When Europeans were colonizing Africa, those who already lived there had strong opinions on this, with many of them resisting incursions violently or revoling if Europeans were already in control of the territory. One of the most famous instances of this was when the Boers fought against British expansion in southern Africa. Now, you'd think that fighting against a powerful imperial opponent would require unity amongst the Boers, but instead, no. At varying times, the Boers had numerous states, of which the two main ones were the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. Now, both of these states would eventually be defeated by the British and in 1910 they were incorporated into the Union of South

Africa and thus cease to exist altogether. But given the fact that if the Bur states had unified, their pulled resources and focus likely would have been better able to resist the British, why didn't they? Why didn't the Burge unite to help maintain their independence from London? So, the first Europeans to settle in South Africa were brought there by the VOCC, the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. Within 100 years of their first settlement, the settlers there and the Dutch East India Company were in control of this territory. Now, many of those who lived there were free men, but over time, the VOCC brought in greater

numbers of indentured servants, who in return for the price of their travel, would have to work until said debt was paid off. However, unlike most indentured servants, even after they had worked their contract, the Dutch East India Company demanded that they had to return to work if ever needed, and that this also applied to their descendants forever more. These now former servants didn't like these terms, and so opted to just, well, leave and head away from the VOCC's reach. In 1795, the parts that they'd settled declared their independence, but this wouldn't last. Not because of the VOC crushing them, but because of the British, who had opted to seize the colonies for themselves after the Dutch Republic was

overthrown in a revolution earlier that year, thus becoming the Battavian Republic and promptly siding with the French. The British didn't much trust their new free farmer population, whom they promptly started referring to as Bers, and the feeling was mutual. The Bers didn't much care for these foreign guys turning up and declaring themselves overlords. But this state of affairs wouldn't last because in 1803, the British agreed to hand it back to the Dutch. That was until Napoleon scheming overthrew the Bavian Republic and the British returned. But this time, even after the war was over and the Dutch were restored to independence as the larger, more powerful and British allied

United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the British were there to stay. Britain's now permanent control over Cape Colony meant the changes were on the way. The first of these was that the British would soon be importing their own people, which upset those already living there. The real problem, though, came from the ideas that these settlers held. Most notably, a real disliking of slavery, which was very widespread throughout the colony. In the 1820s, Britain mandated the use of English instead of Dutch in the colony. And in the 1830s, it also abolished the slave trade, which led to many of the Bers heading out and away from British control. They took their slaves with

them. By the way, throughout the rest of the 19th century, Britain gave greater and greater autonomy to Cape Colony, whereas those who had made for the exit found in many of their own settlements and states beyond British authority. Few of these actually amounted to much and the two that really mattered were the South African Republic also known as the Z which Britain recognized in 1852 and the Orange Free State which Britain had wanted but realized that keeping it would be too hard and so recognized its independence too in 1854. There was also briefly the Natalia Republic but this was on the coast and the British wouldn't tolerate the Bers having access to the sea and so they ended it swiftly.

Now there were some boos that wanted unification but there was a spanner in the works. The United Kingdom obviously which had made it clear that they recognized the independence of two separate states with defined borders and if they ever unified that recognition would thus be void meaning that Britain would then be free to decide if it wished to allow Bur independence to continue. This didn't stop some from forcing the issue. The South African Republic's president Martinez Ptorius pressed for the two states to unite but he was ultimately told no. Unhappy with that answer, Ptorius opted to launch a small invasion into the Orange Free State, hoping that the Bulls living there would feel the same. They did not.

And in fact, there were some back home that threatened civil war if he continued. And so, better luck next time. Now, in spite of him invading the Orange Free State, the people living there elected him to be their president in 1860. And he tried yet again to unify the two. This set up alarm bells in both states, and after 6 months, Ptorius was forced to resign one of his offices, and he chose to stay with the orange Free State. Over the following decades, the states expanded somewhat, but importantly, in 1867, diamonds were discovered here in these lands, which were also claimed by the tub republics.

