Boer (,, or ; ) is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State, Transvaal ( which are together known as the Boer Republics ), and to a lesser extent Natal.

Despite political complications that arose from time to time ( such as an ill-fated scheme by the British Colonial Office to enforce a confederation in Southern Africa in 1878, and tensions with the Afrikaner-dominated Government of Transvaal over trade and railroad construction ), economic and social progress in the Cape Colony continued at a steady pace until the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer Wars in 1899.

* 1909 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.

The independent Boer republic became the Transvaal Colony, which in 1910 became the Transvaal Province of the newly created Union of South Africa, a British Dominion.

After Natal and the Cape Colony were secure, the British were able to invade the Transvaal, and the republic's capital, Pretoria, was ultimately captured in June 1900.

The geography of the region ; the South African Republic / Transvaal ( green ), with the Orange Free State ( orange ), the British Cape Colony ( blue ), and the Natalia Republic | Natal ( red )

With the 1886 discovery of gold in the Transvaal, the resulting gold rush brought thousands of British and other prospectors and settlers from across the globe and over the border from the Cape Colony ( under British control since 1806 ).

It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony.

The Netherlands colony in Donguil was christened " New Transvaal Colony.

In 1906 Swaziland was separated administratively when the Transvaal Colony was granted responsible government.

Six days later Kitchener, who had risen from major-general to the brevet rank of full general during the war, was created Viscount Kitchener, of Khartoum and of the Vaal in the Colony of Transvaal and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk.

After the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 – 1902 most of the land of the captured state became the Transvaal Colony, and eventually one of the initial provinces of the Union of South Africa.

The Transvaal was colonised by Boer settlers who left the British-dominated Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s in what came to be known as the Great Trek.

The wealth of the Transvaal state was bound to overcome the British-controlled, Boer-dominated Cape Colony, and it was speculated the Boers might eject the British from power in the region.

Cities in the Transvaal Colony:

Buchan entered into a career in diplomacy and government after graduating from Oxford, becoming the private secretary to Alfred Milner, who was then the High Commissioner for Southern Africa, Governor of Cape Colony, and colonial administrator of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, putting Buchan in what came to be known as Milner's Kindergarten.

Chamberlain's scope for manoeuvre was restricted between 1880 and 1883 by the Cabinet's preoccupation with Ireland, Transvaal Colony and Egypt, but he was able to introduce the Grain Cargoes Bill, for the safer transportation of grain, an Electric Lighting Bill, enabling municipal corporations to establish electricity supplies, and a Seaman's Wages Bill, which ensured a fairer system of payment for seamen.

Essentially at the heart of the crisis lay the fact that the Transvaal was a landlocked economic hub that resented its dependence on its neighbours, as well as the costs it was incurring through rail and harbour customs.

The Transvaal province lay between the Vaal River in the south, and the Limpopo River in the north, roughly between 22½ and 27½ S, and 25 and 32 E. To its south it bordered with the Orange Free State and Natal provinces, to its west were the Cape Province and the Bechuanaland Protectorate ( later Botswana ), to its north Rhodesia ( later Zimbabwe ), and to its east Portuguese East Africa ( later Mozambique ) and Swaziland.

Its wealth came from controlling the trade in ivory from the Limpopo Valley, copper from the mountains of northern Transvaal, and gold from the Zimbabwe Plateau between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, with the Swahili merchants at Chibuene.

* 1899 – Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.

A north-south rail link, completed in 1986, provides a connection between the Eastern Transvaal ( now Mpumalanga ) rail network and the South African ports of Richards Bay and Durban.

The Second Boer War (, or Tweede Boereoorlog ) was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic ( Transvaal Republic ) and the Orange Free State.

This resulted in the number of uitlanders in the Transvaal potentially exceeding the number of Boers, and precipitated confrontations between the earlier-arrived Boer settlers and the newer, non-Boer arrivals.

Among the issues giving rise to tension between the Transvaal government on the one hand, and the Uitlanders and British interests on the other, were

) The Presidents of the Transvaal and Orange Free State simply signed decrees to concentrate within a week and the Commandos could muster between 30, 000 – 40, 000 men.

Transvaal began importing large quantities of arms and an alliance was signed between Transvaal and the Orange Free State in 1897.

People began to take notice of the young man and he played a prominent part in ending the quarrel between the Transvaal leader, Stephanus Schoeman, and M. W.

In South Africa, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in the Transvaal was important to that country's history, leading to the founding of Johannesburg and tensions between the Boers and British settlers.

The Transvaal Boers objected but as long as the Zulu threat remained, found themselves between two threats ; they feared that if they took up arms to resist the British annexation actively, King Cetshwayo and the Zulus would take the opportunity to attack.

