The Boers before the attack in the Transvaal 'Boers avant l'attaque dans le Transvaal'

The Boers, farmers of Dutch descent and early settlers in the Transvaal in South Africa, were already in conflict with the British in 1880. The discovery of large gold deposits in the Witwatersand area in 1886 resulted in a tremendous influx of miners and fortune seekers, primarily english and Germans, called Uitlanders. Tensions with Britain increased after an abortive attempt in 1895 by an english adventurer to provoke the Uitlanders to an internal uprising against the rule of Paul Kruger, Transvaal's first president. In 1899, the republic, with the Orange Free State, also under Boer rule, entered into war against Great Britain. The latter formally annexed the Transvaal the following year.