Boers of South Africa history. Boers as a nation. The beginning of history

“Look at the map of South Africa, there, in the very center of the British possessions, like a pit in a peach, two republics are marked over a vast area.

A huge territory inhabited by a handful of people. How did they get there? Who are these representatives of the Teutonic tribe, so deeply embedded in the body of Africa? This is an old story, but it will have to be recalled, at least in general terms.

No one will recognize or appreciate Boer if they ignore his past, because he was created by this past.”

The widespread belief that the Boers (Afrikaners, Afrikaners) are descendants only of Dutch colonists cannot be considered true.

Yes, of course, the Dutch became the basis for the new people. But already as part of the first group of colonists, 10 German soldiers set foot on the South African coast. With the next ship, 10 more arrived. And this process continued incessantly.

Many of the German soldiers remained in Africa at the end of their contract as the same colonists. One way or another, according to statistics from E. Moritz, the number of Germans in the total mass of colonists from 1657 to 1698 was approximately one third.

Agree, not so little for a limited community of people, united by common goals and objectives, the most important of which was the desire to survive.

At the end of the 17th century, South Africa experienced an influx of a new wave of settlers - emigrants from Western Europe. At this time, in European countries, Catholics everywhere intensified their persecution of Protestant Christians. Physical destruction threatened many Germans, Scots, and French. For the French Huguenots, after the abolition of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV, there was simply no other choice but to emigrate.

“Three hundred Huguenot emigrants, the best blood of France, like a handful of choice seeds, brought refinement and spirituality to the solid Teutonic character.
Looking closely at the history of the Normans and Huguenots, we see how the Divine hand tirelessly draws from their storehouses and irrigates other nations with these magnificent grains. France did not found other countries like her great rival, but she enriched each of them with the best, the choicest that she had. Rouxs, Du Toits, Jouberts, Du Plessis, Villiers and many other French names can easily be found in South Africa.”

Thus, representatives of several European nations took part in the formation of the Boer people as an ethnic group.

It should be noted that the most persistent, courageous and active of them reached South Africa first. These were the so-called passionaries, driven more by inner convictions than by a thirst for material gain or escape from poverty. They preferred wandering, deprivation, risk, rather than give up their moral and religious priorities.

This in itself already says a lot. Could such outstanding personalities disappear without a trace among the nascent people who sheltered them? Of course not! With their active lifestyle this was simply not possible.

Each of the new settlers brought to the still small community not only elements of the culture and customs of their former homeland, but also some (usually the best) moral and psychological characteristics of their nation.

“Take the Dutch, a people who resisted Spain, the mistress of the world, for fifty years and add the features of the unbending French Huguenots, who abandoned their home and their property, and left the country forever after the lifting of the Edict of Nantes. The obvious result of such a mixture will be the most resilient, courageous, rebellious race that has ever existed on Earth.

Raise seven generations of these people in constant struggle with the aborigines and wild animals, in circumstances that do not give the weak a chance to survive.

Train them to be masters of gun and horse, and then give them a country eminently suitable for hunters, sharp marksmen, and skilful horsemen.

Finally, temper your iron character and military qualities in the fire of the harsh Old Testament religion and all-burning patriotism.

Combine these qualities and impulses in one man and you have the modern Boer - the most formidable adversary the British Empire has ever faced."
(A.K. Doyle. “The Great Boer War” Chapter 1. Translation by O.Y. Toder)

Attempts at so-called “non-forced assimilation” (the requirement to speak only Dutch, the dictates of the Dutch Reformed Church, etc.), the policy of which was pursued by the Dutch East India Company, were unsuccessful.

The colonists not only did not lose their identity and historical roots, but preferred to “invent” their own language, create their own way of life, develop new traditions and, in fact, create their own new people. By the way, these people very quickly “tired” of the pressure and dictates of the Company. Evidence of this is the long series of speeches and open expressions of discontent among Kaapstad residents.

Could an ever-increasing community of active, strong-willed and determined people remain for a long time in the close confines of the limited space of a colonial settlement?

Of course not. The energy seething in the small “cauldron” of Kaap had to splash out and either find worthy use in the “outside world”, or simply smash the colony itself to smithereens from the inside.

And the use of excess vital forces was found. The active expansion of the colony began. Naturally, to the detriment of the local native population. This also happened contrary to the requirements of the Company, which imposed a strict ban on conflicts with the local population.

The neglect of these requirements revealed another national trait of the Afrikaners - “democratic” self-will and absolute reluctance to obey anyone other than their elected leaders. Already from 1659, clashes with indigenous Africans became constant and always bloody. What the Portuguese failed to achieve, the Boers succeeded. African tribes were forced to retreat into the interior of the mainland.

