Boer War: see South African War.

Boer [Du.,=farmer], inhabitant of South Africa of Dutch or French Huguenot descent. Boers are also known as Afrikaners. They first settled (1652) near the Cape of Good Hope in what was formerly Cape Province. After Great Britain annexed (1806) this territory, many of the Boers departed (1835-40) on the Great Trek and created republics in Natal (see KwaZulu-Natal), the Orange Free State (see Free State), and the Transvaal. Hostility between the Boers and the British resulted in the South African War (1899-1902), after which the Boer territories were annexed and the Union of South Africa formed. There has been some tension between South Africans of British descent and the Boers. South Africa withdrew (1961) from the Commonwealth of Nations and became a republic, an event that was strongly supported by Afrikaner nationalists. Afrikaans, derived from Dutch, is an official language of the republic, along with English and several indigenous African languages. Boer politicians were largely responsible for the inauguration of the policy of apartheid, which was applied to the nonwhite population of South Africa for most of the latter half of the 20th cent.

or Boer War

War fought between Great Britain and the two Boer (see Afrikaner) republics—the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State—from 1899 to 1902. It was precipitated by the refusal of the Boer leader Paul Kruger to grant political rights to Uitlanders (“foreigners,” mostly English) in the interior mining districts and by the aggressiveness of the British high commissioner, Alfred Milner. Initially the Boers defeated the British in major engagements and besieged the key towns of Ladysmith, Mafikeng, and Kimberley; but British reinforcements under H.H. Kitchener and F.S. Roberts relieved the besieged towns, dispersed the Boer armies, and occupied Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, and Pretoria (1900). When Boer commando attacks continued, Kitchener implemented a scorched-earth policy: Boer farms were destroyed and Boer civilians were herded into concentration camps. More than 20,000 men, women, and children (including black Africans) died as a result, causing international outrage. The Boers finally accepted defeat at the Peace of Vereeniging.

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