BOERS (AFRICANS)
The word "boer" comes from the Dutch "peasant". This is what the first settlers from Holland to South Africa called themselves. In the first quarter of the 20th century. Another, now official, name for the Boers - Afrikaners - is spreading.
In the 80s - early 90s. of our century, Afrikaners made up the majority of the white population
South Africa (60%) and Namibia (70%). Their settlements also exist in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, Burundi and outside Africa - in Argentina and some other countries. According to estimates, the total number of Afrikaners is about 3 million people, of which over 2.8 million live in South Africa and about 50 thousand in Namibia.
The Boer colonization of South Africa began with the creation in 1652 of a fortified settlement near the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company. The settlement marked the beginning of the Cape Colony and subsequently grew into the city of Kapstad - modern Cape Town. After the abolition of the 1598 Edict of Nantes on religious tolerance in 1685, French Huguenots appeared in the Cape Colony, fearing new religious persecution, followed by Protestants from Germany and other countries. By the end of the 17th century. the number of displaced people exceeded 15 thousand people.
The new colony quickly expanded and strengthened due to the seizure of land from the indigenous population - the Hottentot and Bushmen tribes, as well as the conclusion of “exchange” agreements with them, when metal utensils, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco were exchanged for live cattle. On the occupied lands, the Boers created extensive agricultural and livestock farms based on slave labor. Slaves were imported from Angola, West Africa, India, Madagascar, and Ceylon. As their possessions expanded and labor shortages grew, the Boers began to seize local residents as slaves.
During the life of one generation, the “old-timers” - the Dutch - merged with the new settlers - the French, Germans, etc. Their unity was facilitated by a common religion. The Boers belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, which arose as one of the directions of the Reformation in Switzerland and became dominant in Holland in the 17th century. Based on Calvin's doctrine of predestination, the Boers considered themselves a chosen people called to rule and rule. In their minds, the non-Christian locals simply weren’t human.
The Boers also had a common language - Afrikaans, which arose as a result of mixing different dialects of the Dutch language with German, English and French. Afrikaans was also influenced by local African languages, Portuguese, Malay, as well as the dialects spoken by sailors, traders and imported slaves who visited South Africa. Initially, Afrikaans was only a spoken language and functioned concurrently with Dutch, which remained the written language of the Boers. At the end of the 19th century. Literary works in Afrikaans appeared, and since 1925 it, along with English, became the official language of the country. In the mid-80s. In our century, over 5 million people spoke Afrikaans.
Moving east, the Boers in the 70s. XVIII century invaded the lands of the Xhosa tribes, whom they called kaffirs (from the Arabic “kafir” - infidel, non-believer). The so-called Kaffir Wars, which dragged on for a whole century, began, which were fought against the Xhosa, first only by the Boers, and then by the British, who captured it at the beginning of the 19th century. Cape Colony. As a result, the boundaries of the latter have expanded significantly.
The transfer of the Cape Colony into the hands of England is associated with such a romantic event in Boer history as the “Great Trek”. The word "track" comes from the Dutch "relocation". This is what they called what began in the 30s and 40s. XIX century the movement of large groups of Boers from the Cape Colony to the north and east of the country, beyond the Orange and Vaal rivers, as well as into Natal. The Boers, as they themselves said, left in search of new lands, where “... they would not be bothered by either English missionaries or anglicized Hottentots, where the Kaffirs were tame, where good pastures could be found... to hunt elephants, buffalo and giraffe and where a person can live freely." One of the immediate reasons for the trek was the British abolition of slavery in the Cape Colony, which created the threat of undermining the economic basis of the Boer farms.
The “Great Trek” was reminiscent of the exploration of the American “Wild West” by white settlers. Trekkers moved in groups, without maps, following the sun and other signs. Large covered carts drawn by oxen, containing senior family members, women, children and simple belongings, were accompanied by armed horsemen.
In the new lands, the Boers encountered stubborn resistance from the indigenous population - Zulu, Ndebele, Suto and other tribes. One of the decisive battles between the Boers and the Zulus took place near the Income River, which went down in the history of South Africa as the Bloody River.
It took decades for the Boers to establish themselves in the conquered territories. Their opponents were not only Africans who defended their independence, but also the British, the main colonial rivals of the Boers in South Africa. The Boer Republic of Natal, created in 1839, was captured by England in 1843. The life of two other Boer republics that arose in the mid-19th century was longer - Orange, created in 1854 under the official name of the Orange Free State, and Transvaal, founded in 1856 under the name of the Republic of South Africa. Semi-slavish methods of exploitation were practiced in relation to the local population in these Boer republics.
At the same time, the everyday way of life of most Boers remained until the end of the 19th century. deeply patriarchal. An interesting ironic description of the Boers was given by Mark Twain after his trip to South Africa in 1896: “The Boers are very pious, deeply ignorant, stupid, stubborn, intolerant, unscrupulous, hospitable, honest in their dealings with whites, cruel to their black servants.” , skilled in shooting and horse riding, fond of hunting, do not tolerate political dependence, good fathers and husbands... until recently there were no schools here, children were not taught; the word “news” leaves the Boers indifferent - they don’t care at all what’s going on in the world...” Africans and English colonists, when faced with them on the battlefield, were not so ironic...
Many outstanding political and government figures, scientists, and writers came from among the Boers. The names of some of them can be found on the modern geographical map of South Africa: for example, the capital of South Africa, Pretoria, is named after its founder, the first president of the Transvaal, Martinus Pretorius; the city of Krugersdorp and the Kruger National Park - in honor of another Transvaal president, Stephanus Kruger.
