South Africa Flashcards
(38 cards)
British background in S Africa?
- Took over Cape in 1806; seen as important for interior penetration of Africa
- Was the primary staging post for troops for India; guarded by 4200 troops
Who were the Boers?
White settlers form Dutch and French ancestry who had colonised SA in 1652
Believed they had a divine right to be there
Why did Boers dislike British?
-Br wanted to extend legs rights to blacks and mixed race…Boers found this liberalism incomprehensible (they supported slavery; missionaries had been horrified by Boer barbarism)
What was the Great Trek?
1832- Boers withdrew from he South African hinterland and founded Transvaal and Orange Free State
The British accepted this- they wanted local stability
Britain recognised the independence of the Boer republics in 1854, with the provision that the Boers would acknowledge Br sovereignty that put them as part of Br’s informal empire
Who were the Xhosa?
- Black race
- Br originally wanted to extend rights to them (unlike Boers)
- Attitudes towards the Xhosaa hardened; they were offered an ultimatum to either accept British rule or face exile
Britain v Xhosa?
1878
Britain beat them through scorched earth policy and annexed Xhosa land to Cape
It was a racist war- British commander had called Xhosa warrior a ‘greasy savage’
Was Cape Colony initially beneficial?
Not really- in 1855, SA imported only 922k worth of Br goods
When did Cape Colony become economically important?
-Diamonds discovered in the Griqualand- Br imports 1871 = 2m vs 1890= 7.7m
Why was the discovery of diamonds so significant for Br relations with the blacks?
Britain required an unskilled workforce after the diamond discovery and could only find this in the black population, who they believed needed to be pacified
This need for pacification grew in 1870s as the Zulus began buying guns with the wages they had earned on the diamond fields
What did Lord Carnavon want? What did this require?
In 1874 he expressed plans for a South African Federation, which could only be achieved with a passive Zulu population
First Zulu War? Why? What happened
- Relations in the Transvaal became very fragile: Zulus were threatening the Boers in 1877 and so the Britain came to Boers’ help and took control of the Transvaal
- Led to a war where the Brits defeated the Zulus violently: 500 Zulus killed in 24 hrs at Rorkes’ Drift
What happened after the war?
- Britain initially refused to restore Boer independence in Transvaal, but were defeated at Majuba Hill in 1881 after Paul Kruger attacked
- Gladstone agreed to restored independence following negotiations in Pretoria (1881) and LDN (1884) but Br retained sovereignty and control over foreign policy
Britain’s influence in the Transvaal after the war?
Maintained economic influence
Discovery of gold in 1886 on the Witswatersrand
These mines provided 25% of world supply of gold
Ten years later the Transvaal gov became the richest in Africa
NONETHELESS, 2/3 of these mines were owned by Br stockholders
Br investment in the Transvaal totalled 350m
Br presence in the Transvaal summary?
-Annexed the Boer land on false pretences, held on to it illegally, witnessed great economic prosperity but refused to share the gains with those who had the greatest claims to it
Who was Rhodes?
-Multi millionarie businessman through diamond mines
What had Rhodes done in S Africa?
- Annexed Bechaunaland in 1884
- Launched de Beers company in 1888 with the backing of Rothschild
- Had the biggest shares in the Transvaal mines (capital investment of 200k)
- Formed Rhodesia by leading 1.2k Br men into Rhodesia to quiet the Ndebele tribe..Br protectorate formed in 1891 to prevent Portuguese acquisition
- PM of Cape Colony 1890-6
Evidence of Rhodes’ racism?
Believed Anglo-Saxon men needed to civilise the world
Used British South Africa Company to suppress Shona and Ndebele (nearly half of the settlers died)
In 1903 made law in S Rhodesia that. black would be killed if they raped a white woman but not if they raped a black woman
-Wanted an Empire from Cape to Cairo
Introduced the Glen Grey Act in 1894 in Cape Colony (which he was the PM of) which forced blacks from land (a precursor for Lands Act of 1913)
What/when was the Jameson raid?
1895
Britain had hoped that a Uitlander rebellion int he Transvaal would happens that Britain could then invade, justified by them protecting their own people
But the rebellion never happened yet Jameson (with support of Rhodes) rode to Transvaal on 29 Dec 1895, and embarrassingly surrendered very quickly when he got there
Who were the Uitlanders?
British workers in Transvaal mines
Result of the Jameson raid?
Rhodes seen as a liability; he resigned as president of Cape Colony and was sent to Rhodesia
Who was to blame for the Boer War?
Milner Chamberlain Kruger Capitalists Investment
Why was Chamberlain to blame for the Boer War?
Had appointed Milner as High Commissioner
Allowed the Jameson Raid
Believed that the war was necessary for sustainable relations in Africa in the future
Why was Milner to blame for the Boer War?
Stirred up anti-Boer feeling in the British press which made negotiations difficult
Encouraged finances not to accept Transvaal loans
Rejected Kruger’s proposal to give Uitlander the vote if they stayed for another 7 years
Pressed for more troops to be sent in in the summer of 1899
Why was Kruger to blame for the Boer War?
- Denied rights to Uitlanders but taxed them heavily inc a 5 shilling tax on dynamite while handing over a monopoly of dynamite production to a non-British branch of Nobel company
- These high taxes went to Afrikaner projects
- Caused tensions by buying guns of French and Germans: by 1899 Boers had 73 heavy guns and 25k troops
- Ordered the removal of British troops in Oct 1899 while knowing that the British would not accept this (only did it in response to Chamberlain’s order for full rights to Uitlanders)
- Broke down talks with Milner in May 1899 in Bloemfontein
- In 1894 he had proposed building a railway through British East Africa to avoid British tariffs (deliberately provocative)
