Conditions of the peoples of South Africa before the discovery of minerals

Conditions of the peoples of South Africa before the discovery of minerals

The Boers before the discovery of minerals lived in chronic poverty and were politically weak.

Before the discovery of minerals African communities like the Zulu, Sotho were better off than Boer communities military strength. In battle victory could go either way.

Economically, African states were better off than white communities in the interior before the discovery. They practiced viable agriculture and trade unlike the Boers who lived in abject poverty.

The Sotho, Zulu, Ndebele were internally prosperous and able to produce goods for export like hides, skins, ivory and occasionally slaves.

Boer agriculture had initially been hit hard by adverse economic conditions like lack of inputs and machinery .

The whites were somewhat poor in all areas.

There were no meaningful industries associated with mining, and food supplies.

Africans were economically proud of their economy and communities. Africans like the Pedi, Griqua, Tswana and other had watering areas, grazing land and powerful organized states.

Africans were not offering their labor market for minerals and mines.

The British had tried to advocate for racial equality, condemned racial prejudice or racial segregation of the Africans. They took Africans as equals.

Before the discovery of minerals the whites in the interior of South Africa could not run European style of life with Presidents and had no adequate means to do it.

Conflicts between the whites to control South African affairs were there but on less scale. This later led to the Anglo-Boer wars.

The British policy was not aimed at federation of South African states.

The scramble for South Africa had not been engineered on large scale before 1867. African societies were intact with their cultures and social bonds.

Modernized infrastructures were not there. The white miners or Uitlanders (outsiders) had not come. Urban areas were not all that modem.

Generally most Africans were poor before the discovery of precious minerals; Bonds of kingship among the Africans were strong.

The Bitter relations between the whites existed.

Effects of the discovery of minerals on the Africans

The effects were mainly negative;

Africans completely lost their independence as loyalty of the Africans shifted to the whites who were employing them. There was migration from rural to urban areas where the Africans looked for employment on mines and farms.

The economy of the blacks changed because they had taken their land. They were now landless. Africans were now squatters and continued to provide lab our in the mining industries.

There was disintegration of African societies as men left or separated with their wives to go and work in towns.

There was discrimination of Africans in employment centers. They did unskilled labor while certain work was reserved for the poor whites.

Africans were forced to live in camps and slums, which surrounded the mining towns .

Africans lost a lot of their land especially where minerals had been discovered.

There was a break down in African cultural norms and there was an emergence of a new African social norm. The previous system of trade (barter trade) was replaced with a new cash economy or monetary system.

Africans were paid low wages because they offered unskilled labor; they were forced to work on contracts and they could go to work for short periods before returning home.

The British political influence on Africans became greater.

Blacks

The adopted bad traits, e.g. prostitution, homosexuality as they stayed away from their homes for long periods.

There was decline of agriculture in rural areas because there was no manpower to farm.

There was a power use in racial segregation because there was competition for land, work and wealth. African political consciousness and nationalism was consolidated and retained.

Effects of the discovery of minerals on the Boers and the British

The effects were positive and negative.

Prostitution, theft and crimes increased especially among the poor whites that moved to towns. Boer states emerged from poverty to wealthy states e.g. Transvaal and Orange Free State.

The British imperial schemes grew in South Africa e.g. the formation of the Federation. Britain took over Transvaal and Orange Free State but with Boer governance.

Conflicts between the Boers and the British increased.

There was creation of labor shortage for the Boer farms as Africans moved to mines.

The Boer attitude of controlling South Africa increased. It strengthened the Boer alliance against the British. They saw them as enemies.

There was development of infrastructures like railways, roads, schools; for example the 1890's construction of Natal - Transvaal railway.

As labor shortages increased, there emerged a class of white miners called the Uitlanders. They attempted to organize the 1895 Jameson's raid on the Boers in liaison with the BSACO. The Boers pastoral economy disintegrated.

The Boer way of life was threatened; land was no longer available for them and their sons.

There were droughts on Boer farms, which caused a lot of cattle death.

The minerals had an effect of bringing the whites together into contact against the Africans.

How the discovery and exploitation of minerals in South Africa affected Anglo-Boer (Boer - British) relations up to 1910

Relations between the Boers and the British remained hostile from the time the British annexed the Orange Free state (OFS) 1871 up to the Peace Treaty ofVereeniging 1902.

In 1871 the Boers rejected the Annexation of the OFS after the Keate Award. They also rejected the compensations that followed.

The British had to behave that all the Boer occupied territories had mineral prospects and the intension to colonize them. Conflicts between the Boers and the British increased after the British threatened to annex Griqualand West and Transvaal.

British imperialist personalities like Cecil Rhodes and many others started colonial extensions to include Boer territories and Central Africam up to Cairo in Egypt.

The BSACO of Cecil Rhodes bought off many Mining Companies in order to monopolies the minerals over the Boers and also his personal interests.

The colonization of Swaziland (1868) Botswana (1885), Lesotho (1884) and Rhodesia (1894) was in intended to intimidate and encircle the Boer states.

The British brought many people of European nationalists into South Africa during this period. These were the Utilanders. The aim was outsmart Transvaal in population and mineral monopolies. They came from Australia, Israel Russia, America, German, Newzealand and Britain.

There numbers increased in 1885 when Gold was discovery.

By 1896 they were over 50.000 in Johannesburg compared to 6.000 Afrikaaners.

They remained sympathetic to the British and were very close to John Cecil Rhodes and the BSAC against the Boers. Paul Kruger, the President of Transvaal mistreated and alienated the Utilanders in many ways.

Utilander mistreatment encouraged Cecil Rhodes and the BSACO to conquer Transvaal Boers in 1895 Jameson raid.

The Boers also rejected the idea of Federation started by Sir. George Grey and Lord Carnaervon (1850's and 1870's).

The Cape Colony under British control sent agents of the BSACO (L.S. Jameson and Frank Rhodes) to encourage the

Utilanders in Transvaal to revolt against the Boers and Paul Kruger.

The Jameson raid of 1895 was the climax of Anglo-Boer tensions over mineral just as the 1880-81 First Anglo-Boer war. The failure of the Jameson raid in 1895 set a stage for the Second Anglo-Boer war 1899 to 1902 .

In 1902 the Vereeniging Treaty was signed between the Boer and British representatives to end Anglo-Boer tensions.

Up to 1910, the Boers and tbe British signed the Act of Union. This saw one united white community and government in South Africa.