In the mid-80s. XIX century The world's largest gold deposit was discovered in the Transvaal, in the Witwatersrand region. Subsequently, uranium ores were discovered here. This actually decided the fate of the republic. Powerful British monopolies and immigrant miners from Europe flocked to the Transvaal. A commercial and industrial boom began. England and its Cape Colony began an economic blockade of the Transvaal, trying to deny it access to the sea and prevent its territorial expansion.
Since the mid-90s. England is heading towards preparing direct aggression against the Boer republics. An attempt to organize a coup in the Transvaal and eliminate President Kruger is foiled. British ultimatums and threats to the Transvaal and Orange followed one after another. Finally, in 1899, the Boer War broke out.
The Boers foresaw war and prepared for it. The latest Mauser repeating rifles, machine guns and guns were purchased from the Germans, the British's rivals in Africa. All men aged 16 to 60 were put under arms. Commanders were selected from among the most skilled, experienced and brave fighters.
At first, thanks to more advanced tactics, better weapons and excellent knowledge of the terrain, the Boers had a military advantage. However, gradually significant forces were transferred from England to South Africa - up to 250 thousand people against 45-60 thousand Boer soldiers. The British went on the offensive and occupied the capitals of Orange and Transvaal - the cities of Bloemfontein and Pretoria. The Boers continued their stubborn guerrilla struggle, but ultimately England defeated and captured the Boer republics in 1902.
Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 was the first brutal rehearsal of the First World War. In South Africa, for the first time, new automatic weapons and barbed wire were used on a large scale, and concentration camps were created in which the British kept Boer prisoners, including women and children.
The Boer War was unfair on both sides: both England and the Boers sought to establish themselves as the dominant colonial power in the southern African region. But the sympathies of millions of people in many countries of the world were on the side of a small, fearless people who challenged one of the most powerful powers of that time. Hundreds of volunteers from Germany, Holland, France, America, and Russia fought alongside the Boers. Songs were written about the Boers. In one of
them, which became famous in our country, were the following words: “Transvaal, Transvaal, my country, you are all burning in fire...”
In 1910, a new British dominion arose - the Union of South Africa (SAA), which included the British self-governing colonies of the Cape and Natal and the Boer republics captured by England. The creation of the South African Union was a kind of compromise between local English financiers and industrialists, on the one hand, and wealthy Boer farmers, on the other. It was based on the desire to resolve the Anglo-Boer contradictions by increasing the exploitation of the African and non-white population, which constituted the majority in the country. The first prime minister of South Africa was the former commander-in-chief of the Boer forces during the war of 1899-1902. Louis Botha.
After the formation of the South African Republic, stratification in Boer society intensified, which began during the years of economic growth in the Transvaal and Orange. The number of poor and bankrupt farmers who went to the mines and cities in search of work increased significantly. Political differences among the Boers also emerged. Some of them, led by Botha, advocated a close alliance between the “upper” strata of the Boer and English populations of the country. They were opposed by supporters of restoring Boer power in South Africa and re-establishing independent Boer republics. They organized anti-British conspiracies and created political and paramilitary organizations. In 1914, the Nationalist Party arose, relying on the Boers - “poor whites” and small entrepreneurs, and in 1918 - the society “Afrikaner Broederbond” (“Union of Afrikaner Brothers”), which became secret in 1921. In 1922, the South African government drowned in blood an uprising of white miners, mostly Boers, in the Witwatersrand, who demanded the introduction of a “color barrier” in the mines - a discriminatory system of hiring and paying Africans.
In 1924, the Nationalist Party, supported by the Broederbond, won the elections in South Africa. The government of James Herzog, one of the founders of the Nationalist Party and a former Boer general, which came to power, pursued an openly racist policy. After the merger of the Nationalist Party and the South African Party, whose leader was Jan Smuts (also a former Boer general and Prime Minister of South Africa in 1919-1924, a supporter of “dialogue” with England), an extremely reactionary Afrikaner group led by the famous political figure Malan recreates in 1934 the “purified” Nationalist Party. From the mid-30s. The fascist movement is spreading in South Africa. Military-fascist organizations such as the Gray Shirts and others appeared in South-West Africa. In 1939, Herzog stated that “the views of the South African Boers on the racial question coincide with the views of National Socialist Germany.” In the same year, he, a strong opponent of the war with Hitler, was replaced as Prime Minister by Smuts, and South Africa entered the Second World War on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. However, even during the war years, many Afrikaners did not hide their pro-German sympathies.
After World War II, the Nationalist Party put forward the idea of apartheid. A national liberation movement unfolded in the country; not only black and colored South Africans, but also part of the white population, including large groups of Afrikaners, opposed the racist policies of the Nationalist Party. After the proclamation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961, external and internal opposition to apartheid intensified, and divisions within the Afrikaner community deepened. In 1988, the Nationalist Party split. Peter Botha was removed as its leader. In 1989, he resigned as president of the country, his successor was the political leader of the Afrikaners of the Transvaal, Frederic de Klerk, who proclaimed a course for the complete elimination of the apartheid system.
Official abolition of most racist laws in South Africa in the early 90s. was supported by a significant portion of white South Africans, including many Afrikaners. The present and future of Afrikaners is determined primarily by their prominent role in the economic and socio-political life of the country. Among Afrikaners, despite persistent political differences, there is a growing understanding that racial isolation is a brake on the economic and socio-political progress of the entire population of South Africa.
Boers
“Boers, that is, peasants, were contemptuously called by the British, immigrants from Holland who settled in South Africa. Initially, this nickname applied only to farmers living in the eastern part of the Cape Colony. But after it became the possession of Great Britain, Boers began to be called everyone who, not wanting to put up with the policies of the British authorities, left their lands and went on the Great Trek. This epic mass migration into the interior of modern South Africa led to the creation in these territories of the Orange Free State and the republics of Transvaal and Natal.”
