Boers Quotes

Because of the classic historical anti-Semitism and discrimination, Jews were barred from land ownership and as a result few were farmers or had agricultural experience in their families. They were tradesmen, artisans, professionals in Europe. So amongst Jews and non Jews alike the notion of Jews settling the land of Palestine and farming it or trapping, the way the Boers had in South Africa or the French in Canada, was not a very credible image. The Zionists, realizing this potential weakness, placed strong emphasis on agriculture, developed the agricultural kibbutz concept and encouraged Jews to become farmers. The effort was so successful that almost all the leading early Zionist immigrants to Palestine became farmers. When independence came to Israel, the Jewish agriculture was more productive than most of that in Europe and almost on a par with small farms in the United States. The Israelis were known for “making the desert bloom.

English law required equal citizenship for Blacks. However, the Affrikaners—white settlers from Holland were totally opposed. It turned out to be impossible for the English to impose their law upon all of South Africa.

When the British first colonized South Africa, the area they used was not inhabited or very sparcely so. However, some Black tribes (including the Zulus) were moving from the north and themselves were colonizing or annexing the sparcely populated areas to their kingdom. The British were most interested in Trading so did not have large land asperations. The Dutch white Boer Africanners, in contrast, wanted to farm the lands and use the range for their cattle. They wanted the land. The English policy was that there would be friendly relations with the Black tribes surrounding their Cape Colony and no one should take their land. However the Boers started attacking the Black areas and seizing their farms and villages. At first, the English assumed that the Blacks would easily be able to ward off the invasion as the Afrikanners had no professional troops like the British. However, the neighboring native tribes were not very warlike or good fighters. They were being overrun by the Zulus coming from the North and the Boers from the South. The British Government had a real problem in that they would have to have British soldiers fight the white Afrikanners if they wanted to stop the illegal white invasions. This was the root of the Boer War where the British would be fully at war with the Africanners.

The Boer farmers of South Africa invented commando tactics where they would surprise the British, hit and run. It was very effective. Although they could not win the war that way, the prolonged the battle against an overwhelmingly superior force setting an example of asymmetric warfare that lasted hundreds of years. The Sudanese to whom the General referred were the Islamic religious insurgents whom he had soundly defeated the year before in the Sudan. With their religious fervor they attacked en mass and although very courageous were not very effective.

The Boers were the decedents of the original Dutch farmers who came to South Africa. They were uneducated, lower class emigrants from Holland who, unlike the British who came later and were primarily interested in trade, were farmers and wanted to acquire the rich South African land for permanent settlement with no place for the blacks who were emigrating from Central Africa to acquire the same land. The result was a conflict between the whites of South Africa—the Boers who wanted to own as much land as possible and wanted the Blacks to be their slaves or very low wage workers with no rights at all, and the English whose laws made the Blacks citizens with rights. When the English ended up controlling South Africa the Boers with their own Afrikaner language and culture felt that the English whites were selling them out. The lower class Boers were insulted that under the English law, they were no better than Black farmers. They wanted to separate from the English so they could totally dominate the Blacks and strived for independence which led to the Boer Wars. Although the Boers lost to the English, they bred and populated South Africa and eventually came to dominate it politically. It was the Boers—also called Afrikaners—who were the ones who introduced Apartheid and created the racist society that caused so much difficulty in the late 20th century.

The President was Woodrow Wilson and the Peace Conference was that at the end of WWI. While the right of self determination is broadly accepted in American society, it was not always so.

The White Boers viewed themselves as superior to the Blacks and the Blacks and Whites competed for land. In an early form of ethnic cleansing, the Boers attacked the undefended women and children of the Black tribes. The authorities opposed these atrocities but did not have any way of enforcing their orders.

The Boers, the early Dutch settlers to South Africa were a “scurvey lot” who were very uneducated, narrow minded, and insular. They eventurally esterminated whole tribes of Blacks, caused the Boer War, and operated the disasterous apartheid era of South Africa. But the early Dutch governors of South Africa had great trouble with the Boers as well. See {583928} & {583928} for English similar assessments.

Description of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in the 1730’s

When the British first colonized South Africa, the area they used was akmost uninhabited or very sparcely so. However, some Black tribes (including the Zulus) were moving from the north and themselves were colonizing or annexing the areas to their kingdom. The British were most interested in Trading so did not have large land asperations. The Dutch white Boer Africanners, in contrast, wanted to farm the lands and use the range for their cattle. They wanted the land. The English policy was that there would be friendly relations with the Black tribes surrounding their Cape Colony and no one should take their land. However the Boers started attacking the Black areas and seizing their farms and villages. At first, the English assumed that the Blacks would easily be able to ward off the invasion as the Afrikanners had no professional troops like the British. However, the neighboring tribes were not very warlike or good fighters. They were being overrun by the Zulus coming from the North and the Boers from the South. The British Government had a real problem in that they would have to have British soldiers fight the white Afrikanners if they wanted to stop the illegal white invasions. This was the root of the Boer War where the British would be fully at war with the Africanners.

