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The Boers
Great Britain assumed control of South Africa in 1795, after the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The Dutch settlers were unhappy with British rule and became even angrier when the British outlawed slavery in 1835. The British government paid owners for their slaves, but the Boers complained the payments were too small. The British outlawed slavery twenty-three years before the United States. Gold and diamonds were discovered in South Africa in 1867, causing a large number of people from Great Britain to move to the colony. Tensions between the parties led to the “Boer Wars” from 1899 to 1902, where the British soundly defeated the Boers. | ||
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In
1652, a group of Europeans settled in South Africa. These settlers came
to be known as Boers because Boer is the Dutch word for farmer. The Boers
thought that their new home was empty, but it was a homeland for nomadic
Bantu people. Nomads travel from place to place in search of food. They
need a large area to dwell in because they do not cultivate crops. The
Bantus attempted to fight for their land, but their spears were no match
for the Europeans’ guns. The Boers enslaved many of the Bantus and
forced them to work on the colonists’ farms.