Persistence, energy and boundless self-confidence, supported by a powerful ideological charge from one of the most puritanical and uncompromising religions in the world, did their job.

The small colonial town turned into the capital of vast territorial possessions, larger in scale than many European states. New settlements arose. The reclaimed lands yielded rich harvests. On farms, herds of livestock multiplied. The planted grapevine began to produce the first harvests of grapes of the best wine varieties in France. The colony rapidly grew rich and continued to develop rapidly. (STORMY!!! From the word storm?!).

In 1652, according to various estimates, from 52 to 90 people permanently lived in Kaapstad, and already in 1795 the colony numbered more than 35,000 inhabitants.

They had plenty of everything. Due to its exceptional geographical and economic position, the young nation was completely self-sufficient and independent.

The administrative influence of the Company practically lost its significance, and real power was in the hands of local self-government bodies elected by residents from among the most worthy citizens. In fact, the Cape Colony became a Republic, albeit under the nominal protectorate of the Netherlands.

From this moment a new stage in the historical path of the Boer people begins. The great confrontation with a formidable enemy - the Great British Empire. In the long-term, obviously unequal struggle against which the quintessence of all the qualities of the national character of the Boers was revealed.

“Our military history is mostly limited to the wars with France, but Napoleon and all his veterans never gave us such a beating as these hard-headed farmers with their Old Testament theology and efficient modern guns.”
(A.K. Doyle. “The Great Boer War” Chapter 1. Translation by O.Y. Toder)

The way the world works is that there will always be a “contender” for what has been created and arranged by others. Especially for such a tasty morsel, which in all respects became a South African colony already in the 18th century.

The mistress of the seas, Britain, which had practically no serious competitors at that time, made its first attempt to annex Kaapstad back in 1795.

The first period of British rule lasted seven years and ended in 1802, largely due to local opposition rather than Dutch assistance.

Britain’s actions cannot be called anything other than occupation, since the English “settlers” at that moment were represented only by troops and the military administration, and there was no talk of peaceful colonists.

The temporary loss of dominance in the southern tip of Africa in 1802 and the transfer of the colony to the protectorate of the Netherlands in no way curbed the appetite of the British Empire or changed its intentions.

In 1806, the British recaptured Kaapstad and this time for a long time. This time the British acted more thoroughly. In addition to military measures, they used their financial power and foreign policy leverage. The most interesting thing is that the political fate of South Africa was being decided many thousands of miles away, in Europe. According to the decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1814, which was the final chord of two decades of the Napoleonic Wars (!), ownership of the Cape Colony was assigned (!) to Great Britain. In the same year, the Empire paid the Dutch (!) Governor an astronomical sum of 6 million pounds for those times, for the lands of the colony and “for some other lands...”

With an abundance of exclamation marks, I want to draw attention to those facts that later served as the main arguments for the British that they were right in asserting their imperial ambitions.

“In our entire collection of properties, there is perhaps no other property title that is more indisputable. We received it by the right of the conqueror and by the right of the buyer. In 1806, our troops landed, defeated the local self-defense forces and captured Cape Town. In 1814 we paid the enormous sum of six million pounds to the Governor for the cession of this and some other South African lands."
(A.K. Doyle. “The Great Boer War” Chapter 1. Translation by O.Y. Toder)

Note that the Boers themselves, engaged in a brutal struggle with indigenous Africans and the development of the lands of South Africa, did not participate in the above-mentioned Napoleonic Wars. Their representatives were not present at the Congress of Vienna, where the powers that be decided the fate of their young people. They did not receive dividends from the “trade” deal between Holland and England, as a result of which they were simply “sold”! In general, no one asked the Afrikaners anything!

To be fair, it should be said that the Boers themselves were of little interest in either foreign policy conflicts or local administrative changes. They continued to live their own lives, conquer new territories from local tribes, build farms and found new settlements.

Moreover, the Cape Colony came into the possession of England almost painlessly. Thanks to the fact that the Afrikaners didn’t care about this “fuss.” But this was only until the aliens began to actively interfere in their way of life, disrupting the already established order with their administrative innovations.

Everything that had even the slightest hint of extraneous dictate or did not correspond to the views and worldview of the Boer evoked absolute rejection and rejection in his soul and, as a result, led to stubborn resistance.

One of the most significant qualities of the Boers, instilled by the Puritan morality and asceticism of their religion, is patience. Thanks to him, the confrontation between the Afrikaners and the “new owners” of Capa was completely peaceful for a long time. Moreover, in addition to contradictions, there were problems common to all colonists. Their solution required the joint efforts of the entire white population of the colony. Regardless of nationality or own views.

The Xhosa tribes are the implacable enemies of the first South African colonists. Beginning in 1779, nine brutal full-scale wars later called the Kaffir Wars occurred between the settlers and the Xhosa (not counting many minor bloody skirmishes).

