The Voortrekkers in Natal moved northeast after they were defeated by the British in 1842. They settled north and south of the Vaal River and founded the independent Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek or Transvaal Republic. In 1854 the contract of Bloemfontein was signed and the Republic of Orange Free State was founded by the Boers.

British sentiment was strongly in favour of uniting their colonies with the Boer republics into one union and thereby gaining control of the gold mines of Transvaal. The Boers not only resisted this proposal, they resented and resisted British encroachments.

On 11 February 1899 war broke out between the two Boer republics and the two British colonies (the Anglo-Boer War). On 13 March 1900 Bloemfontein was occupied by the British, followed by Johannesburg and Pretoria on 1 September.

The Boers continued a guerilla war, which was countered by the British by devastating the boers’ farms and placing their women and children in concentration camps where some 28 000 died. Although attempts at peace were made as early as March 1900, nothing significant was achieved until 1902. It was only on 31 May that a truce (the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging) was signed by the Boers and the British. The former eventually accepted the peace conditions, including the loss of their independence. As far as the British were concerned, their victory seemed to pave way for Union.

In the meanwhile, no thaw had been achieved in relations between Africans and the White administration.

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