How the British administrators at the Cape attempted to solve the Eastern Question conflicts between the Boers and the Xhosa

Why did British attempts tosolve the Kaffir wars fail by1840's

The British struggled to keep the Xhosa and the Boers separate.

Unrest confirmed by the Xhosa and the Boers due to loss of cattle and land.

The Xhosa faced the threats of civil wars among themselves.

Some Xhosa betrayed others by collaborating with the enemies.

The Britishhadalready disunited/divided theXhosa/Nguni/Africans.

By 1819 the Xhosa had failed to accept British efforts to stop these wars.

The Boers and the Xhosa became suspicious of British plans.

The Xhosa and the Boers were determined to continue fighting.

Governor Benjamin D’urban used force to stop the conflicts by 1835.

The Boers could not reconcile with the Xhosa groups.

The Xhosa enjoyed fighting.

The Boers were imbued with Afrikaaner nationalism to become independent

How the British administrators at the Cape attempted to solve the Eastern Question conflicts between the Boers and the Xhosa

The British established a permanent presence of troops at the Cape Town in readiness for any conflicts on the Eastern Frontier.

To separate the Boers and the Xhosa and create peace on the eastern frontier areas, the British in 1812 pushed the Xhosa across the great fish river

To contain continuous conflicts just for land between the Xhosa and the Boers in 1819, the British tried to create a barrier of empty land between the Fish River and Keiskemma Rivers.

The British also attempted to create a human barrier on the eastern frontier by selling the Khoisan and the colored peasant farmer’s in the Kei river valley.

In1820, the British also settled 5,000 British ex- service men on the Zuurve1d which created a human barrier. This was the new district of Albany intended to reinforce lawand order.

The system of military forts and garrisons was adopted to keep the Xhosa and the Boars separate. These forts were located at Beauport, Fort Peddie, Grahams town and Port Elizabeth.

The British tried to obtain treaties and or/ agreements with the Xhosa Chiefs like Hintsa and Gaikain order to resolve the Eastern conflicts between their people and the Boer.

They tried to use Christian Missionariesto create harmony between the Kaffir and the Boars.

By1836, the British Governor Sir Benjamin Durban (1834 -36) tried to push the Xhosa beyond the Keiskemma river in the north in order to create the province of Queen Adelaide to compensate some Dutch colonists.

The British made more attempts at peace when they established the Treaty- States on the east and northern frontier’s.

These treaties were signed with -AdriesWater Boer in 1834 and Adam Kok III in 1843 (the two Griqua states), Moshoeshoe of the Basuto in 1843 and Faku of the Pondo in 1844. With these treaties, chiefs were paid a salary to keep peace and order.

The British also tried to bring the Boer settlers north and east of the Cape under their control by annexing their new Republics of Natal and the Orange River Sovereignty.

By 1850,'s a high costs of administration in the new Boer Republics to the British proved them to recognize the independence of Transvaal in 1852 at the Sand River Convention and that of the Orange River Sovereignty by the Bloemfontein Convention in 1854.

They also attempted to avoid raids by the poor, starving and drought strickened Xhosa by giving them food from British stores.

They also tried so much to prevent conflicts by annexing the Xhosa and other African territories inorder to create in 1848 what they called British Kaffraria.

It should be noted that despite all efforts made by British from 1807, conflicts on the eastern frontiers between the Kaffir and the Boers, conflicts continued unchecked until late 1870s.