The inevitably increasing number of losses on both sides, mutual cruelty and complete opposition of economic interests did not give even the slightest chance of reconciliation.

During this period, British troops acted together with the Boers, shoulder to shoulder. Any oppression of Afrikaners was contrary to British interests. In addition to military support, the supply of provisions to the British soldiers was entirely dependent on the Boers and their farms.

Beginning in 1818, the situation changed dramatically. The great leader of the Zulus was the famous Chaka, the creator of the Zulu Empire. From this point on, the Xhosa tribes were forced to fight on two fronts. In the south with the Cape colonists, in the north with the mighty Zulus.

As a result of pressure from both sides, the Xhosa tribes were weakened and pushed into the desert regions of the West Coast, where they were forced to worry more about their own survival than about new military campaigns. There was a temporary lull in the wars between the white and black inhabitants of Africa. The Zulus, however, simply did not reach the borders of the Cape Colony this time. The war with them was far ahead.

During this same period, another important event occurred that had far-reaching consequences for South Africa. During 1820, over 5,000 English settlers arrived in the Cape Colony. In their person, the British Empire finally acquired the long-awaited support of a loyal civilian population.

Taking into account the fact that the British were simply physically forced to settle in Cape Town and its immediate surroundings, a compact and united English diaspora arose here in a short time. The Boers, for the most part, were disunited.

Scattered across remote farms, the Boers were not interested in politics, cared little about the state of affairs in the city, and even received news very late. Mostly when visiting church or even by accident. Their world was simple and very limited. In the first place are the Church and the Family, and then the economy, livestock, hunting and war. Their only entertainment was Sunday dancing and occasional visits to neighbors. The whole life of the Boers was subject to the laws of strict Puritan morality and widespread asceticism.

Meanwhile, more and more settlers arrived from the Metropolis. The proportional ratio of the British and the Boers in the heart of the Cape Colony, in its administrative economic and military center, very quickly began to develop in favor of the sons of Foggy Albion.

Most of the new arrivals were also passionaries with high vitality, acumen and other outstanding features of their nation. Even the average level of education of the English colonists of the nineteenth century was certainly higher than that of the Boers, for most of whom, education consisted only of studying literacy, not from textbooks, but from the Bible. At that time, only a few of them received education at the European level. There were many reasons, but we will not consider them here. The main thing is different.

The efficient, educated and businesslike British, enjoying the full support of the colonial authorities, who were naturally more loyal to their compatriots than to the Boers, quickly took a dominant position in the life of Cape Town. Moreover, the Boers did not particularly protest. The harsh children of the African South did not feel the catch and did not fear for their way of life. And as it turned out, it was completely in vain.

Having strengthened its position and relying on the pro-English majority of the capital, Britain began to “arrange” the life of the Colony at its own discretion.

In the courts, it was ordered to use only English, which, together with the not very “simple” English legislation, the chicanery and bureaucracy of officials, became the reason for the discontent of the Afrikaners.

People, accustomed to deciding all issues at public meetings by a simple majority of votes, did not understand the intricacies of bureaucratic tricks and legal casuistry. Moreover, in a language unfamiliar to them. Ignorance and misunderstanding turned into suspicion and distrust of the authorities, often turning into open disobedience.

The world around us is scary. It's not just natural disasters that are scary. There are deadly animals, plants, and insects on all five continents. It's not just scorpions, snakes, sea reptiles and spiders - it's also frogs!

Of course, in our century medicine has reached heights. Many poisonings can be neutralized using serums. But first we need to find a doctor, and the poison is already working...

So, what cute little animal will kill you in just four minutes?

The bright coloring distinguishes the poison dart frog. Although it looks like a toy, it has very poisonous substances that can kill a person. The poison dart frog is found in the wild of Central and South America, but it also ends up in North American zoos. When a frog is in danger, it may change its color. The frog produces the toxin from termites and insects that it eats. In English this frog is called a dart frog. This is due to the fact that the ends of darts were dipped into her blood, turning this formidable weapon into a deadly one. The lipophilic alkaloids contained in the frog are poisonous. It is due to their production that the frog can change color to a less appetizing one in order to scare off a predator. Scientists were able to synthesize the poison of this frog, and based on it they created several painkillers.

This carnivorous fish is deadly when cooked and, most importantly, cleaned without following safety regulations. The fish can reach a length of 30 centimeters and is dangerous to most other sea inhabitants. The phenomenon of puffer fish is that some fish are immune to its poison. The poison of puffer fish is tetrodotoxin - a substance 1200 times stronger than potassium cyanide.

The poison of one fish can poison 30 people. There is no way to avoid poisoning from contact with this fish, so it is better to stay away from it.

