The Dutch East India Company, one of the first international trading corporations, began its forays into South Africa in the mid 17th century after a Dutch ship crashed into the southwestern coast of Africa. The shipwrecked crew remained stranded for a year and built a fort until they were rescued. In 1652, under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck, the Dutch decided to use the newly found area as a rest stop to replenish supplies and establish a base camp (BBC). Their intentions were not to colonize the area, but to simply allow Dutch settlers to work there as laborers called Boers. However, as more people became interested in this economic opportunity, the amount of settlers increased and this area was then named Cape Town (Kwintessential).
Like the Dutch settlers, Great Britain too, took advantage of the economic opportunities that were present in Africa and began in its quest to imperialize the territory. Over a century later, in the year of 1795, the British took control of Cape Town which sparked the tension between the British and the Boers.
As the British continued to imperialize African territory, they sought to unionize their colonies to form the Union of South Africa. However, the main opposition deterring them from their goal were the two remaining Boer republics: Transvaal and the Orange Free State, located on Africa's southeastern region. Both republics remained adamant about maintaining their own cultural identity and refused to be unionized by Great Britain.
The tension between the Boers and the British only deepened after a prominent amount of gold was discovered in Witwatersrand in Transvaal (Somerset). Fearful of losing power to the opposing European force, the Kruger’s government of Transvaal established restrictions against the rights of those who were not original residents of the republic. Suspecting the British to initiate war, on October 11, 1899, the Kruger sent an ultimatum to the British general...
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