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Do not fill this in! ===British colonisation and the Great Trek=== {{Main|Invasion of the Cape Colony|Cape Colony|Great Trek|British Bechuanaland|Colony of Natal}} Great Britain occupied Cape Town between 1795 and 1803 to prevent it from falling under the control of the [[French First Republic]], which had invaded the [[Low Countries]].<ref name=Stapleton2 /> After briefly returning to Dutch rule under the [[Batavian Republic]] in 1803, the cape was occupied again by the British in 1806.<ref name="Keegan">{{cite book| last = Keegan| first = Timothy| title = Colonial South Africa and the Origins of the Racial Order| year = 1996| url = https://archive.org/details/colonialsouthafr0000keeg| url-access = registration|edition= 1996|pages= [https://archive.org/details/colonialsouthafr0000keeg/page/85 85–86]| publisher = David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd| isbn = 978-0-8139-1735-1}}</ref> Following the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], it was formally ceded to Great Britain and became an integral part of the [[British Empire]].<ref name=Lloyd1>{{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=Trevor Owen|title=The British Empire, 1558–1995|date=1997|pages=201–203|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-873133-7}}</ref> British emigration to South Africa began around 1818, subsequently culminating in the arrival of the [[1820 Settlers]].<ref name=Lloyd1 /> The new colonists were induced to settle for a variety of reasons, namely to increase the size of the European workforce and to bolster frontier regions against Xhosa incursions.<ref name=Lloyd1 /> [[File:Charles Bell - Zoeloe-aanval op 'n Boerelaer - 1838.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a [[Weenen massacre|Zulu attack]] on a Boer camp in February 1838]] In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and expanded their territory under their leader, [[Shaka]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/19_century/3032216.html?page=4&c=y|title=Shaka: Zulu Chieftain|publisher=Historynet.com|access-date=30 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209113856/http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/19_century/3032216.html?page=4&c=y|archive-date= 9 February 2008 }}</ref> Shaka's warfare indirectly led to the {{lang|zu|[[Mfecane]]}} ('crushing'), in which one to two million people were killed and the inland plateau was devastated and depopulated in the early 1820s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/537814/Shaka/537814rellinks/Related-Links|title=Shaka (Zulu chief)|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=30 October 2011|archive-date=11 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111043550/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/537814/Shaka/537814rellinks/Related-Links|url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=W. D. Rubinstein|title=Genocide: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA22|access-date=26 June 2013|year=2004|publisher=Pearson Longman|isbn=978-0-582-50601-5|page=22|archive-date=8 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808075142/http://books.google.com/books?id=nMMAk4VwLLwC&pg=PA22|url-status=live}}</ref> An offshoot of the Zulu, the [[Northern Ndebele people|Matabele]] people created a larger empire that included large parts of the [[highveld]] under their king [[Mzilikazi]]. During the early 19th century, many Dutch settlers departed from the [[Cape Colony]], where they had been subjected to British control, in a series of migrant groups who came to be known as {{lang|nl|[[Voortrekkers]]}}, meaning "pathfinders" or "pioneers". They migrated to the future [[Natal (province)|Natal]], Free State, and [[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]] regions. The Boers founded the [[Boer republics]]: the [[South African Republic]], the [[Natalia Republic]], and the [[Orange Free State]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Orange Free State |volume=20 |last1= Hillier |first1= Alfred Peter |author-link1= Alfred Hillier |last2= Cana |first2= Frank Richardson |author-link2= |pages=151-160 |short=1}}</ref> The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior started the [[Mineral Revolution]] and increased economic growth and immigration. This intensified British subjugation of the indigenous people. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population and also between the Boers and the British.<ref>{{cite book|author=Williams, Garner F|title=The Diamond Mines of South Africa, Vol II|year=1905|publisher=B. F Buck & Co.|location=New York|pages=Chapter XX|url=http://www.farlang.com/diamonds/williams_diamond_mines_2/page_285|access-date=27 November 2008|archive-date=31 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731083954/http://www.farlang.com/diamonds/williams_diamond_mines_2/page_285|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[File:Cape Colony map 1876 - Eve of Confederation Wars.jpg|thumb|right|1876 map of South Africa]] On 16 May 1876, President [[Thomas François Burgers]] of the South African Republic declared war against the [[Pedi people]]. King [[Sekhukhune]] managed to defeat the army on 1 August 1876. Another attack by the Lydenburg Volunteer Corps was also repulsed. On 16 February 1877, the two parties signed a peace treaty at [[Botshabelo, Mpumalanga|Botshabelo]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=South African Military History Society – Journal- THE SEKUKUNI WARS|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol025hk.html|access-date=15 August 2020|website=samilitaryhistory.org|archive-date=23 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723053419/http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol025hk.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Boers' inability to subdue the Pedi led to the departure of Burgers in favour of [[Paul Kruger]] and the British annexation of the South African Republic. In 1878 and 1879 three British attacks were successfully repelled until [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Garnet Wolseley]] defeated Sekhukhune in November 1879 with an army of 2,000 British soldiers, Boers and 10,000 Swazis. The [[Anglo-Zulu War]] was fought in 1879 between the British and the [[Zulu Kingdom]]. Following [[Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon|Lord Carnarvon]]'s successful introduction of [[Canadian Confederation|federation in Canada]], it was thought that similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa. In 1874, [[Henry Bartle Frere]] was sent to South Africa as the British [[High Commissioner for Southern Africa|High Commissioner]] to bring such plans into being. Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the Boers, and the Zululand army. The Zulu nation defeated the British at the [[Battle of Isandlwana]]. Eventually Zululand lost the war, resulting in the termination of the Zulu nation's independence.<ref>{{cite book | last = Knight | first = Ian | title = Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2mbl5xPOcUC&q=Zulu+Victory:+The+Epic+of+Isandlwana+and+the+cover-up | isbn = 9781447202233 | publisher = Pan Macmillan | date = 6 May 2011}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page