In fact, it was this event that became the beginning of a long-term struggle, during which a handful of poorly armed peasants almost defeated one of the strongest armies in the world at that time. And only through cruel and dishonest measures, the British army managed to break their resistance. And the freedom fighters themselves, who previously preferred to call themselves Afrikaners, began to proudly be called Boers.
Story The development of the vast expanses of South Africa began in 1652, when the Dutch East India Company, joining the pursuit of lands outside Europe, founded the first settlement in Table Bay, north of the Cape of Good Hope. Initially, the company’s plans did not include the colonization of African lands, and this settlement, called Kaapstad(modern Cape Town) numbering only 60 people, served only as a transit base on the way to India. But already in 1657, a wave of immigrants poured here from Holland, Germany, and especially France, from which Huguenot Protestants fled, forced to look for a new homeland. By the end of the 17th century. Kaapstad grew and controlled a territory within a radius of 60 km, in 1690 it received the status of a colony, and in 1691, to manage it, East Indian The company sent Simon van der Stel, who became the first governor.
At the beginning of the 18th century. the confrontation with the company, which was becoming burdensome, as well as conflicts between the settlers themselves, forced many to move deeper into the continent and explore new territories. All this, of course, aggravated relations with the native population, clashes with which, already in 1659, became systematic, resulting in a series of protracted, bloody wars. Despite the categorical prohibition East Indian company in 1707, to cause any damage and infringe on the rights of the indigenous population - the Hottentots, the advance into the interior continued. But the Hottentots courageously and stubbornly defended their lands and, despite the qualitative superiority of the colonists who had firearms, they had a hard time and often suffered significant losses. However, what European weapons could not do, European diseases did: as a result of the smallpox epidemic that broke out in 1713, tens of thousands of natives died, others fled to the northeast from an infection unknown to them, from which there was no salvation. By 1730, the Hottentots had finally retreated into the interior, and the Boers expanded the territory of the Cape Colony to the Orange River, which now controlled lands within a radius of 400 km. But the advance of the colonists to the east was not very successful, and was stopped by the Xhosa people, whom they called Kaffirs. As a result of three Kaffir wars: the first in 1779-1781, the second in 1789-1793, and the third in 1799-1803, the Boers were defeated and lost the territory of the Zuurveld.
The self-will that reigned in Cape Colony, led to the fact that by 1795 it had become virtually an independent republic. The administration of the East India Company, by that time, no longer had any influence on it, and although the colony nominally recognized the Dutch protectorate, only democratic local governments had real power. But the events that were taking place in Europe at that time also reached South Africa, influencing its future fate in the most direct way. In the same 1795, the troops of revolutionary France captured Holland and turned it into the Batavian Republic. In response to this, in September of the same year, the British, under the pretext of “preventing the French from entering India,” occupied the Cape of Good Hope, and at the same time tried to capture Kaapstad, but failed. In 1802, thanks to the opposition of local residents, Great Britain was forced to return the annexed territories, but this was only a short-term retreat. In 1806, a large British army decisively invaded the Cape Colony, and within a few months occupied most of its territory. And it ended with the fact that in 1814 the Congress of Vienna recognized the “legality” of these actions, after which the British, for the lands of the colony, paid 6,000,000 pounds to the Dutch governor, who had no legal rights to them.
At first, the Boers themselves did not care at all about what was happening in the colonial administration, many of them did not even know that they themselves and their lands were simply “sold.” But very quickly the British authorities forced them to convert come to your attention, appointed to the post of governor, sir Charles Somerset, was not going to put up with the anarchic sentiments of the colonists, as was the case before. This especially concerned the infringement of the rights of the native population, and in 1816, to prove the decisiveness of his position, he ordered five Boers to be hanged for cruel treatment of the Hottentots. A few days later, a riot broke out in Cape Town, but it was brutally suppressed; its inspirers were sentenced to execution, and the most zealous participants were exiled to eternal hard labor in Australia. Since 1825, Lord Somerset began to carry out reforms that the Boers really did not like: he began with financial reform, the exchange of riksdallers for pounds, which caused a considerable loss to farmers, followed by educational reform. As a result, school teaching switched from Dutch to English, which also became the only state language. In 1827, the “Great Charter of the Hottentots” came into force, which actually compared the rights of the white and colored populations. But the last straw for the Boers was the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833 and, although the government paid compensation for loss of slaves, the Boers considered it insufficient. In 1835, the Boers began to leave the Cape Colony en masse, going to the northeast, an exodus began that lasted for a decade, which went down in history as the Great Trek. As a result, until 1846, the borders of the colony 2/3 of all Boers left.
Most of them crossed the river Orange, and then Baal, crossed over Drakensberg Mountains, and ended up on the lands of Zululand. After which, in 1837, a large group of Boers, under the leadership of Peter Retief, wanting to settle in these parts, went to the village of the Zulu king Dingaan to obtain his consent to this. But it ended disastrously - Zulu warriors unexpectedly attacked the settlers, most of whom were women and children, and in the subsequent massacre, more than 300 people died. However, for the Zulus themselves, such treachery did not go unpunished, and in 1838, about five thousand settlers led by Andris Pretorius and the ten-thousand-strong army of Dingaan fought in the battle on the Inkom River. Boers, armed with firearms, staged a real pogrom for the Zulus, as a result of which they killed more than 3,000 natives, and themselves lost only 18 people. After this, Income was called the Bloody River, and Dingaan, having suffered a severe defeat, ceded to the Boers the territory south of the Tugela River, on which, in 1839, they created Republic of Natal, but already in 1843 it became part of the Cape Colony.
