The South African Wars, including – and commonly referred to as – the Confederation Wars, were a series of wars that occurred in the southern portion of the African continent between 1879 and 1915. Ethnic, political, and social tensions between European colonial powers and indigenous Africans led to increasing hostilities, culminating in a series of wars and revolts, which had lasting repercussions on the entire region. A key factor behind the growth of these tensions was the pursuit of commerce and resources, both by countries and individuals, especially following the discoveries of diamonds in the region in 1867 and gold in 1862.
Conflicts such as the First and Second Boer Wars, the Anglo-Zulu War, the Sekhukhune Wars, the Basotho Gun War, the Xhosa Wars, and other concurrent conflicts are typically considered separate events. However, they have also been viewed as outbreaks in a far larger continuous wave of change and conflict in the region, beginning with the Confederation Wars of the 1870s and 80s, escalating with the rise of Cecil Rhodes and the struggle for control of southern Africa's gold and diamonds and more, and leading up to the Second Anglo-Boer War and the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
Territory
As European powers – particularly Dutch Boers and the British – began to claim parts of southern Africa, it became apparent that expansion was imperative in order to maintain their political positions. The relationships and boundaries among them became exceedingly more complex, affecting not only themselves but the indigenous African peoples and the land itself.
By 1880, there were four dominant European regions. The Cape Colony and Natal were some degree under British control, and the Transvaal (South African Republic) and Orange Free State were independent republics controlled by the Boers. These colonies and their political leaders were the most important and influential of the time, and all were eventually dissolved into the singular Union of South Africa in May 1910.
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony was founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. In 1795, it was taken over by the British, who were officially granted possession of the Cape by the Netherlands in 1815. At this time, the Cape Colony encompassed and was populated by about 26,720 people of European descent, a relative majority of whom were still of Dutch origin. The remainder were descended from German soldiers and sailors in the service of the Dutch East India Company's former administration and a large number of French Huguenot refugees who resettled there after fleeing religious persecution at home. Some of the existing colonists had become semi-nomadic pastoralists known as who frequently ventured beyond the Cape's frontier. This led to an expansion of the colony's borders and clashes with the Xhosa people over pastureland in the vicinity of the Great Fish River. Beginning in 1818, thousands of British immigrants were introduced by the colonial government to bolster the local European workforce and help populate the frontier as an additional defense against the Xhosa.
By 1871, the Cape was by far the largest and most powerful state in the region. Its northern border had been established at the Orange River, and Britain had handed over the administration of Basutoland too. The Cape was also the only state in the region to (at least officially) give people of all races equal rights. It implemented a system of non-racial franchise – unusual in the restrictive world of the 19th century – whereby voters all qualified for the vote equally, regardless of race, on the basis of land ownership. In practice, however, it remained a European-dominated state, although in 1872 it succeeded in gaining a degree of independence from the British Empire when it successfully instituted a system of responsible government. Its government at first pursued a policy of avoiding further annexations so as to concentrate on internal development, but the South African Wars saw it annex several surrounding regions: Griqualand East, 1874; Griqualand West, 1880; and Southern Bechuanaland, 1895.
At the end of the South African Wars, the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, and the Transvaal were united. The Cape Colony became a member of the Union of South Africa in 1910, and today is divided between three of the modern provinces of South Africa.