Editing Jameson Raid (section)

=== Foundation of the colonies and republics ===
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The Cape, more specifically the small area around present day [[Cape Town]], was the first part of South Africa to be settled by Europeans. 

The [[Dutch East India Company]] (''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'', VOC) officials did not favour the [[Settler colonialism|permanent settlement]] of Europeans in their trading empire, although during the 140 years of Dutch rule many VOC servants retired or were discharged and remained as private citizens.<ref name="VanGoor">{{cite book |last=Van Goor, Jurrien |title=Prelude to Colonialism: The Dutch in Asia |publisher=Verloren B.V., Uitgeverij |year=2004 |isbn=978-9065508065 |edition=2005 |pages=9–83}}</ref> A small number of longtime VOC employees, however, expressed interest in applying for grants of land with the objective of retiring at the Cape as farmers. In time, they came to form a class of former VOC employees, ''vrijlieden'', also known as ''vrijburgers'' (free citizens) who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts.<ref name="Britannica19333">Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1933. James Louis Garvin, editor.</ref> Over generations, this settled European population came to form a distinct identity as [[Afrikaners]] (formerly sometimes {{lang|af|Afrikaander}} or {{lang|af|Afrikaaner}}, from the Dutch {{lang|nl|Africaander}}<ref>{{Cite OED|Afrikaner}}</ref>) or [[Boers]] (farmers).

In 1806, the Cape was colonised by the British Empire. Initially British control was aimed to protect the trade route to the East from [[Napoleon]], however, the British soon realised the potential to develop the Cape colony further.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Britain takes control of the Cape {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/britain-takes-control-cape |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref> Antipathy towards British control and the introduction of new systems and institutions grew amongst a substantial portion of the Afrikaner/Boer community. Between 1834 and 1840 about 15 000 Boers left the Cape Colony in parties of [[Ox-wagon|ox-wagons]], in seek of sovereignty beyond British-claimed territories. These emigrants primarily consisted [[Trekboers]], frontier farmers in the East who had been at the front of the colony's eastward expansion. The emigration became known as the [[Great Trek]] and the emigrants ''[[Voortrekkers]]''. Details on the various motives behind the Great Trek are laid out in the Voortrekker leader, [[Piet Retief|Piet Retief's]] 1837 manifesto.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manifesto of the emigrant farmers By Piet Retief, 1837 {{!}} South African History Online |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/manifesto-emigrant-farmers-piet-retief-1837 |access-date=2023-12-29 |website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref> 

The Voortrekkers first moved east into the territory later known as Natal. In 1839, they founded the [[Natalia Republic]] as a new Boer homeland. Other Voortrekker parties moved north, settling beyond the [[Orange River|Orange]] and [[Vaal River|Vaal]] rivers.

Disregarding the Voortrekkers' effortful attempt to claim independence, Britain annexed the Natalia Republic in 1843, which became the Crown colony of Natal. After 1843, British government policy turned strongly against further expansion in South Africa. Although there were some abortive attempts to annex more territories to the north, Britain formally recognised their independence by the [[Sand River Convention]] of 1852 and the [[Orange River Convention]] of 1854, for the [[Transvaal Republic|Transvaal]] and the [[Orange Free State]], respectively.

[[File:Matabeleland.png|300px|right|thumb|South-East Africa, 1887]]
After the [[First Anglo-Boer War]], [[William Ewart Gladstone|Gladstone]]'s government restored the Transvaal's independence in 1884 by signing the [[London Convention (1884)|London Convention]], not knowing that the colossal gold deposits of the [[Witwatersrand]] would be struck two years later by Jan Gerrit Bantjes (1843-1911).