The most determined Boers went further north, one part of them settled in the interfluve Orange And Vaalya, where in 1852 they created Orange Free State. And the most desperate ones went even further, crossed the Vaal and set foot on the lands of the Matabele tribes, where they were attacked by large forces of natives, led by the king Moselekatse. The Boers repulsed all attacks, and soon pushed the Matabele far to the north, beyond the Limpopo River, and in 1852 created in this territory Republic of Transvaal. But almost immediately, discord began between the Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, which ceased only in 1860, when Martinus Pretorius became president of both republics. But the situation escalated again in 1863 and the Boer republics were at war until 1872, during which time Pretorius, unsuccessfully tried to annex the Orange Republic to the Transvaal, but failed and left the presidency.
By 1876 Transvaal was in a difficult economic situation, the eastern part of the republic was captured by the Zulus, and President Thomas Burgers was inactive. The British took advantage of this, under the leadership of Sir Theophilius Shepstone, in 1877 they occupied the country without any effort, and in 1879 they expelled the Zulus from it. The occupation was greatly facilitated by Burgers, who considered this the best way out of the current situation, and therefore called on the population to refrain from hostile actions against the British. However, the occupying authorities soon provoked a conflict themselves, demanding that the Boers pay taxes for the years of independence, starting in 1852. The outraged Boers raised an uprising in Potchefstroom, from where it spread to other regions of the country, and began on December 16, 1880 first Boer War.
From the very beginning, the war did not go well for the British; starting from December 22, 1880, all of their garrisons were under siege. On January 28, 1881, while trying to break out of Nick Lang, they suffered their first serious defeat, losing almost 100 people, after which many garrisons capitulated. But the Boers did not rest on this, and moved the fighting to the territory of Natal, controlled by the Cape Colony. Here, they again defeated the British army at Ingogo, and Ruhiskraal. And on February 26, 1881, in the battle of Majuba Hill, the British were again defeated and for the second time in this war suffered serious losses, including the commander, Sir George Colley. The troops stationed at Nek, having received news of this, were seized with panic and were forced to retreat. The Boers dressed in rural clothing that camouflaged them from the African landscape, giving them the advantage of stealth. Boer hunters, skilled in marksmanship, killed hundreds of British soldiers and officers, who were perfect targets in their smart red uniforms (this was taken into account by the British later, in the second Boer War, during which units of the British army switched to khaki uniforms). Also, the advantage of the Boers was manifested in their special military tactics, based on cunning, speed and maneuverability. On March 6, 1881, the British concluded a truce with the Boers, and on August 3 it was signed Pretoria Convention, which officially ended the first Anglo-Boer War, from which the “peasants” emerged victorious.
Although Great Britain did not admit defeat in this war, a significant blow was dealt to her reputation, and especially her pride, and from the moment the Pretoria Convention was signed, the British were hatching plans for revenge. And an opportunity soon presented itself. In 1886, gold deposits were found in the Transvaal, which turned out to be the richest in the world; a stream of people wishing to develop these deposits poured into the country, the vast majority of them were immigrants from England. Some settlers began to behave defiantly from the very beginning, and on this basis they increasingly began to have conflicts with the local population. In 1895, a large armed detachment led by Jameson, who stated that he only wanted to protect his fellow Englishmen from the arbitrariness of the Boer authorities. He immediately tried to capture Johannesburg, hoping for the support of the British population living there, but this did not happen, Jameson’s detachment was surrounded and captured. Realizing that Great Britain was behind all this, the Transvaal mobilized all its forces and declared war on it, and the Orange Free Republic followed suit. October 11, 1899 began second Boer War.
Already on October 12, a five-thousand-strong Boer army under the command of Cronje And Sniman, crossed the border and besieged Mafeking and Kimberley. General Mathien's division, numbering 10,000 men, attacked the Boers on November 23 at Belmont Station, and on November 25 at Enslin Heights, and at the cost of significant losses forced them to retreat. On December 11, having received reinforcements, he attacked Cronje’s main forces near Magersfontein, but was defeated, and, having lost 1000 people, he himself was forced to retreat. In Natal, in October, the Boers captured Charlestown, Newcastle, Glencoe, and in Ladysmith they besieged General White's army. On December 15, the commander of the British troops in South Africa, General Buller, while trying to relieve Ladysmith, suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Colenso. In the Cape Colony, the Boers first captured Naupoort, and then Stormberg, the British tried to recapture them; on December 10, in the Battle of Stormberg, General Gatacre, having a two-fold superiority, was completely defeated, lost 100 people killed, and another 700 were captured. Thus, at the first stage of the war, the Boers were victorious on all fronts, but the siege of a number of cities dragged on and the offensive had to be stopped.
There was real hysteria in the British government; They simply could not lose the second war to the Boers, who were inferior to them both quantitatively and qualitatively, and who, moreover, were not even soldiers. Such an outcome would put an end to the reputation of the British Empire, and would call into question its very existence. At the end of 1899 - beginning of 1900. they pulled into South Africa the maximum number of colonial troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Ceylon, bringing their number to 120,000, and by the end of the war to 450,000 soldiers. One of the greatest commanders of the time, Field Marshal Frederick Roberts, was appointed to command them. In February 1900, British troops went on the offensive and on February 15 at the Battle of Paadeberg They defeated the army of the Orange Free Republic, surrounded on all sides, and capitulated on the same day. After this, during the period from March 1 to May 17, the British relieved all the cities besieged by the Boers. On March 13, they captured Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Republic, and on June 5, Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. By September 1900 the Boers had switched exclusively to guerrilla warfare.
