| Historical states in present-day South Africa |
|---|
 |
 South Africaportal |
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa.
| Historical states in present-day South Africa |
|---|
| |
| South Africaportal |
Stafford Parker was a British artist, miner and the only President of the small and short-lived "Diggers Republic" on the diamond fields of southern Africa.
Originally an auctioneer and artist, Parker moved to mining in Griqualand West in southern Africa, where he rose to prominence as commandant of the miners' "Mutual Protection Association". The chaotic diamond fields were disputed among several political claimants, such as the local Griqua people, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic. The white British miners ("diggers") rejected all of these claims and, following a series of disputes, a faction of the miners declared themselves independent until they could attain annexation to the British Empire.
On 30 July 1870 at the settlement of Klipdrift, Parker became the first and only President of the short-lived self-declared "Diamond Diggers Republic" (also known as the "Klipdrift Republic"). His government renamed Klipdrift as "Parkerton" after its new president, and began to collect taxes (often at gunpoint). The size of mining plots was limited in a move towards economic egalitarianism; however non-white persons were prohibited from holding either land or mining licenses.
When the British authorities arrived and declared their authority over the area, Parker and his government resigned in February 1871. [2] [3] [4] [5]
He then moved to Lydenburg in the Transvaal, where he opened the "Masonic Lodge" and was elected to the Volksraad (parliament) of the Transvaal Republic. [6]
He was widely known for his distinctive and memorable appearance. He always dressed extremely elaborately in a presidential manner. His signature item of clothing was his large white top-hats, that he always wore and that made him immediately recognisable. The journalist R.W. Murray described him as a "swagger citizen", and a master story-teller. [7]
He was portrayed by David Farrar in the film Diamond City (1949).
The South African Republic, also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result of the Second Boer War.
The Jameson Raid was a botched raid against the South African Republic carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the employment of Cecil Rhodes. It involved 500 British South Africa Company police launched from Rhodesia over the New Year weekend of 1895–96. Paul Kruger, for whom Rhodes had great personal hatred, was president of the South African Republic at the time. The raid was intended to trigger an uprising by the primarily British expatriate workers in the Transvaal but it failed. The workers were referred to as The Johannesburg Conspirators. They were expected to recruit an army and prepare for an insurrection; however, the raid was ineffective, and no uprising took place. The results included embarrassment of the British government; the replacement of Cecil Rhodes as prime minister of the Cape Colony; and the strengthening of Boer dominance of the Transvaal and its gold mines. The raid was a contributory cause of the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. Nicknamed Oom Paul, he came to international prominence as the face of the Boer cause—that of the Transvaal and its neighbour the Orange Free State—against Britain during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. He has been called a personification of Afrikanerdom, and remains a controversial figure; admirers venerate him as a tragic folk hero.
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.
The Republic of Stellaland was, from 1882 to 1883, a Boer republic located in an area of British Bechuanaland, west of the Transvaal. After unification with the neighbouring State of Goshen, it became the United States of Stellaland from 1883 to 1885.
Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, who established several states outside the expanding frontier of the Cape Colony. It was also inhabited by the pre-existing Tswana and Khoisan peoples.
Barkly West is a town in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, situated on the north bank of the Vaal River west of Kimberley.
The following lists events that happened during 1871 in South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1870 in South Africa.
The Mineral Revolution is a term used by historians to refer to the rapid industrialisation and economic changes which occurred in South Africa from the 1860s onwards. The Mineral Revolution was largely driven by the need to create a permanent workforce to work in the mining industry, and saw South Africa transformed from a patchwork of agrarian states to a unified, industrial nation. In political terms, the Mineral Revolution had a significant impact on diplomacy and military affairs. Finally, the policies and events of the Mineral Revolution had an increasingly negative impact on race relations in South Africa, and formed the basis of the apartheid system, which dominated South African society for a century. The Mineral Revolution was caused by the discovery of diamonds in Kimberly in 1867 and also by the discovery of gold in Witwatersrand in 1886. The mineral mining revolution laid the foundations of racial segregation and the control of white South Africans over black South Africans. The Mineral Revolution changed South Africa from being an agricultural society to becoming the largest gold producing country in the world.
Klein Vrystaat was a short-lived Boer republic in what is now South Africa.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Cape Colony was annexed by the British and officially became their colony in 1815. Britain encouraged settlers to the Cape, and in particular, sponsored the 1820 Settlers to farm in the disputed area between the colony and the Xhosa in what is now the Eastern Cape. The changing image of the Cape from Dutch to British excluded the Dutch farmers in the area, the Boers who in the 1820s started their Great Trek to the northern areas of modern South Africa. This period also marked the rise in power of the Zulu under their king Shaka Zulu. Subsequently, several conflicts arose between the British, Boers and Zulus, which led to the Zulu defeat and the ultimate Boer defeat in the Second Anglo-Boer War. However, the Treaty of Vereeniging established the framework of South African limited independence as the Union of South Africa.
Sir Lionel Phillips, 1st Baronet was a British-born South African financier, mining magnate and politician.
The South African Wars, including – and commonly referred to as – the Confederation Wars, were a series of wars that occurred in the southern portion of the African continent between 1879 and 1915. Ethnic, political, and social tensions between European colonial powers and indigenous Africans led to increasing hostilities, culminating in a series of wars and revolts, which had lasting repercussions on the entire region. A key factor behind the growth of these tensions was the pursuit of commerce and resources, both by countries and individuals, especially following the discoveries of diamonds in the region in 1867 and gold in 1862.
Diamond City is a 1949 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar, Honor Blackman, Diana Dors and Niall MacGinnis.
Canteen Kopje is an archaeological site, formally protected as a grade 2 provincial heritage site, and approved in 2017 for re-grading to national status, situated outside Barkly West in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The place was previously known as Klipdrift, meaning stony drift, a translation from a still earlier !Ora name, !a |aub. Canteen Kopje is best known for its long and exceptionally rich Earlier Stone Age sequence, spanning circa >0.5 to 1.7 million years, occurring within gravels exposed in late nineteenth/early twentieth century mining pits. Also attracting attention are more recent archaeological levels in the overlying Hutton Sands, which contain material known as Fauresmith, Middle Stone Age, Later Stone Age, and late Iron Age with evidence of protocolonial/colonial contact and interaction, probably, with nineteenth century diamond diggers.
Rayton is a town in North-Eastern Gauteng which started out as a tin shack mining town on the farm Elandshoek. During its boom days the town served the needs of thousands of diggers and prospectors working for the Schiller, Montrose and Dunmore mining companies. A mini diamond rush sparked by Sir Thomas Cullinan's discovery of a kimberlite diamond pipe nearby is what caused the town to boom.
Nic(h)olaas Waterboer was a leader ("Kaptijn") of the Griqua people.
Johannes Petrus Meyer was a politician, member of the Volksraad of the South African Republic, mining entrepreneur, and farmer; he is the man for whom Meyerton and Meyersdal are named.