Бу́рские респу́блики Ю́жной А́фрики: исто́рия и́снувания

Former countries in southern Africa
The Boer republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent, self governing republics formed (especially in the last half of the 19th century) by Dutch speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders – variously named Trekboers, Boers, and Voortrekkers – settled mainly in the middle, northern, north eastern and eastern parts of present day South Africa. Two of the Boer republics achieved international recognition and complete independence: the South African Republic ( Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek, ZAR; or Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. The republics did not provide for the separation of church and state, initially allowing only the Dutch Reformed Church, and later also other Protestant churches in the Calvinist (specifically Afrikaner) tradition. The republics came to an end after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which resulted in British annexation and later (in 1910) incorporation of their lands into the Union of South Africa.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) first issued land to the Free Burghers in 1657. The Free Burghers established two colonies at the Liesbeeck River near Rondebosch in the Western Cape. Following an application process, the Free Burghers formed two groups, the first group named their settlement Harman's Colony and the second group named theirs Stephen's Colony. By 1670, the VOC decided to grant additional land to the Free Burghers in order to increase grain production for the purpose of sustainability since grain had to be imported. The Free Burgher settlements gradually expanded towards the interior of South Africa. The United Kingdom took over from the Netherlands as the colonial power at the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. Subsequently, a number of its Dutch speaking inhabitants trekked inland, first in smaller numbers, then in groups as large as almost a hundred people, after 1834 even in groups of hundreds. There were many reasons why the Boers left the Cape Colony; among the initial reasons were the language laws. The British had proclaimed the English language as the only language of the Cape Colony and prohibited the use of the Dutch language. As the Bible, churches, schools and culture of many of the settlers were Dutch, this caused a lot of friction. Britain abolished slavery in 1834 and allocated the sum of 1,200,000 British pounds as recompense for the Dutch settlers' slaves. The Dutch settlers disputed the requirement that they had to lodge their claims in Britain and objected that the value of the slaves was many times the allocated amount. This caused further dissatisfaction among the Dutch settlers. On the 22nd of January 1837 Piet Retief addressed a letter to the British Colonial Administration in which he concluded "We quit this colony under the full assurance that the English Government has nothing more to require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its interference in future".

By 1795 the dissatisfaction towards the Dutch East India Company caused the burghers of Swellendam to revolt, and on 17 June 1795 they declared themselves a Republic. Hermanus Steyn was appointed as President of the Republic of Swellendam. The burghers of Swellendam started to call themselves "national burghers" – after the style of the French Revolution. However, the Republic was short lived and was ended on 4 November 1795 when the Cape was occupied by the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Public farmers and the government authorities could not agree on policies with regards to the frontier resulting in the 'Cape Frontier Rebellion' of 1795 where after the Boers declared Graaff Reinet an independent republic, the Republic of Graaff Reinet. Following the Invasion of the Cape Colony in 1795, the British took possession of the area which led to another revolt in 1799, the uprising were suppressed by British troops that same year.

Louis Tregardt and Jan van Rensburg split off from Hendrik Potgieter's group, and continued on to establish Zoutpansberg. Potgieter's group remained at the Vet river and founded a town called Winburg. disallowing the franchise (citizenship) to anyone not a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1858, these clauses were altered in the constitution to allow for the Volksraad to approve other Dutch Calvinist churches that separated from the Dutch Reformed Church in the wake of a number of splits. Members of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian churches were not allowed to become citizens of the ZAR. Dingane responded by attacking the Voortrekkers; on 16 December 1838 the battle of Ncome River (later named the Battle of Blood River) occurred, during which 300 Voortrekkers survived and won a decisive battle against thousands of Dingane's impis. The Natalia Republic was established in 1839 by the local Boers after Pretorius entered into an alliance with Mpande, the new Zulu king.

In June 1852 a public meeting was held in Bloemfontein where all the European people voted on a resolution whether to pursue independence or remain under British rule. The vast majority of people voted to remain under British rule. Sir Harry Smith, however, had instructions to hand the country over to the Boers. In 1853, Sir George Clerk was sent as special commissioner to give up the land and to establish self rule. It unified with Stellaland on 6 August 1883.

West of the Transvaal 400 Boers allied with David Massouw, leader of the Koranna Khoisan tribe, when they invaded and took a piece of land, which they declared the Republic of Stellaland. The first president was Gerrit Jacobus van Niekerk and the town of Vryburg was founded and declared its capital. In 1883, The Republic of Stellaland united with The State of Goshen to form the United States of Stellaland.

The New Republic (comprising the town of Vryheid) was established in 1884 on land given to the local Boers by the Zulu King Dinuzulu, the son of Cetshwayo, after he recruited local Boers to fight on his side. The Boers were promised and granted land for their services and were led by Louis Botha who would go on to prominence during the second Anglo Boer War. This republic was later absorbed into the Transvaal/South African Republic.

States were also established by other population groups, most notably the Griqua, a subgroup of South Africa's heterogeneous and multiracial Coloured people. Most notable among these were Griqualand West and Griqualand East.

The people north of the Vaal River in the South African Republic were recognised as an independent country by the United Kingdom with the signing of the Sand River Convention on 17 January 1852. These two countries continued to exist for several decades, despite the First Boer War with Britain. However, later developments, including the discovery of diamonds and gold in these states, led to the Second Boer War. In this war, the Transvaal and Orange Free State were defeated and annexed by the overwhelmingly larger British forces, ceasing to exist on 31 May 1902, with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging. A new British dominion, the Union of South Africa, was established under the South Africa Act 1909, in which the Transvaal and the Orange Free State became provinces along with the Cape and Natal.

On 24 April 2014, political party Front Nasionaal (FN) submitted a land claim to the Land Claims Commissioner in Pretoria on behalf of the Afrikaner nation. The claim pertains to the land described in National Archives of South Africa R117/1846: "From Ohrigstad to the north till the Olifantsrivier, then downwards to the Delagoa Bay line; to the south till the Crocodile River; to the west to Elandspruit till the 26 degrees line; east till where the Crocodile River joins the Komati River." FN states that the sale of said land was between King Masous (representative of the Zulu) as seller; and Commandant SJZR Burg (representative of the Dutch South African nation) as buyer. A copy of the agreement is filed in the Government Archives under file R117/46. FN further states that the land was legally bought and paid for on 25 July 1846 as an ethnic group and not as individual landowners and was only in custodianship of the pre 1994 government as they were regarded as descendants of the ethnic group. There was therefore no legal right to hand this land over to a "foreign" government in April 1994 and away from the original ethnic group. The new land claims process has not yet been finalised however.