Guerrilla warfare led by Devet, Botha, and Delray caused even more damage to the British than regular warfare. The Boers carried out sabotage, stole cattle and horses of the British army, and burned warehouses. General Herbert Kitchener, who became commander-in-chief, understood that it would be difficult to defeat the Boers using traditional methods, so he switched to unconventional ones. Large-scale repression began in the Transvaal; The civilian population, especially farmers, were imprisoned in concentration camps, indiscriminately, old people, women and children, as a result of which more than 15% of the total population died. Their farms were burned, crops and livestock were destroyed, springs were poisoned, and soon the country turned into a silent desert. Such barbaric actions forced the Boers to stop resisting.
IN Verinihinge, On May 31, 1902, a peace treaty was signed, ending the second Boer War. Under its terms, the Boers recognized the annexation of their republics and the supreme power of the British Empire, and in return received an amnesty and partial compensation for losses. But the most interesting is paragraph 8 of this treaty, which, in intricate terms, stated that henceforth, the Boers would be deprived of the right to vote and, as a result, they could not participate in self-government in the future. They were deprived of everything and made powerless, but they were not defeated in a fair fight. And the methods by which Britain won the war left her with a stain of shame far greater than if she had lost it.
Then the Portuguese from the expedition of Bartolomeu Dias arrived on merchant ships and landed on the local not very hospitable shore. The land was sparsely populated, but the local warlike savages did not seem friendly. The traders were not interested in these places and they moved on in search of India.Almost 200 years later, the Dutch expedition of Jan van Riebeeck founded the first colony at the Cape of Good Hope on April 6, 1652, called Cape Town. The Dutch, like the Portuguese, very quickly became convinced that the local tribes were completely devoid of commercial spirit and preferred more pragmatic relations to trade and exchange operations - flaying the skin of an unwary white or, at worst, dismembering them in some more exotic way. But fortunately there were few savages, which made it possible over time to establish some relations with two local tribes on the principle of carrot and stick.
Over the course of two centuries, the 17th and 18th, settlers from Holland poured here in a continuous stream; unlike their homeland, there was a lot of land here and of good quality. Many Huguenots from France arrived here in South Africa, where the persecution and murder of heretics began.
But the savages did not dirty their hands with agriculture; nomadic cattle breeders turned the territories they passed into desert. (By the way, the Sahara Desert is the work of human hands, like herders.) Moreover, they themselves were colonists, they arrived here destroying and assimilating indigenous peoples...
As a result, blacks coming from the north encountered Europeans coming from the south. After a series of clashes, a border was established.
Since the Kaffirs were warlike tribes, they were not suitable for the role of slaves, and the shortage of labor was made up for by the import of captives from Indonesia, Madagascar, and Asia. Over time, they partially mixed with Europeans and two new peoples appeared: the South African race of Cape Malays or Cape Coloureds, and the most conservative colonists - farmers - formed the backbone of the Boer people, which, in addition to the Dutch and French, included the descendants of German settlers.
The Boers in the colonial state of Holland quietly explored the expanses of South Africa for almost a century and a half, until competitors appeared on the horizon in the form of the British East India Company. In 1795, under the pretext of countering the threat of Napoleon Bonaparte, British regular troops landed on the South African coast and captured weakly defended Boer settlements. In March 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, when the Netherlands became free after Bonaparte's defeat, Britain briefly returned what it had captured. But three years later she changed her mind and took away these lands again under the pretext of returning debts to the British crown to the bankrupt Dutch company that founded this colony...
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna legally assigned these lands to Britain. Does anyone want to argue with the Lady of the Seas? No takers?
Having first annexed these lands, they then bought them again, though so cunningly that in reality they did not pay a penny. However, this gave the right to Arthur Conan Doyle to write the following lines in his book about the Boer War: “In our vast collection of countries, there is perhaps no other country in which Britain’s rights would be as indisputable as this one. We own it on two grounds - by right of conquest and by right of purchase."
Soon the British created unbearable living conditions for the Boers by banning education and office work in Dutch and declaring English the state language. Plus, England officially banned slavery in 1833. True, the “good” English set a ransom for each slave. But, firstly, the ransom itself was half the price accepted, and secondly, it could only be obtained in London, and then not in money, but in government bonds, which the poorly educated Boers simply did not understand.
By this time, a curious mixture of national and racial relations had developed in South Africa.
The black population fiercely hated all whites indiscriminately and was in a state of sluggish hostilities with them. The British, proud of their country and their nation, had exorbitant imperial ambitions and a sense of superiority over all non-English people, plus they did not forget about the commercial interests of the East India Company. This is what the well-known Chamberlain said to us: “Firstly, I believe in the British Empire, and secondly, I believe in the British race. I believe that the British are the greatest imperial race the world has ever known."
The Boers fanatically defended the moral and religious principles of Calvinism, namely deep individualism, a pastoral lifestyle, asceticism, self-sufficiency, and isolation.
And in the first and main place was the idea of their new homeland as God’s reserve, in which the Lord entrusted them, the Boers, with the care of their younger brothers in faith and reason...
The first half of the 19th century was marked by two great upheavals in the history of South Africa.
The first is associated with the emergence of imperial ambitions in the Zulu nation. Since King Shaka Zulu united the disparate tribes under his leadership, and then began a methodical cutting unrelated neighbors and the seizure of their territories.
Second: this is the Great Exodus - the Boers’ refusal of urban life in coastal settlements, whose socio-economic life was entirely subordinate to the commercial interests of the British Empire, and a march inland in search of freedom and independence.