When in danger, the fish begins to throw out poisonous spines to scare away the enemy. This fish swims at a very low speed. But she can swallow and then push out water at high speed!

Everyone knows about cobra, but it needs to be considered in a little more detail. It is known to hiss, inflating its hood to scare away all attackers. There are only a few types of snakes that snake charmers can work with, and the cobra is the most difficult of them all. Cobras are most often found in southern Africa and Asia. These are long and thick snakes that are deadly. Fortunately, cobras do not attack people without reason. Their venom also contains neurotoxins that cause suffocation if the bitten person is not treated in time.

The taipan snake lives in Australia. She is not small, but she moves very quickly. The majority of traumatic poisonings in Australia occur due to bites from this snake. Taipan snakes feed on small animals such as mice. Their poison is a very strong neurotoxin that paralyzes the heart and respiratory system.

Due to their size, taipan snakes can inject a lethal dose of venom with a bite from just one of its fangs. These snakes are most often found on beaches in Queensland. Taipan snakes can reach 2.5 meters in length, the female can lay up to 20 eggs in a clutch. The skin color of this snake varies depending on the season from brown to yellow.

The first scorpions appeared on earth during the time of dinosaurs, and they are very poisonous. Especially the red Indian scorpion. According to National Geographic, it is the most poisonous in the world. This native of India is no larger than a finger in size. It has two claws and eight legs. Very often he visits human settlements and attacks children playing near their houses.

The Tunisian fat-tailed scorpion is also very deadly. It reaches a length of four inches and carries a type of neurotoxin that kills dozens of people a year.

Although this scorpion is dangerous, some people keep it in their homes as a pet.

Most deaths in the Indian Ocean are caused by stonefish poisoning. Although small, it nevertheless has 13 poisonous spines. There are five species of these fish found in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, all of them very fast and poisonous. An attack by such a fish takes 15 microseconds, although in everyday life they are slow. The stonefish is well camouflaged in its environment and is lethal to a swimmer who encounters it. Its poison affects the heart in a few seconds.

The rat snake is known to many people. She lives in both Americas. Preying on small mammals and birds, it can also attack humans. Once every six weeks, she changes her teeth and poisons her victims with hemotoxin, which disrupts blood clotting and causes convulsions.

The huge, brown-striped snake is found in southern Australia and surrounding islands such as Tasmania. They reach three meters in length. When they prepare to attack, their torso becomes flat. They are very poisonous. Neurotoxins, coagulants, myotoxins and hemolysins are contained in their venom. After the bite, pain in the legs and neck, sweating, numbness, and breathing problems begin. More than half of victims die without receiving medical help

The funnel web spider lives in Australia and is one of the deadliest spiders in the world. Only modern scientific achievements make it possible to save those who were bitten by this spider. Until 1981, there was no serum for its poison. Symptoms of poisoning include sweating, swelling of the mouth and tongue, convulsions, increased heart rate and blood pressure.

It is also known as the banana spider. Its poison is extremely dangerous. This cute nocturnal animal lives in the forests of South America.

The deadliest of the octopuses lives in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It's not just deadly - it kills in less than a minute. Often the bather does not even have time to understand what bit him!

It is the Pacific Ocean that harbors most of the terrible and poisonous creatures. The Australian box jellyfish contains three poisons, which it will gladly share with its prey. The poisoned person experiences acute pain, paralysis and cardiac arrest. If there is no antidote at hand, the victim is doomed!

The epha's habitat is large - it can be found in the Middle East, Africa and even India. Usually she warns of an attack. If you see an efu preparing to attack, run as fast as you can. If she bites you, you may die without waiting for help.

For a long time, South Africa was associated in the public consciousness with racism and apartheid. The implication was that the black natives here were enslaved by the white colonizers. The recipe for universal happiness seemed simple. Down with the white oppressors, freedom for the enslaved natives! Hurray, comrades!

Those who knew the history of this country understood that everything was not so simple.

Let's start with the fact that the indigenous population was small here. These tribes, which are known as the Bushmen, were hunter-gatherer tribes. They lived in tribal communities and were at a very low level of development of civilization. The Bushmen were short, about 150 centimeters. As geneticists say, the chromosome set of the Bushmen is one of the most ancient among all representatives of the species Homo Sapiens. A little to the west of the Bushmen lived tribes related to them, who were called “Hottentots”. The Hottentots had a slightly more advanced civilization. They were engaged in hunting and cattle breeding. The Hottentots and Bushmen speak related languages, and their cultures are similar in many ways.

