drought, affecting almost the entire colony for several years, caused great economic depression, and many farmers suffered severely. It was at this period in 1869 that ostrich
Ostrich
The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a...
-farming was successfully established as a separate industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
.
Whether by or against the wish of the home government, the limits of British authority continued to extend. The Basotho
Basotho
The ancestors of the Sotho people have lived in southern Africa since around the fifth century. The Sotho nation emerged from the accomplished diplomacy of Moshoeshoe I who gathered together disparate clans of Sotho–Tswana origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early 19th century...
, who dwelt in the upper valleys of the Orange River, had subsisted under a semi-protectorate of the British government from 1843 to 1854; but having been left to their own resources on the abandonment of the Orange sovereignty, they fell into a long exhaustive warfare with the Boers of the Orange Free State
Orange Free State
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...
. On the urgent petition of their chief Moshesh, they were proclaimed British subjects in 1868, and their territory became part of the Cape Colony in 1871 (see Basutoland
Basutoland
Basutoland or officially the Territory of Basutoland, was a British Crown colony established in 1884 after the Cape Colony's inability to control the territory...
). In the same year, the southeastern part of Bechuanaland was annexed to Britain under the title of Griqualand West. This annexation was a consequence of the discovery there of rich diamond
Diamond
In 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 less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
mines, an event which was destined to have far-reaching results.