The tension between Cetshwayo and the Transvaal over border disputes continued.

( It is entirely possible that Cetshwayo regarded him as a useful buffer between him and the Boers of the Transvaal.

Historically, the river formed the northern border of Moshoeshoe I's Basotho kingdom at its height in the mid-19th century, then became the boundary between two Boer republics ( and later provinces ): Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

This period also witnessed the increasing tensions between the English-dominated Cape Colony and the Afrikaner-dominated Transvaal.

With the development of railways and the increase in trade between Cape Colony and the Transvaal, politicians in both places began to debate forming a closer relationship.

He had gone out with the intention of guiding the destinies of South Africa during a period when the ex-Boer republics would be in a transitional state between crown colony government and self-government, and letters patent were issued granting the Transvaal representative institutions.

The Jameson Raid produced a permanent estrangement between him and Cecil Rhodes, and he was out of sympathy with the new colonial secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, who had criticized his appointment, and now desired Robinson to take this opportunity of settling the whole question of the position of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal.

The two territories of Orange Free State and Transvaal were squeezed between the British-ruled Cape Colony to the south and west, Zululand to the east and Matabeleland and Bechuanaland to the north.

After the retreat of Mzilikazi's Ndebele, many Boer farmers trekked across the Vaal and occupied parts of the Transvaal, bringing with them the laws of their Dutch forebears.

On 17 January 1852, the United Kingdom signed the Sand River Convention treaty with 5, 000 or so of the Boer families ( about 40, 000 white people ), recognising their independence in the region to the north of the Vaal River, or the Transvaal.

Although hounded by British columns, he succeeded in crossing the Vaal into western Transvaal, to allow Steyn to travel to meet the Transvaal leaders.

Finally, the voortrekkers migrated further north and established a number of smaller republics across the Vaal river, in the area known as the Transvaal, later to be united as the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek ( South African Republic ), or ZAR.

Many of the burghers would have at this time welcomed union with the Transvaal, but learning from Sir George Grey that such a union would nullify the conventions of 1852 and 1854 and necessitate the reconsideration of Great Britain's policy towards the native tribes north of the Orange and Vaal rivers, the project dropped.

( The geographic name " Transvaal " comes from the name of this river, meaning " beyond the Vaal river ".

Their actions in what became known as the Vaal River Drift Question best illustrates the plan of action that the Transvaal government thought best.

The Cape government had advanced the sum of £ 600, 000 to the Netherlands railway and the Transvaal government conjointly for the purposes of extending the railway from the Vaal River to Johannesburg.

There were successive waves of migrations of Boer farmers ( known as Trekboers which literally means " moving farmers "), first east along the coast away from the Cape toward Natal, and thereafter north toward the interior, eventually establishing the republics that came to be known as the Orange Free State and the Transvaal ( literally " across / beyond the Vaal River ).

The territories north of the Vaal River in the Transvaal were officially recognized as independent by Great Britain with the signing of the Sand River Convention on 17 January 1852.

* Major-General Sir Herbert Kitchener, in recognition of his victory in the Battle of Omdurman, was created Baron Kitchener, of Khartoum and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk ( Khartoum being the less obscure but relatively near capital of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ), in 1898, and ( by this time a full General ) was further created Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, of Khartoum and of the Vaal in the Colony of Transvaal and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk ( having been Administrator of Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony in 1901 ), in 1902, and ( by this time a Field Marshal ) was further still created Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and of Broome, of Khartoum and of Broome in the County of Kent, in 1914.

He had already been created Baron Kitchener of Khartoum, and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk, in 1898, Viscount Kitchener of Khartoum, and of the Vaal in the Colony of Transvaal and of Aspall in the County of Suffolk, in 1902 and was made Baron Denton, of Denton in the County of Kent and Viscount Broome, of Broome in the County of Kent, at the same time he was granted the earldom.

It is also one of the constituent parts of the Vaal Triangle region and was formerly situated in the Transvaal province.

As a consequence of the bridge over the Vaal, trade grew and Parys was seen as a new market for farmers from the then Transvaal side.

It is situated near the Vaal river, which separates the Free State from what was formerly the province of Transvaal, and is not far from the Vaal dam where excellent windsurfing spots can be found.

In these early days the Vaal River was the important boundary between the Free-State Republic and the then Transvaal Republic.

When diamonds were discovered in the Vaal River in the 1870s the former Transvaal Government established a settlement on the banks of the river in 1870, in an attempt to control and alleviate land disputes over diamond discoveries further down the Vaal River.

: 016: Vaal Triangle: Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and Sasolburg, which constitutes an anomaly, since Sasolburg isn't the old Transvaal.