Both “Bushman” and “Hottentot” are not self-names. These are the words that the Europeans who arrived here in 1652 called the local residents. These were the Dutch who, following the Portuguese, mastered the sea route around Africa to India. Not far from the Cape of Storms, later renamed the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch founded an outpost, which they called “Kapstadt” (City on the Cape). Now this city is known as Cape Town. Kapstadt was the gateway through which colonists from the Netherlands and Germany arrived in southern Africa, as well as French Protestant Huguenots who were fleeing religious persecution in their homeland. They developed and settled vast and mostly empty territories in southern Africa. These were the steppes, a great place to cultivate the land and raise livestock. The settlers could and wanted to do both. During the 17th and 18th centuries, they conquered vast areas that became their new homeland. They called themselves “Boers,” which means “peasant” in Dutch.

In those same distant times, the concept of “apartheid” arose. The colonists tried to trade with the Bushmen. But it turned out that the difference in cultures between the Boers and the Hottentot Bushmen was so great that a mutually beneficial exchange did not work out. Roughly speaking, the natives perceived the Boers as deceivers and cunning, and the Boers of the Bushmen and Hottentots as thieves and robbers. Therefore, the Boers decided among themselves: no relationship with the natives. We are here, they are there. Like any social agreement in Protestant society, this rule was strictly observed. The Boers had almost no communication with the indigenous people. Moreover, no sexual intercourse. From our point of view - pure racism, from their point of view - highly moral behavior. Which, however, did not exclude the physical destruction of the Bushmen and pushing them away from “their” lands. The colonists in America did exactly the same with the Indians.

But the white colonists mixed with the black slaves brought to southern Africa from other Dutch possessions without any prejudice. As a result, a layer of mestizos, “coloreds,” was formed, who now make up up to half the population in many provinces of South Africa.

In principle, this behavior of white colonists at least fits into the framework of the traditional picture of the colonization of Africa by Europeans. “The white man eats the ripe pineapple, the black man eats the rotten one, the white man does the white work, the black man does the menial work.” More interesting events happen next. Black colonialists appear on the scene.

In 1770, the Afrikaners (another self-name for the Boers), moving to the northeast, encountered the expansion of the Xhosa tribes (from the Bantu group of peoples). The Xhosa stood at a much higher degree of civilizational development than the indigenous black population of southern Africa. Although they did not have firearms, they prevailed with their remarkable military organization and personal courage. They moved from the central parts of Africa to the south and captured territories, the inhabitants of which, also black, were enslaved or exterminated. That is, according to European definitions, they were colonized in the most brutal way. However, thanks to border wars with the Xhosa tribes, the expansion of white colonists to the north was stopped.

But this is not enough. In 1795, the time had come for white colonizers to quarrel with other white colonizers. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was captured by French troops and became the Batavian Republic. Great Britain, naturally, did not want to increase French influence in such an important region, on the way from Europe to India. In 1805 they began to take over the Cape Colony. Naturally, the Boers did not like this turn of history. They were even more unhappy when Britain began to encourage settlers to come to South Africa. And not only from the mother country, but also from India. So another ethnic group with another skin color and another culture appeared in the country. However, the change of power led to the fact that the expansion of the Xhosa from the north was suspended. The British built military forts along the banks of the Great Fish River.

In 1833, Great Britain banned slavery in its colonies. This was a strong blow to the well-being of the Boers and their last disagreement with the British government. The Boers decided to leave the territories occupied by the British. They called this campaign the Great Trek and, in the style of Protestants, compared it with the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

During the Great Trek, about 15 thousand Boers moved from the Cape Colony to the interior of the continent, to the northwest. Here was the high plateau of the Veldt. Here the Boers encountered the Zulu (Zulus) tribes. The Boers sent their leaders to the Zulu ruler in order to achieve an agreement on settlement in these places. In response, the Zulu massacred the settlers, including women and children.

In response to this, in December 1838, several hundred Boers defeated a ten-thousand-strong Zulu army at the Battle of the Income River, killing about three thousand of them. At the same time, the Boers themselves lost only a few people. As a result, the Zulus abandoned large areas south of the Tugela River. The Republic of Natal was organized here, which in 1843 was annexed to the possessions of Great Britain and became part of the Cape Colony.

Those Boers who did not want to live under British rule moved further to the northwest, where they created two new states. In 1852, the Transvaal Republic appeared with its capital in Pretoria, and in 1854 - the Free Orange State, whose capital was in Bloemfontein. It is clear why the state was called Orange. These are the colors of the Orange dynasty, rulers of the Netherlands.

It is quite possible that the British would have accepted the existence of two independent republics, even under the patronage of the friendly Orange dynasty. But in 1867, a diamond deposit was discovered in the Transvaal, and in 1886, gold. This led to the growth of the economy of the Boer colonies and increased immigration from Europe to the Boer states. In 1877, Great Britain annexed the Transvaal. The capture was carried out by a British detachment of only 25 people. Not a single shot was fired.