This is how Mark Twain describes the Boers, who visited southern Africa: “The Boers are very pious, deeply ignorant, stupid, stubborn, intolerant, unscrupulous, hospitable, honest in their relationships with whites, cruel to their black servants... they don’t care what’s going on. in the world".
The cornerstone for understanding the entire subsequent history of South Africa was the tragedy of Piet Retief, one of the leaders of the pioneering Boers, whose detachment encountered the Zulus and their leader Dingane on the endless plains of Natal. He invited Retief and his comrades to his residence in Mgungundlovu, supposedly to sign a peace treaty, and then gave his soldiers the command: “Kill these sorcerers!”
First, Retief and 70 of his associates were killed. And then the Zulus suddenly attacked the rest of the Boers who were in the camp.Piet Retief, his son, the settlers and their servants, a total of 530 people, were torn to pieces, and the remains of Retief the elder were thrown on a hill to be devoured by wild animals.
The Boers prepared their retribution for a long time, almost six months, but how crushing it was! On December 16, 1838, on the banks of the Nkome River, 470 pioneer Boers under the leadership of Andries Pretorius crushed the Zulu army, which, according to various estimates, included from 10 to 20 thousand warriors. The result of the battle has no analogues in world history: three wounded Boers and three thousand killed Zulus! You may ask, what's wrong with that? A crowd of savages versus trained marksmen? And I will answer you that it happened the other way around. For example, in battleat Ildvana Hill1397 English soldiers were destroyed by the Zulus, who lost a little more than 3000 killed, only a few British who were captured survived, even the guns did not help them...
Four days later, Piet Retief's bones were collected and buried according to Christian custom. It is curious that December 16, sacredly commemorated during the years of apartheid as the Day of the Covenant, is celebrated after 1994 - albeit under a different name: as the Day of Reconciliation. It’s just strange: who is with whom?
Be that as it may, after the Battle of the Bloody River, the Boers finally and irrevocably got rid of the last illusions about the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the tribes inhabiting South Africa, and isolated themselves in two unique state entities in the interior of the country - the South African Republic and the Free Orange Republic.
Who knows how history would have turned out, but in 1870 a huge diamond deposit was discovered in Kimberley, which the British could not pass by under any circumstances.
This cobblestone weighs 222 grams and weighs 1111 carats, it is three times smaller than the Kulinan 3106 carats or Sergio 3167 carats found here.
And pay attention. The Boers were not interested in this deposit, they were farmers and remained so, but huge streams of crooks, bandits, adventurers from all over the world, and primarily from England, poured here. One of the new arrivals was Cecil John Rhodes, the future founder of the De Beers company, as well as two new English colonies, modestly named after him, Southern and Northern Rhodesia. As a result, the number of diggers became equal to the indigenous inhabitants - the Boers... And of course, under the auspices of Britain, these thugs and treasure hunters wanted to have citizenship and all the rights that the Boers had, and most of all they were enraged by taxes... Foreigners began to demand more and more loudly for yourself civil rights. To this end, a human rights NGO, the Reform Committee, was even created, funded by Cecil Rhodes and other mining kings. A funny addition - while demanding citizenship in the Transvaal, the Uitlanders, however, did not want to renounce British citizenship.
The De Beers company was able to become a leader and monopolist in the diamond trading market only after it received the support of the Rothschild trading house.
And the new governor of the Cape Colony, Alfred, sends reports to the mother country greatly exaggerating the plight of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal and sends a secret intelligence report in which the Boers are shown in a bad light. And then they discovered gold.
Damn gold! In February 1886, Australian John Harrison, who was quarrying stone for a building at Langlachte Farm in the Witwatersrand Mountains of South Africa, accidentally discovered rock that he identified as gold-bearing...
Gold mined in the Transvaal went straight to London banks, which traditionally had many Jewish owners.
By the way, English politicians quite rightly noted that “the Treasury does not receive a single farthing from the Transvaal or any other gold mines.” These incomes were received by private bank owners. 40% of the world's total gold reserves will soon be mined here!
The logical result: two Anglo-Boer wars of 1880-1881 and 1899 - 1902
Yes, the Boers inflicted a number of unforgettable defeats on the British, even actually won the first war, but in the end they lost... And how could selfless farmers compete against the British Empire that had fallen upon them with all its might? It's amazing that they were able to hold out for so long...
Rudyard Kipling (front row right) among war correspondents in South Africa...
But in order to win, Britain had to strain, and even rebuild its military machine...
Today you are in flame!
A Boer is sitting by the tree
He's sad, he's old and lame.
What's wrong with you, my good old man?
And why are you so sad?
I"m sorry for my people slain
And for my fathers land.
I had ten sons before this strife
And three of them have died,
But seven others are still alive
Continue the bitter fight.
My oldest son - gray-haired old man
In action was he killed,
With no cross and no pray
They buried him in the field.
My youngest boy - thirteen years old
He said: “I’ll join you! Please!”
But I was firm: “I know you’re bold
But war is not for kids!”
He frowned and said: “I’ll go with you
Or else I'll go alone!
I'm young and small, and that is true
But still my hand is strong!
Please, dad! You'll never be ashamed
Of me - your “little boy”!
For our freedom and our land
I’ll fight and die with joy!”
I heard his word, I kissed his head
And took my boy with me,
And for the battlefield we left
For our right to be.
Through powder smoke he went ahead
He bravely fought and died
Black traitor shot him in the head
Like coward from behind.
Transvaal, Transvaal, my dear land!
Old Boer said once again
May we protect our God's strong hand,
And other honest men.
