South African Republic (Transvaal) and Orange Free State

Until the 1870s, South Africa (as it is currently known) comprised four major territories: the British-administered and English speaking Cape and Natal colonies, and the independent, Dutch-speaking Voortrekker (or ‘Boer’) republics: the South African Republic/Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

The discovery of gold and diamonds in the Voortrekker republics in the 1870s brought a rush of fortune seekers from all over the world, as well as from the British colonies. This significantly swelled the English-speaking population of the Voortrekker republics, and led to increased contact between the two groups. The ‘mineral revolution’ (Lanham 1982: 327) in southern Africa coincided with the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States, and industrialization began in South Africa. Meanwhile, all four of the (main) settler territories battled continuously with the indigenous peoples for land, and the indigenous peoples were finding themselves overrun as settler populations expanded.

The pursuit of fortune in the mining centres led to social stratification (Lanham 1982: 327), as some were successful and others weren’t. The relatively sophisticated, urbanite Natalians were better-placed, being used to this lifestyle; but the more rural frontiersmen, both English and Dutch-speaking, from the Cape, and the Dutch settlers of the Voortrekker republics found themselves at the lower end of the social strata. Lanham (1982: 328) reports on the fortunate position of the Natalian, whose better education, slightly dubious higher-class status and speech in the colonies could not be faulted by the lower-placed colonials from the Cape (‘whose sensitivities to the fine detail of British behavior had faded’) and others, who had had no contact with Britain and things British.