Boer Wars

Great Britain took control of Egypt and what is now South Africa. Colonial uprisings in South Africa resulted in the First and Second Boer Wars (between 1880-1881 and 1899-1902, respectively).

Boer Wars 1880-1902

Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in South Africa, in 1652. From their first colony at Cape Town grew a distinctively Boer society {Boer is a term used for farmer in Afrikaans}. By 1815, however, the British had acquired possession of the Cape and, in the 1830s; the pressures of their new colonial masters led the Boers to embark on the “Great Trek” inland.

This irked the Southern African Kingdoms of Orange Free State, Transvaal (Now South Africa) and to some extent Natal, which were known as Boer Republics.

The two Boer wars were fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) during the 1880 to 1902 period.  In the First Boer War, the British lost the Transvaal and the Boers of Transvaal got freedom, but in the second Boer war which lasted from 1899 to 1902, converted these republics into British Colonies. These colonies later became part of Union of South Africa.