South Africa

The Voyages of Discovery at the end of 15^th century led to discovery of new lands of Asia, America and coastal Africa which soon came under colonial domination. In Africa, initially Colonization was limited to the coastal Africa. The interior of Africa was called the Dark Continent because of lack of knowledge about the geography, people, their languages and culture of inland Africa.

The discovery of Cape of Good Hope, the southern most tip of Africa, resulted in South Africa coming under the influence of the Dutch. The Dutch trading company found the Cape Colony in 1652. The Dutch Settlers in South Africa were known by the name of Boers, that translates to farmers in Afrikaans language used by the Dutch settlers.

Britain replaces Netherlands in South Africa:

After Industrial Revolution of 1750s, British emerged as a dominant power and it soon took over colonies of other European powers like Spain, Portugal, Netherlands and France.

The British took over Cape Colony from Holland/Netherlands/Dutch in 1795 and gradually they began interfering in the political, economic and internal affairs of Dutch Settlers of Cape Colony. This was resented by the Dutch Settlers.

Grievances of the Dutch against British rule: Dutch were uncomfortable under the British rule. They were opposed to the imposition of British culture. The English language, which was not native to the Dutch, was made compulsory in the schools. Dutch were forced to study it to get jobs in the administration and for conduct of Business transactions. The Dutch settlers were aggrieved by the abolishment of Slavery in 1833 in Cape Colony as they depended on the cheap slave labor of Native Black Africans for work on their farms.

Consequently, the Dutch settlers shifted out of Cape Colony and by 1835 they settled down in Transvaal, Orange Free State and Natal. But the British wanted to expand their colonial empire and they occupied Natal in 1843.