The Boers were lower class, uneducated, farmers from Holland who came to South Africa before the English did. They were at the bottom of the Dutch socioeconomic ladder. Unlike the English who were interest in establishing a trading colony, the Boers just wanted to own and farm the land and use blacks as slave or cheap labor. The Dutch Government and Trading companies lost interest in South Africa as there were much more profitable parts of the world, and they felt no obligation to the Boers whom they were glad to be rid of. So the Boers found themselves having to follow the British laws and rules of the British Colonial Office. Slavery was outlawed, and Blacks could be educated and become citizens under British law. They could own land, and contest the right of the Boers who had settled in some uninhabited land and some that was owned by Black tribes. The Blacks outnumbered the whites in general and the Boers, and there were educated Blacks who “outclassed” the still relatively uneducated Boers. So the Boers, fighting for their “way of life” set up their own area in Southern Africa and claimed independence. But Blacks claimed that it was their land and looked to the British to exercise English law. The Boer war ensued. Although the Boers lost the war, the bred at a much faster rate than the English, many of whom did not even have their families in South Africa. By the end of WWII, the Boer white majority controlled the government and kept the majority Blacks from voting and having full citizenship rights. They dominated Apartheid South Africa until the Black Revolutionists obtained control and although Black and white relations are better in South Africa than most countries, the extemeist Boers and most militant Blacks are in political, but not violent, conflict. Churchill and the British have always perceived themselves as being caught in the middle between the Boers and the Blacks.

When the British first colonized South Africa, the area they used was akmost uninhabited or very sparcely so. However, some Black tribes (including the Zulus) were moving from the north and themselves were colonizing or annexing the areas to their kingdom. The British were most interested in Trading so did not have large land asperations. The Dutch white Boer Africanners, in contrast, wanted to farm the lands and use the range for their cattle. They wanted the land. The English policy was that there would be friendly relations with the Black tribes surrounding their Cape Colony and no one should take their land. However the Boers started attacking the Black areas and seizing their farms and villages. At first, the English assumed that the Blacks would easily be able to ward off the invasion as the Afrikanners had no professional troops like the British. However, the neighboring tribes were not very warlike or good fighters. They were being overrun by the Zulus coming from the North and the Boers from the South. The British Government had a real problem in that they would have to have British soldiers fight the white Afrikanners if they wanted to stop the illegal white invasions. This was the root of the Boer War where the British would be fully at war with the Africanners.

Dutch colonial administration was the responsibility of the Dutch East India Company.

The whites had come to South Africa by sea—English and Dutch. Many settled at the Southern Shore—Capetown area. The Dutch Boers however were more interested in farming and commerce and moved North taking land from the natives who sparsely populated the interior of the land. At the same time the aggressive and sophisticated Zulus came from the North. Like the Boers, they were after land and seized it from the natives. It was inevitable that the two conquering, land grabbing groups would run into each other. The English had had a number of wars with the Zulus, but the English were not real competitors with the Zulu for land. So when England annexed the Tranvaal area, the Zulus were pleased as the English would control the Boers and the Zulus did not have to be contesting every bit of ground. However, the Boers and the English split over the English restricting the Boers from seizing native and Zulu land (which the Zulus had seized just like the Boers). The Boer War resulted, and to this day the Zulus and the native Black tribes are more comfortable with the South Africans of English extraction than those who are in the Boer community.

He and others were generally uncomplimentary about the Boers education, values, industry and habits. Yet he identified a minority of the Boers who he praised for the industry. There had to be Boers who had these traits else they never would have survived in South Africa and would not have been able to enslave the Blacks. There were those with talent and ambition although the shared the gross immorality of the culture.

The White Africaners were attacking the Blacks to force them off their land so the Afrkaners could take over. The country was under British rule and the unarmed Blacks were being slaughtered by the Afrikaners who were British Subjects. Eventually the Boer War set the English against the Afrikaners. See {583902} for a related quotation.

The British had won an expensive victory against the Boers in South Africa. The casualties among the officers was particularly high. The British military uniforms were very important to the senior military leaders and the officers in general always wanted to distinguish themselves from the enlisted men. This had traditionally been accomplished by outfitting the officers in a contrasting color from the ranks. This allowed the rebel Boer farmers, who were good shots and had no tradition of not targeting officers as many European armies did, to pick off the officers and with few to lead them thee British troops did not continue their attack. The young queen of 29 years, with no military training whatsoever, was very familiar with the uniforms as a result of all the pomp and circumstance associated with the crown. She immediately recognized the problem and instructed the military leaders to change the uniforms. It is hard to believe how hidebound and traditional the British military was even when their own lives were at stake. It is yet another example of the intellect and knowledge of the queen and shows that her insistence on not being a figurehead extended even to the all male bastion of the military. There was no aspect of British society and government that this talented Queen did not get involved with.