Cape Republic: Difference between revisions
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In order to further Dutch claims to the eastern Cape and to create a buffer between the Xhosa in the east, the Cape colony government gave land grants to 4,500 German settlers (mostly from the lower Rhine, Luxembourg and the Saarland) between 1819 and 1829. Many of these colonists settled along the Algoa bay and in the period the important port town of Fredrickstadt was founded. Eventually after years of border skirmishes between colonists and the Xhosa, tensions over the land surrounding the Groot Visch River led to the great Xhosa war (1829 to 1834). After 5 years of bloodshed and atrocities on both sides, the Xhosa surrendered to the Dutch with the single condition that Xhosa people not be taken as slaves. In 1834 the Dutch annexed Xhosaland as a colonial protectorate. Between 1835 and 1855 the Dutch government sent missions to Xhosaland to Christianize and "civilize" the newly conquered nation and while Christianity and Dutch farming practices spread rapidly throughout the Xhosa, the Dutch language did not and the Xhosa language remained the primary mother tongue of the region. |
In order to further Dutch claims to the eastern Cape and to create a buffer between the Xhosa in the east, the Cape colony government gave land grants to 4,500 German settlers (mostly from the lower Rhine, Luxembourg and the Saarland) between 1819 and 1829. Many of these colonists settled along the Algoa bay and in the period the important port town of Fredrickstadt was founded. Eventually after years of border skirmishes between colonists and the Xhosa, tensions over the land surrounding the Groot Visch River led to the great Xhosa war (1829 to 1834). After 5 years of bloodshed and atrocities on both sides, the Xhosa surrendered to the Dutch with the single condition that Xhosa people not be taken as slaves. In 1834 the Dutch annexed Xhosaland as a colonial protectorate. Between 1835 and 1855 the Dutch government sent missions to Xhosaland to Christianize and "civilize" the newly conquered nation and while Christianity and Dutch farming practices spread rapidly throughout the Xhosa, the Dutch language did not and the Xhosa language remained the primary mother tongue of the region. |
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=== War of Independence === |
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Leading up to the Dutch wars in humiliation, tensions between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the British Empire spilled over into the Cape colony with the Dutch fearing encroachment from the east by the Natal colony. In 1850 after the start of the Canton War, the Dutch revoked the British right to use the Kaapstadt port and attempted to invade the Natal colony from the Cape. Local Cape colony authorities were wary of provoking the British and after the Spanish and French also declared war against the Dutch, believed that the Dutch could not win this war. They feared that a defeated Dutch Empire would be forced to relinquish the Cape Colony to the British; this along with increased taxes on the Cape citizenry and merchants to fund the war effort led to the 1852 Kaapstadt revolt where Dutch authorities were driven from the city and many local troops deserted the Dutch military and joined Republican militias. Only 3 months later the Dutch took back the city but by that time the Cape republican movement was well underway with republican militias and revolts happening all over the colony. |
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The Cape Republicans, in 1853 knowing that they would need allies in their fight against the Dutch Empire secretly met with officials from the British empire who agreed to support Cape independence financially in return for the Van Nimwegen agreement to be reinstated. Within months, hundreds of guns were being smuggled into the Cape colony from the British Natal and after a failed offensive against the Dutch position in Kaapstadt, the Cape Republicans were in control on nearly 60% of the colony. In 1854 the Cape Republicans negotiated with the Dutch protectorates of Xhosaland, Temboland and Pondoland to join their rebellion in exchange for becoming autonomous federal subjects of an eventual Cape Republican state and in 1855 the rebels with naval support from the British were able to take back Kaapstadt and push the remaining Dutch forces out of the nation. On November 1855 the 1st Cape Republic was declared in Kaapstadt as a federal state. |
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== Geography == |
== Geography == |
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== Politics == |
== Politics == |
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