In 1880 - 1881 the first Anglo-Boer War broke out. The Boers defended their independence. But not so much because of his heroism, but because at that time a long colonial war was not included in Great Britain’s plans. In addition, the British were dramatically short of colonial troops in South Africa at the time.

The Second Boer War took place from 1899 to 1902. The Boers lost this war. The British were better equipped and better trained. Moreover, this time they had the numerical advantage. In response to the defeat, the Boers began a guerrilla war.

The Second Boer War is considered the first war of the 20th century. As many historians say, she predicted many terrible pages of the two subsequent world wars. The British rounded up Boer women and children into concentration camps. The partisans were hunted by special mobile groups using armored trains to move. The use of explosive bullets and barbed wire began.

The Second Boer War sparked worldwide protests against Britain and sympathy for the Boers. The Boers were considered victims of forced British colonization. This depiction of events takes place in the novels by Louis Boussenard “Captain Rip-off” and “The Diamond Thieves.” However, sympathy for the Boers was limited mainly to emotions. According to W. Churchill, “no people have received so many expressions of sympathy in words and so little practical support in practice as the Boers.”

In turn, the British "engineers of human souls" contributed to the struggle of ideas, presenting the Boers as stupid and uncouth hillbillies, and also exploiting poor blacks. A. Conan Doyle has a book “The War in South Africa”, and R. Kipling has several heroic poems.

The song “Transval, Transval, my country, you are all burning in fire” has entered the Russian tradition. The song can be considered a Russian folk song, although it was based on a poem by Galina Galina (Glafira Mamoshina). This song became especially popular during the Civil War. Organ grinders walked around the yards singing this song. It fit well with the monotonous and “loop” melody of the music box.

Another memory of the Anglo-Boer War is the male superstition: three people do not light a cigarette with one match. They say that this rule was taught to the British by the Boers, excellent shooters. You light a match, light a cigarette - the drill raises the gun, lights a second one - the drill takes aim, lights a third - the drill shoots. And, without a doubt, it hits.

Brief summary of the plot.

The head of the Transvaal farmers' organization says:
“Every farmer must decide for himself whether or not he will go to Georgia. Our main problem here is security. Since the black majority came to power, more than 3,000 farmers have been killed. The police are often involved in attacks. We don’t know whether they will leave us any land at all or not. We have a lot of experience and we are known on the international market."

William De Klerk, the first South African to receive Georgian citizenship. He says the idea of ​​bringing farmers here is a very good one.
They can bring a lot to Georgia. The situation in South Africa is getting worse every day. If their personal safety and property are protected in Georgia, this matter will be a great success.

After the signing of the memorandum, only a month and a half passed and a delegation of Transvaal farmers arrived in Georgia.
They came on behalf of 41,000 families in South Africa who will see and hear what they film here and think

Vano Merabishvili personally told and showed them the effectiveness of the police. In 10 minutes they issued a Georgian license to drive a car of international standard and received personalized license plates from the minister as a gift. This process in South Africa takes 3 months.

They played a rugby match with Georgian officials.

We took part in Rtveli in Kakheti.

We were delighted with Saperavi.

Since the Kaffirs were warlike tribes, they were not suitable for the role of slaves, and the lack of labor was made up for by the import of captives from Indonesia, Madagascar, and Asia. Over time, they partially mixed with Europeans and two new peoples appeared: the South African race of Cape Malays or Cape Coloureds, and the most conservative colonists - farmers - formed the backbone of the Boer people, which, in addition to the Dutch and French, included the descendants of German settlers.
The Boers in the colonial state of Holland quietly explored the expanses of South Africa for almost a century and a half, until competitors appeared on the horizon in the form of the British East India Company. In 1795, under the pretext of countering the threat of Napoleon Bonaparte, British regular troops landed on the South African coast and captured weakly defended Boer settlements. In March 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, when the Netherlands became free after Bonaparte's defeat, Britain briefly returned what it had captured. But three years later she changed her mind and took away these lands again under the pretext of returning debts to the British crown to the bankrupt Dutch company that founded this colony...
In 1815, the Congress of Vienna legally assigned these lands to Britain. Does anyone want to argue with the Lady of the Seas? No takers?
Having first annexed these lands, they then bought them again, though so cunningly that in reality they did not pay a penny. However, this gave the right to Arthur Conan Doyle to write the following lines in his book about the Boer War: “In our vast collection of countries, there is perhaps no other country in which Britain’s rights would be as indisputable as this one. We own it on two grounds - by right of conquest and by right of purchase."
Soon the British created unbearable living conditions for the Boers by banning education and office work in Dutch and declaring English the state language. Plus, England officially banned slavery in 1833. True, the “good” English set a ransom for each slave. But, firstly, the ransom itself was half the price accepted, and secondly, it could only be obtained in London, and then not in money, but in government bonds, which the poorly educated Boers simply did not understand.