People from all over the world flocked to mine them. And so, to prevent conflict, the two declared the creation of a shared government in the region. However, this didn't work very well. Fearing the breakdown of order, the two governments and those who lived in the region agreed to arbitration in 1871, and the only power that they could turn to was Britain. The British oversaw a joint government for a couple of years before just declaring that it was all a British colony and the diamonds were actually theirs. This expansion was part of a push for consolidation across the British Empire during the 1860s and

1870s and London had its sights firmly set on the Boers and trying to bring them back into the fold. Now, the British had wanted to at least try to maintain some positive relations with their colonies neighbors. Whereas the Boers openly didn't like them and conflict was common, which led to the South African Republic essentially bankrupting itself. In this, the British saw an opportunity. They argued that the Bur's conflicts with their neighbors could damage British interests in the area and that the Zar's poor finances and past expansionism would put it at risk of conquest by either the Zulus or even the Germans to the north. As such, in 1877, the British declared its annexation and renamed it Transval

Colony, which as you'll imagine went down pretty poorly. The Bulls initially resisted passively and tried to convince the British to leave diplomatically. This didn't work because, well, that's not how empires are built. And after 3 years of politely asking, the Bers chose violence instead. The British were not prepared for this war in the Bur's use of guerrilla tactics and so casualties were extremely high. The cost of maintaining British control in the region was seen as far too great for what was ultimately quite a poor country and the committee more troops just simply would never be worth it unless they were to hypothetically discover a

massive gold mine there or something. And with that, the British admitted defeat. It was agreed that British troops would leave on the condition that Transf remain a part of the British Empire with self-ruuling all things except for foreign policy. To the south, the Orange Free State viewed all of this with suspicion. They had a feeling that the British wanted control over them, mostly because they had constantly been asking if they wanted to join Cape Colony. However, they relied on Britain for trade and investment and so wanted no part in the uprising to their north. As such, they did nothing to help the Z, which didn't improve their relations with their cousins to the north, but did

make the British quite happy. Over the next decade, both states continued along with the Orange Free State economically flourishing, whereas Transvol, which was once again the South African Republic, were struggling financially. These struggles would come to an end when a massive gold mine was discovered just south of Ptoria. Now the Brits who lived in Cape Town were fond of money and they alongside many others flooded into the country to seek their fortune. And when the British got there, they demanded the same rights as Zar citizens which was refused. As such, they cried about it to the British authorities who realized that a war against Pritoria was now financially viable. At this point, the

London government didn't quite know what to do. However, Cecile Rose, the prime minister of Cape Colony, hatched a plan to just invade and take over the gold mining region for himself. I mean, Britain for Britain, not for his own financial gain. That is patriotism. The plan was that a Cape Colony militia would make a beline for Johannesburg where the British there would inevitably rise up against the Bo and secure the supply of gold for Cape Colony. It didn't go well. No one rose up and the leaders were caught. This damaged relations and the Bers now worried about what Britain was going to do looked to buy weapons from the Germans which upset the British who feared German expansion.

The British built up forces along the border and the South African president Paul Krueger made an alliance with the Orange Free State. In 1899 they opted to launch a preemptive strike on the British forces that were building up in the area. This went well for them and the British had to withdraw and the Boers laid siege to the neighboring cities and settlements. London's response to this was not positive and the British increased the number of soldiers in Cape Colony there by over 10fold. The Boers with their modern weaponry attempted to fight the British on equal terms and this went poorly. Guerilla tactics were still effective but the British occupied the cities and also introduced the new method of

getting the BS to surrender camps. The camps were designed to demoralize the Boers by taking civilians, mostly women and children and concentrating them behind British lines. And often these people were split up from their family and friends and sent far away. sometimes overseas to make reconciliation after the war near impossible. The camps were known to be hot beds of disease and conditions there were horrendous but that only helped the British in convincing the Bers to end their fight. This combined with the scorched earth tactics and the sheer number of British troops available made it clear that the war was unwinable. The leaders of the orange free state wanted to continue the

war but they knew that they couldn't fight on their own. And so in 1902 when the South African Republic made it clear that they couldn't fight on they collectively surrendered. In the following peace treaty, the two states would become British colonies and the British settlers there would gain the right to vote and in return no BS would be prosecuted for taking up arms and they guaranteed the continued use of Dutch in the region and the two colonies would be merged into South Africa in 1910 which meant the end of the last independent or even semi-independent B states. I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizernet, Sky Chappelle, Katoitzka, Gustaf Swan, Marvin Cassel, Winston Cwood, Anthony Beckett, Wyan

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