Sniper detachments and sabotage groups appeared here for the first time, and guerrilla warfare tactics were practiced. And this is not all the achievements of the Boers. In addition, outraged by the bloodthirsty policy of Britain, military volunteers from all over the world arrived to fight on the side of the Boers. Foreigners created 13 of their own units. Of course, the Dutch, French, Russians and representatives of other nations distinguished themselves here. F French Colonel Vilboa-Morel, who received the rank of brigadier general, led the “European Legion,” which consisted of thirteen foreign volunteer detachments. These units included 650 Dutch, about 400 French, 550 Germans, 300 Americans, 200 Italians, 200 Irish and 200 Russians.
Here, for the first time, rapid-fire cannons and repeating rifles, smokeless gunpowder and the use of trenches, Maxim machine guns and other systems showed their influence on combat operations; there was a complete change in combat formation and the disappearance of bright uniforms.
Here, in these wars, new methods of warfare were born. For example, the British can boast of armored trains, a new khaki uniform, as well as concentration camps and scorched earth tactics...
Especially the last couple of great achievements. The first consisted of the burning of crops and farm houses, the wholesale slaughter of livestock, the poisoning of rivers and wells, and the first, as yet timid, experiments in the use of biological weapons.
Captive...
The honorary palm in creating the first concentration camps in the history of mankind also belongs to Britain... During the three years of the second Anglo-Boer War, 26 thousand 370 people were killed in the death camps, thanks to hunger and disease, of which 24 thousand were children. In total, up to 200 thousand women and children ended up in these camps. They were given poisoned flour, crushed glass sprinkled into their food...
In addition, a new product was tested! Formation of public opinion using the media.
This was not only the first "attempt to bring Freedom and Democracy" to mineral-rich countries. By the beginning of the 20th century, humanity was already making full use of the telegraph, photography and cinema, and the newspaper became a familiar attribute of every home in civilized countries...
Thanks to all of the above, the average person around the world could learn about changes in the military situation literally within a few hours. And not just read about events, but also see them in photographs and cinema screens.
Winston Churchill captured by the Boers (far right).
English newspapers, belonging to different parties and trends, wrote approximately the same articles, depicting the Boers as savages, villains, cruel slave owners and religious fanatics and, for greater clarity, were illustrated with beautifully drawn pictures.
However, it is hardly worth blaming the Jewish bankers alone for starting the war. The hysteria around the Boers lay on fertile ground. The British sincerely believed that they were born to rule the world and perceived any obstacle to the implementation of this plan as an insult. There was even a special term, “jingoism,” meaning the extreme stage of British imperial chauvinism.
They defined their social status as burghers, a tradition that has been preserved since the reign of the Dutch East India Company. Therefore, the name “Boers” may currently have an offensive character (in the sense of “uneducated, limited people”, “hillbillies”). Like Afrikaners in general, Boers are descendants of Dutch, French and German colonists in South Africa. They are distinguished by a conservative way of life. By religion - Protestants. Mother tongue is Afrikaans. They are dispersed throughout the country in hamlets and farms and do not form a majority anywhere. Both terms (Boers and Afrikaners) imply European origin. But since Afrikaans is also the mother tongue of a significant number of non-white residents, the name Afrikaans is used to describe all Afrikaans-speaking people.
Brief summary of the plot.
A representative of white farmers says the government is forcing them to donate 30% of their land.
blacks. But black farmers don't produce anything and don't want to produce anything.
And Georgia offers white farmers a way out. The Minister of Diaspora Affairs and a local farmers' organization signed a memorandum.
The memorandum contains general words, but they allow you to move in any direction. And the main point is the proposal to Transvaal farmers to move their business to Georgia.
The head of the Transvaal farmers' organization says:
“Every farmer must decide for himself whether or not he will go to Georgia. Our main problem here is security. Since the black majority came to power, more than 3,000 farmers have been killed. The police are often involved in attacks. We don’t know whether they will leave us any land at all or not. We have a lot of experience and we are known on the international market"
William De Klerk, the first South African to receive Georgian citizenship. He says the idea of bringing farmers here is a very good one.
They can bring a lot to Georgia. The situation in South Africa is getting worse every day. If their personal safety and property are protected in Georgia, this matter will be a great success.
After the signing of the memorandum, only a month and a half passed and a delegation of Transvaal farmers arrived in Georgia.
They came on behalf of 41,000 families in South Africa who will see and hear what they film here and think
Vano Merabishvili personally told and showed them the effectiveness of the police. In 10 minutes they issued a Georgian license to drive a car of international standard and received personalized license plates from the minister as a gift. This process in South Africa takes 3 months.
They played a rugby match with Georgian officials.
We took part in Rtveli in Kakheti.
We were delighted with Saperavi.
The Boers are moving to Russia - descendants of Dutch colonists from South Africa, white Protestants fleeing oppression from the black majority. In total, 15 thousand Boers are ready to move to our country, but so far a small delegation, the family of landowners Yann, Adi and Teresa Slebus, has flown to Stavropol to get acquainted. Another 30 families are ready to fly to Russia at any time to acquire land and farming at their own expense.
It would seem, where is Russia, and where is Africa and the Boers?
It is not surprising that at first such news causes bewilderment and suspicion. However, everything is explained quite simply. In recent years - for about 20 years - in South Africa there has been persecution against whites by the black population, which every year is becoming more and more reminiscent of genocide.
For citizens with white skin color, the so-called. Protestant Afrikaners are attacked on the streets and at home, they are beaten, raped, their lands and property are taken away - and all this without any criminal consequences, since persecution is semi-officially supported at the state level. Thus, according to the Transvaal Agricultural Union, last year alone 70 people were killed in 345 attacks.
