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Tomorrow marks 125 years since the start of a war that would shape South Africa forever. The Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 was a violent colonial conflict between the British empire and the Boers (originally Dutch settlers, today known as Afrikaners). Black South Africans, the original inhabitants of the land, were caught in the crossfire, many being forced to take sides.
After their defeat, the Boers would harbour deep resentment, vowing never to be ruled by another group. They eventually formalised white minority rule under a system called apartheid. This in turn spurred the liberation struggle and decades more of conflict until the country achieved democracy.
So how should this culturally charged Anglo-Boer war be remembered? That’s a question that historian André Wessels has spent five decades grappling with. He spoke with us about the anniversary.
The war and the opposing forces in it is a subject that has appeared often on our site in many articles and studies.
The scorched earth policy of British colonists, write Jacklyn Cock and Julia Wells, cast a shadow across 200 years of South African history. Geneticists Jaco Greeff and Carina Schlebusch, meanwhile, trace the genetic origins
of Afrikaners in South Africa. And who were the black South Africans caught up in the war? One fascinating account is of two men who served as runners conveying messages during the war. As sports historian Francois Cleophas explains, they were taken to the Olympic Games in the US in 1904 and would end up competing in the marathon event, becoming the first Africans to take part in the games.
Archaeologist Tim Forssman offers a fascinating study of a rock that was near the hiding place of Boer women during the war. They left behind evidence of their time there in the form of graffiti. And the issue of the British concentration camps set up during the war continues to raise its head. Fransjohan Pretorius answers those who wish to downplay the lethal legacy of the concentration camps established during the war by the British.
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