Osprey Men-at-Arms 301 : The Boer Wars (1) 1836-1898

Although the first European settlement at the Cape of Good Hope on the extreme southern tip of Africa was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, the African hinterland remained largely unknown to the outside world for a further two centuries. The Dutch had come to Africa to establish a way-station to service their fleet on the long haul to the more profitable imperial adventures in the Indies. Although they easily displaced the fragile culture of the indigenous African Khoi and San groups they found there, they determinedly set their face against colonial expansion further into southern Africa. Nevertheless, over the space of two centuries, the original Dutch settlers, augmented by a trickle of refugees from a succession of religious wars in France and Germany, grew into a hardy breed who constantly risked official disapproval by crossing the Company's boundaries in search of hunting or grazing lands in the interior. In time, these people came to think of themselves as Afrikaners - white Africans - though they were generally known to one another, and outsiders, as Boers - farmers. Ian Knight recounts the history of the Boers and the conflicts they fought in, covering the period from 1898-1902, and accompanied by numerous illustrations, including eight full page colour plates by Gerry Embleton, with commentaries. A companion book to Men-at-Arms 303 : The Boer Wars (2) 1898-1902.

Contents

• Introduction
• The Trekker-Ndebele War 1836
• The Natal Adventure 1837-42
• The British Reaction
• The Boer-BaSotho Wars
• The Conquest of the Transvaal
• The 1881 Transvaal War
• The Final Subjugation of the Transvaal
• The Plates