By this time, a curious mixture of national and racial relations had developed in South Africa.

The black population fiercely hated all whites indiscriminately and was in a state of sluggish hostilities with them. The British, proud of their country and their nation, had exorbitant imperial ambitions and a sense of superiority over all non-English people, plus they did not forget about the commercial interests of the East India Company. This is what the well-known Chamberlain said to us: “Firstly, I believe in the British Empire, and secondly, I believe in the British race. I believe that the British are the greatest imperial race the world has ever known."

The Boers fanatically defended the moral and religious principles of Calvinism, namely deep individualism, a pastoral lifestyle, asceticism, self-sufficiency, and isolation.

And in the first and main place was the idea of ​​their new homeland as God’s reserve, in which the Lord entrusted them, the Boers, with the care of their younger brothers in faith and reason...
The first half of the 19th century was marked by two great upheavals in the history of South Africa.

The first is associated with the emergence of imperial ambitions in the Zulu nation. Since King Shaka Zulu united the disparate tribes under his leadership, and then began a methodical cutting unrelated neighbors and the seizure of their territories.

Second: this is the Great Exodus - the Boers’ refusal of urban life in coastal settlements, whose socio-economic life was entirely subordinate to the commercial interests of the British Empire, and a march inland in search of freedom and independence.
This is how Mark Twain describes the Boers, who visited southern Africa: “The Boers are very pious, deeply ignorant, stupid, stubborn, intolerant, unscrupulous, hospitable, honest in their relationships with whites, cruel to their black servants... they don’t care what’s going on. in the world".
The cornerstone for understanding the entire subsequent history of South Africa was the tragedy of Piet Retief, one of the leaders of the pioneering Boers, whose detachment encountered the Zulus and their leader Dingane on the endless plains of Natal. He invited Retief and his comrades to his residence in Mgungundlovu, supposedly to sign a peace treaty, and then gave his soldiers the command: “Kill these sorcerers!” First, Retief and 70 of his associates were killed. And then the Zulus suddenly attacked the rest of the Boers who were in the camp.Piet Retief, his son, the settlers and their servants, a total of 530 people, were torn to pieces, and the remains of Retief the elder were thrown on a hill to be devoured by wild animals.
The Boers prepared their retribution for a long time, almost six months, but how crushing it was! On December 16, 1838, on the banks of the Nkome River, 470 pioneer Boers under the leadership of Andries Pretorius crushed the Zulu army, which, according to various estimates, included from 10 to 20 thousand warriors. The result of the battle has no analogues in world history: three wounded Boers and three thousand killed Zulus! You may ask, what's wrong with that? A crowd of savages versus trained marksmen? And I will answer you that it happened the other way around. For example, in battleat Ildvana Hill1397 English soldiers were destroyed by the Zulus, who lost a little more than 3000 killed, only a few British who were captured survived, even the guns did not help them...

Four days later, Piet Retief's bones were collected and buried according to Christian custom. It is curious that December 16, sacredly commemorated during the years of apartheid as the Day of the Covenant, is celebrated after 1994 - albeit under a different name: as the Day of Reconciliation. It’s just strange: who is with whom?
Be that as it may, after the Battle of the Bloody River, the Boers finally and irrevocably got rid of the last illusions about the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the tribes inhabiting South Africa, and isolated themselves in two unique state entities in the interior of the country - the South African Republic and the Free Orange Republic.
Who knows how history would have turned out, but in 1870 a huge diamond deposit was discovered in Kimberley, which the British could not pass by under any circumstances.

This cobblestone weighs 222 grams and weighs 1111 carats, it is three times smaller than the Kulinan 3106 carats or Sergio 3167 carats found here.

And pay attention. The Boers were not interested in this deposit, they were farmers and remained so, but huge streams of crooks, bandits, adventurers from all over the world, and primarily from England, poured here. One of the new arrivals was Cecil John Rhodes, the future founder of the De Beers company, as well as two new English colonies, modestly named after him, Southern and Northern Rhodesia. As a result, the number of diggers became equal to the indigenous inhabitants - the Boers... And of course, under the auspices of Britain, these thugs and treasure hunters wanted to have citizenship and all the rights that the Boers had, and most of all they were enraged by taxes... Foreigners began to demand more and more loudly for yourself civil rights. To this end, a human rights NGO, the Reform Committee, was even created, funded by Cecil Rhodes and other mining kings. A funny addition - while demanding citizenship in the Transvaal, the Uitlanders, however, did not want to renounce British citizenship.
The De Beers company was able to become a leader and monopolist in the diamond trading market only after it received the support of the Rothschild trading house.
And the new governor of the Cape Colony, Alfred, sends reports to the mother country greatly exaggerating the plight of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal and sends a secret intelligence report in which the Boers are shown in a bad light. And then they discovered gold.

