Оңтүстік Африкадағы Боер соғыстары мен Басото патшалығының қақтығыстары

1858–1868 series of Boer Wars in Southern Africa

The Free State–Basotho Wars refers to a series of wars fought between King Moshoeshoe I, the ruler of the Basotho Kingdom, and white settlers, in what is now known as the Free State. These can be divided into the Senekal's War of 1858, the Seqiti War in 1865−1866 and the Third Basotho War in 1867−68. These three wars were fought over the territorial rights in the area between the Caledon and Orange rivers; from present day Wepener to Zastron, and the area north of the Caledon River, which includes present day Harrismith and the area further westwards. The wars resulted in the white settlers acquiring large tracts of land from Basotho, and the Basotho eventually accepting annexation as a part of the British Empire.

In 1818, King Moshoeshoe I, who was the son of Mokhachane, chief of the Ba Mokoteli branch of the Koena (Crocodile) clan, helped to gain power over small clans who had been displaced during the Mfecane. Mfecane is a Zulu word and in the Sesotho language its called Difaqane, which means "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of warfare and famine in southern Africa between 1815 and about 1840. In 1820, King Moshoeshoe became the king of the Basotho Nation, who had fallen under his centralized authority due to competition for resources, which was intensified by a drought. Morena e Moholo (the Great King), as he was called by his Basotho Nation, owned larger areas of Free State and accommodated the different ethnic groups of the Nguni tribes that escaped Shaka's attacks during the Mfecane. He extended and strengthened his Basotho Nation by integrating these ethnic groups and named them a single Basotho Nation. He offered land, food, and protection to the Boers and Nguni tribes which led to the formation of Phuthaditjhaba ("meeting place of tribes" in Sesotho) in the Qwa Qwa region. King Moshoeshoe allowed the British, Boers and Nguni escapees to settle on his designated settlements with the notion of giving them land and food for survival. However whenever either of them attempted to claim his land without his authority then war would ensue, which would lead to the Basotho Nation claiming victories to protect their land and resources. The British, who controlled the area between the Orange and Vaal Rivers eventually proclaimed the Warden line (after Major Henry Douglas Warden). This line divided territory between British territory and the Basotho under Moshoeshoe, and stretched from Cornetspruit and the Orange River through Vechtkop to Jammerbergdrift on the Caledon. The Warden line caused much resentment, as the fertile Caledon River Valley served as a vital area in terms of agriculture for both the British and the Basotho. This border line was therefore not acceptable to the Great King Moshoeshoe, and hostility followed, which led to conflict between the Basotho Nation and the British, who were defeated by King Moshoeshoe at the battle of Viervoet in 1851. In 1851, King Moshoeshoe also offered Boer leader Andries Pretorius an alliance against the British in the sovereignty. To punish Basotho, British General Sir George Cathcart then brought troops to the Mohokane River, and King Moshoeshoe was ordered to pay a fine. When he did not pay the fine in full, a battle broke out on the Berea Plateau in 1852, where the British suffered heavy losses due to the armed Basotho cavalry. This sealed the fate of the sovereignty of the Basotho government, even though Cathcart was initially in favour of withdrawal. In 1854, the cost of maintaining the sovereignty became too much for the British and they therefore handed over the territory to the Boers through the signing of the Sand River Convention. The Boers therefore claimed the land beyond the Caledon River, naming it the Republic of the Orange Free State. This began further conflict over land and undefined boundaries with the Basotho, who regarded themselves as the rightful owners, and who continued to use the land for grazing.

In February 1858, tensions rose in the Orange Free State over land. The Boers and Basotho claimed a considerable strip of territory, and each had grounds for asserting a right to it. Further conflict occurred after Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff; President of the Orange Free State [OFS], and Moshoeshoe discussed issues of armed conflict and cattle rustling. However, these discussions only led to Boshoff declaring war on the Basotho on 19 March 1858 (also reported as 22 March 1858). During this war, the Boers destroyed many mission stations in the Basotho kingdom, as they blamed them for educating and instilling a sense of pride among the Basotho. These mission stations had been set up by missionaries from the Paris Evangelical Society, who arrived at Thaba Bosiu in 1833. These missionaries were the first to write the Sesotho language and helped teach the Basotho people learn how to write the language.

After this war an uneasy peace followed. Johannes Brand, who replaced Boshoff, took initiative and negotiated with Moshoeshoe, who objected that the frontier was not clear. However, hostilities re surfaced, and President Brand believed that the OFS should use its military superiority against the Basotho. Moshoeshoe had also realized his precarious position, and had applied for British protection from Sir Philip Wodehouse, a new commissioner who had arrived in the Cape in 1861. President Johannes Brand appointed Johan Fick as general to lead the Free State army. The Free State army then began to seize cattle and destroy crops, and two attempts were then made to storm Moshoeshoe's stronghold at Thaba Bosiu. Moshoeshoe was then compelled to accept the peace of Thaba Bosiu on 11 April 1866, due to the exhaustion of Basotho food supplies. Moshoeshoe's son Molapo had also allegedly concluded a separate peace treaty.