 | South Africa National Anthem Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the East, founding the city of Cape Town. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902); however, the British and the Afrikaners, as the Boers became known, ruled together under the Union of South Africa. In 1948, the National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The first multi-racial elections in 1994 brought an end to apartheid and ushered in black majority rule. Capital: name: Pretoria (administrative capital) geographic coordinates: 25 42 S, 28 13 E time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) note: Cape Town (legislative capital); Bloemfontein (judicial capital) Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West, Western Cape. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html |
 | Oranje Free State National Anthem [Ex-Nations] The Republic of the Orange Free State (Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat; Dutch: Oranje-Vrijstaat) was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a seat of a British Resident in Bloemfontein. In the northern part of the territory a Voortrekker Republic was established at Winburg in 1837. This state merged with the Republic of Potchefstroom which later formed part of the South African Republic (Transvaal). Following the granting of independence to the South African Republic, the British recognized the independence of the Orange River Sovereignty on 17 February 1854 and the country officially became independent as the Orange Free State on 23 February 1854, with the signing of the Orange River Convention. The new republic incorporated both the Orange River Sovereignty and the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic. Although the Orange Free State developed into a politically and economically successful republic, it experienced chronic conflict with the British (see the Boer Wars) until it was finally annexed as the Orange River Colony in 1900. It ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Boer War. It joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 (which later became the Republic of South Africa in 1961) as a province under its former name, along with the Cape, Natal, and the Transvaal. The republic's name derives partly from the Orange River (just as the Transvaal Republic was named after the Vaal River), but both names were bestowed by the Dutch Protestant settlers in honour of the Dutch ruling royal family, the House of Orange. The country north of the Orange river was first visited by Europeans towards the close of the 18th century. At that time it was somewhat thinly peopled. The majority of the inhabitants appear to have been members of the Bechuana, but in the valleys of the Orange and Vaal were Korannas and other Hottentots, and in the Drakensberg and on the western border lived numbers of Bushmen. Early in the 19th century Griquas established themselves north of the Orange. Between 1817 and 1831, the country was devastated by the chief Mzilikazi and his Zulus, and large areas were depopulated. Up to this time the few Europeans who had crossed the Orange had been chiefly hunters or missionaries. In 1824 farmers of Dutch, French Huguenot and German descent called Trekboers (later shortened to Boers) from Cape Colony who were seeking pasture for their flocks settled in the country. They were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left Cape Colony from various motives, but all were animated by the desire to escape from British sovereignty. The leader of the first large party of emigrants was A. H. Potgieter, who concluded an agreement with Makwana, the chief of the Bataung tribe of Bechuanas, ceding to the farmers the country between the Vet and Vaal rivers. The emigrants soon came into collision with Mzilikazi, raiding parties of Zulus attacking Boer hunters who had crossed the Vaal without seeking permission from that chieftain. Reprisals followed, and in November 1837 Mzilikazi was decisively defeated by the Boers and thereupon fled northward. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranje_Free_State |
 | 1910 Eerste Minister Louis Botha The Union of South Africa was established on 31 May 1910, consisting of the four former colonies: the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. As a self-governing state of the British Empire, the Union remained under the formal rule of the British crown, represented in South Africa by a Governor-General. When South Africa obtained dominion status in 1910, General Louis Botha became the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. He was a major player in the postwar reconstruction of my country after the Boer War. The Botha government placed a high priority on creating a unified military out of the separate armies of the union's four provinces. The Defence Act, Number 13 of 1912, established a Union Defence Force, or U.D.F., that included a Permanent Force of career soldiers, an Active Citizen Force of temporary conscripts and volunteers as well as a Cadet organization. The Botha government also formed the South African Police force in 1913. Four years later, the Mounted Riflemen's Association relinquished its civilian responsibilities to the S.A.P. as most of its riflemen left to serve in the first World War. Botha amalgamated the four provincial Main Post Office administrations and placed them under a central control system. All railways in South Africa became a unified state-owned railway system under General Botha's leadership in 1916 when the Central South African Railways, the Cape Government Railways and the Natal Government Railways were merged by an Act of Parliament. Thus was born the South African Railways and Harbours (SAR&H). The Botha government granted charters to three universities, with their respective centres at Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Pretoria. The creation of a university at Stellenbosch was made possible by Mr Jan Marais of Coertzenburg; to the cause of higher education at Stellenbosch, he had donated the sum of £100000 Th Botha Government initiated the conservation efforts of the Union of South Africa. The administration proclaimed the Mkuze Game Reserve a protected area on 15 February 1912. The foundations for the establishment of the Kruger Park were laid by the Transvaal Volksraad in 1896, when the Rinderpest virus wiped out most of the Eastern Transvaal's game and cattle. Aiming to preserve wildlife, the Transvaal Volksraad voted in favour of a small government game reserve. In 1916 Prime Minister Botha appointed a government commission to assess the future of the reserves. In 1926 the administration officially renamed the reserves after Paul Kruger, and declared it to be South Africa's first National Park. Paul Roos was the captain of the first Springbok team, which was largely dominated by players from the Western Province. The first tour of Britain took place in 1906 and 7 and took in 29 matches. After the First World War started, Botha sent troops to take German South West Africa, a move unpopular among Boers. The Maritz Rebellion or the Boer Revolt, occurred in 1914, when men who supported the recreation of the old Boer republics rose up against the government of the Union of South Africa because of Botha's action against the Germans. Siener van Rensburg, the respected Boer Prophet, joined the rebels. The rebellion failed, and the ringleaders received heavy fines and terms of imprisonment. At the end of the War Botha briefly led a British Empire military mission to the Second Polish Republic during the Polish-Soviet War. Botha argued that the terms of the Versailles Treaty were too harsh on the Central Powers, but still signed the treaty. A number of laws controlling Indian immigration and commercial rights were passed by the Botha government. These laws were met with passive resistance from the Indians in South Africa. On 6 November 1913 Mahatma Ghandi led a March to protest against the legislation. He also entered into negotiations with the Botha government. The Land Act of 1913 which set up the 'reserves', later called 'bantustans' and 'homelands' was also passed in this time. This law effectively zoned Africans to specific areas of South Africa. They were prevented from buying land outside these areas. In response African intellectual leaders come together on January 8 in Bloemfontein and elect John Dube President of the South African Native National Congress. The two men most involved in bringing this to fruition, Solomon Plaatje and Pixley ka Isaka Seme are elected Secretary-General and Treasurer-General respectively. (The organisation changed its name in 1923 to the African National Congress.). In July 1913 moves to extend the pass laws to include women are met with determined resistance. In Winburg, Charlotte Maxeke, one of the organisers and spokeswomen of the anti-pass campaign, is arrested with 800 singing women on a march to the town hall. Prime Minister Botha unexpectedly died in 1919 and Jan Smuts becomes the new Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. |
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