Damn gold! In February 1886, Australian John Harrison, who was quarrying stone for a building at Langlachte Farm in the Witwatersrand Mountains of South Africa, accidentally discovered rock that he identified as gold-bearing...

Gold mined in the Transvaal went straight to London banks, which traditionally had many Jewish owners.
By the way, English politicians quite rightly noted that “the Treasury does not receive a single farthing from the Transvaal or any other gold mines.” These incomes were received by private bank owners. 40% of the world's total gold reserves will soon be mined here!
The logical result: two Anglo-Boer wars of 1880-1881 and 1899 - 1902

Yes, the Boers inflicted a number of unforgettable defeats on the British, even actually won the first war, but in the end they lost... And how could selfless farmers compete against the British Empire that had fallen upon them with all its might? It's amazing that they were able to hold out for so long...

Rudyard Kipling (front row right) among war correspondents in South Africa...

But in order to win, Britain had to strain, and even rebuild its military machine...

Today you are in flame!
A Boer is sitting by the tree
He's sad, he's old and lame.

What's wrong with you, my good old man?
And why are you so sad?
I"m sorry for my people slain
And for my fathers land.

I had ten sons before this strife
And three of them have died,
But seven others are still alive
Continue the bitter fight.

My oldest son - gray-haired old man
In action was he killed,
With no cross and no pray
They buried him in the field.

My youngest boy - thirteen years old
He said: “I’ll join you! Please!”
But I was firm: “I know you’re bold
But war is not for kids!”

He frowned and said: “I’ll go with you
Or else I'll go alone!
I'm young and small, and that is true
But still my hand is strong!

Please, dad! You'll never be ashamed
Of me - your “little boy”!
For our freedom and our land
I’ll fight and die with joy!”

I heard his word, I kissed his head
And took my boy with me,
And for the battlefield we left
For our right to be.

Through powder smoke he went ahead
He bravely fought and died
Black traitor shot him in the head
Like coward from behind.

Transvaal, Transvaal, my dear land!
Old Boer said once again
May we protect our God's strong hand,
And other honest men.

Sniper detachments and sabotage groups appeared here for the first time, and guerrilla warfare tactics were practiced. And this is not all the achievements of the Boers. In addition, outraged by the bloodthirsty policy of Britain, military volunteers from all over the world arrived to fight on the side of the Boers. Foreigners created 13 of their own units. Of course, the Dutch, French, Russians and representatives of other nations distinguished themselves here. F French Colonel Vilboa-Morel, who received the rank of brigadier general, led the “European Legion,” which consisted of thirteen foreign volunteer detachments. These units included 650 Dutch, about 400 French, 550 Germans, 300 Americans, 200 Italians, 200 Irish and 200 Russians.

Here, for the first time, rapid-fire cannons and repeating rifles, smokeless gunpowder and the use of trenches, Maxim machine guns and other systems showed their influence on combat operations; there was a complete change in combat formation and the disappearance of bright uniforms.

Here, in these wars, new methods of warfare were born. For example, the British can boast of armored trains, a new khaki uniform, as well as concentration camps and scorched earth tactics...

Especially the last couple of great achievements. The first consisted of the burning of crops and farm houses, the wholesale slaughter of livestock, the poisoning of rivers and wells, and the first, as yet timid, experiments in the use of biological weapons.

Captive...

The honorary palm in creating the first concentration camps in the history of mankind also belongs to Britain... During the three years of the second Anglo-Boer War, 26 thousand 370 people were killed in the death camps, thanks to hunger and disease, of which 24 thousand were children. In total, up to 200 thousand women and children ended up in these camps. They were given poisoned flour, crushed glass sprinkled into their food...

In addition, a new product was tested! Formation of public opinion using the media.
This was not only the first "attempt to bring Freedom and Democracy" to mineral-rich countries. By the beginning of the 20th century, humanity was already making full use of the telegraph, photography and cinema, and the newspaper became a familiar attribute of every home in civilized countries...
Thanks to all of the above, the average person around the world could learn about changes in the military situation literally within a few hours. And not just read about events, but also see them in photographs and cinema screens.

Winston Churchill captured by the Boers (far right).

English newspapers, belonging to different parties and trends, wrote approximately the same articles, depicting the Boers as savages, villains, cruel slave owners and religious fanatics and, for greater clarity, were illustrated with beautifully drawn pictures.
However, it is hardly worth blaming the Jewish bankers alone for starting the war. The hysteria around the Boers lay on fertile ground. The British sincerely believed that they were born to rule the world and perceived any obstacle to the implementation of this plan as an insult. There was even a special term, “jingoism,” meaning the extreme stage of British imperial chauvinism.