Siege of Kimberley - Background

Background

South Africa was initially a Dutch colony after the Dutch East India Company set up a shipping station at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. In 1815, Britain captured the territory at the Battle of Blaauwberg, setting the scene for an influx of English settlers who were culturally at odds with the existing Dutch population, notably with respect to issues such as the abolition of slavery. Many Dutch farmers elected to move away from British influence into the hinterland, which resulted in a mass migration known as the Great Trek. As people moved inland, prospecting for minerals started; in the 1870s, the discovery of diamonds in the area of present-day Kimberley was followed a decade later by the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand. The discoveries led to a massive influx of Uitlanders (Dutch for "foreigners") into the Boer republics of the Orange Free State and Transvaal.

Tensions soon started rising between the British Empire and the two Boer republics. The causes of the war were complex, with contributing factors including the Boers' desire for independence, the prize of the rich gold fields, British colonial expansionist ambitions in Africa, perceived ill-treatment of British expatriates working in the Boer republics, the First Boer War and a failed British-organised uprising in the form of the Jameson Raid. Discussions broke down in October 1899 when the British ignored a Boer ultimatum to stop concentrating forces on the borders of the Boer republics.

Prior to the onset of the Second Boer War, Kimberley was the second biggest settlement in the Cape Colony, centre of diamond mining operations of the De Beers Mining Company, and the source of 90% of the world's diamonds. The town had a population of 40,000, of which 25,000 were White. It was the only British outpost in the far north east of the colony, located just a few kilometres from the borders of the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State; Cape Town was 1,041 kilometres (647 mi) away by rail, while Port Elizabeth was 780 kilometres (480 mi). The closest Boer settlements were Jacobsdal to the south and Boshof to the east.