Over the past 10 years, there have been hundreds of deaths and thousands of victims, but no one keeps accurate statistics. And international human rights organizations, as well as the freedom-loving Western media, prefer not to speak loudly about the suffering of the Boers, limiting themselves to dry reports and messages.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, something similar to apartheid is unfolding, but against whites - a kind of boomerang of history in response to the bullying of Africans by Europeans.
The Boers, who a hundred years ago fought in a mortal battle with the British for colonies in South Africa, at the beginning of the 21st century are forced to flee from lands that have become native over the centuries. They began to leave South Africa and go to other countries - primarily, of course, Western ones.
However, being religious people and preserving traditional values, the Boers were faced with a misunderstanding of the postmodern West, where everything traditional was driven into a corner, everything unbridled was normalized, and churches were being rebuilt into nightclubs. Some of them, who did not want to rebuild in a progressive way, were faced with the task of finding a country close in spirit. And their eyes turned to Russia.
This is how the Boers themselves explain why, in search of refuge, they turned to our Fatherland: « We are encouraged by the revival of love for the Fatherland, Christianity and fidelity to age-old values that has begun in the Russian Federation. The Russian people, in our opinion, have a glorious future. We were inspired by the development of Russia in recent years.
We are Christians. We are for traditional values. And the revival of such values in Russia attracts us. South Africa's main problem–liberalism. And Western liberal values. It was the liberals who created the situation in which we find ourselves, so we are also running from liberalism» .
It sounds like an ideological and political manifesto. The traditionalist anti-globalist Boers, oppressed by black racists and not accepted by liberal Europe, see their salvation in Russia as a stronghold of the last healthy forces of the Christian world.
This is not just a choice of a convenient area to live in, but a spiritual choice.
For example, first of all, the delegation wants to visit the Stavropol Cathedral, climb the bell tower and explore the surroundings of their possible new homeland, communicate with the Cossacks and local residents in order to understand how the southern Russian land lives. This is not how people go to a place of stay, this is not how they conduct colonization – this is a search for their future.
However, cynics, accustomed to perceiving the world as a large menagerie, will suspect a catch here: well, a person, according to a material worldview, cannot look for something other than bread and circuses. But what about the cherished “fish look where it is deeper, but man looks where it is better”? This means that they are definitely deceiving and pretending in order to chop off hectares of Russian open spaces.
Yes, the Boers are practical and economic people, they are used to calculating everything, they know how to work and accumulate material goods - perhaps they are Protestants for nothing.
However, if their intentions were exclusively material and everyday, then it would be more profitable for the Boers to move to Australia or Canada. The Russian outback, it must be admitted, is not the best option for those who want to live richly and comfortably - with all our natural resources, the level of infrastructural development and administrative management leaves much to be desired.
It is no secret that in Russia migrants usually face enormous problems - from paperwork to finding employment. Local authorities have learned to attract investment and money, but often completely ignore the problems of people coming for permanent residence. Including former compatriots and people close in spirit and faith - immigrants from Donbass will not let you lie. Undoubtedly, there is a huge field for government work and improvement of public administration.
However, the paradox is that recently foreigners have been drawn to Russia - but not those who come for wealth, but those who are looking for something more important than money. They go not for price tags, but for valuables.
The story of the German Martens family, which left Germany in 2016 because of the so-called compulsory lessons for children, is well known. sex education. In the Novosibirsk region, where a large family of migrants initially went, things did not work out for the Germans, and after a year of ordeal in not the most comfortable conditions, they were helped to move to the Stavropol region, where they finally managed to get a house, a job and even have an 11th child (already a native of Russia) .
But one can imagine the difference between the calm burghers in Germany and what the Martens had to endure in Russia - on the question of the goals of foreign settlers.
From an everyday point of view, it is no less difficult for the Old Believers, who in recent years have begun to return from the countries of South America to the lands of their ancestors, mainly to the Far East.
Over the past seven years, more than 150 Old Believers have resettled, and 1,344 hectares in the Amur Region and 2,746 hectares in the Primorsky Territory were transferred to them for management. But despite the fact that the state pays attention to them (assistants and responsible officials have been allocated), those who come are faced with constant problems, starting with basic electrification and marketing of agricultural products.
But despite all the difficulties that the Old Believers faced in Russia, you will not hear offensive words from them about the new old Fatherland, you will not see any bitterness. They live by the principle "don't ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
In addition, unlike the Boers and the Martens family, who are looking for traditional values in Russia, the Old Believers themselves bring them to us, as if returning pieces of pre-revolutionary Russian society.
But both of them come to Russia not for an easy life, but for an easy soul.
Russia is not a consumer paradise and will never become one; there is no point in competing with the West in this (although, of course, it is necessary to develop your own land). Russia has a different mission, and it manifests itself more and more openly every year.
As the postmodernism of the West becomes more and more aggressive, leading entire nations to complete moral degradation, Russia, with all its shortcomings, often generated by imitation of the same West, increasingly manifests itself in the eyes of many foreigners as the antipode to the agonizing unjust world order.
Russia is seen as a defender of the Gospel commandments and traditional values, the principles of equality of peoples and justice.
At the same time, this is not a reason to be proud; it is necessary to do without unnecessary messianic pathos and unique status. Russians themselves have a lot to do to revive national self-awareness and acquire a new traditionalism that will provide freshly formulated responses to modern challenges.
We still need to build a fully just society, as well as rethink key guidelines in the economy, government, and education.
Russia will finally have to implement into life those principles and ideals that are in the cultural code of the Russian world and which, as we see, attract people from the most distant corners of the world.