Term 2 Mineral Revolution Flashcards
Define dispossession.
Taking away someone’s land/property
Define annexation.
To take control of a piece of land or a country, usually by force or without permission. (To annex)
Define abolition.
To end something, in this case slavery. (To abolish)
Define frontier.
The border of a country.
Define the Great Trek.
The migration of Boer people from the Cape Colony into the interior of southern Africa.
Define prospector.
A fortune-seeker, usually searching for naturally-occurring valuable minerals
Define migrant labour.
Workers who leftt their homes to work on the mines, with the intention of returning to their homes in the reserves.
Define settler.
People who moved to establish themselves in the land colonised by their original country.
Define monopoly.
An organization/group that has complete control of the trade of an item
What area generally did the boer republics occupy?
The Transvaal
How did the Cape Colony survive economically?
Successful producing wool, wine and wheat and served as an important British trading hub. Constantly waged wars on the frontiers
How did the colony of Natal survive economically?
Stagnant so started farming fruits and sugar cane. Imported cheap indentured labour from India, another British colony with a large population that they had made poor
How did the boer colonies survive economically?
Not wealthy and mainly relied on subsistence farming
How did the Orange Free State survive economically?
Stolen some of Basotho kingdom’s fertile land and survived of farming hunting and fishing
Why did the Orange Free State resent the Basotho?
The Basotho had sought protection from Britain, which prevented them from taking more land from them
How did the Transvaal survive economically?
The Tansvaal Boers struggled to make a living in a harsher climate than they were used to. The local people, particularly the Pedi, helped some to learn how to farm in these new conditions. Later the Transvaal Boers went to war with the Pedi for more land to survive.
What happened in 1867?
A diamond called the Eureka was discovered on the banks of the Orange River near Hopetown in the Northern Cape
Who discovered the Eureka?
15 year old Erasmus Jacobs
What type of diamond was the Eureka?
Alluvial
What does it mean for a diamond to be alluvial?
It was carried by the river
What happened in 1871?
Fleetwood Rawstorn, a prospector, discovered a concentration of diamonds north-east of Hopetown. Prospectors of all races from all over the world flocked to this area , staked out a claim and began to mine.
Why was Kimberly established?
In 1871 when people flocked to mine the diamonds found north east of Hopetown thoses people needed a place to stay, get tools, and sell diamonds.
After everyone flocked to Kimberly to mine what happened?
The mining operation grew so there was need for faster production of mining equipment which led to factories opening in southern Africa to meet that demand. Prospectors needed loans to afford labour and equipment, which British banks overseas provided. Kimberley was producing 95% of the world diamond supply boosting the local economy.
What happened in 1886?
Gold was discorved and further invrease industrialisation and lead to Johannesburg being founded
Who owned the land (Kimberly)
The Griqua had authority over the land but were not allowed to exert influence over the white settlers and prospectors. Boers resented that land was given to the Griqua, who they viewed as ingerior because they were black. As a result in 1871 britain annexed the land and took control of the Kimberly mines.
In the beginning who could prospect for diamonds?
Anyone
Some black miners were able to establish significant wealth for themselves as did other people of colour
What happened that lead to white people owning most of the mines?
Industrial equipment and larger mines were needed to dig deeper to get diamonds many miners had to sell their claims to richer prospectors (usually white) who created bigger mines
What lead to white people owning ALL of the mines?
White prospectors did not like other races on the mines and harrassed them constantly. By the mid 1870s, the british got of Kimberly put limits on mining claims and many people of colour lost their claims.
What lead to mining companies buying up all of the mines?
The cost of industrial equipment meant that all claims were bought up by mining companies, usually owned by rich white prospectors like Cecil John Rhodes
Who worked in the mines owned by rich white prospector mining companies?
Cheaply hired black mine workers
What happened in 1880?
Cecil John Rhodes bought out all other diamond mining companies and established the De Beees Consolidated Mines Ltd creating a virtual monopoly over the trade
List 3 two-word phrases that descibe the working conditions on the mines.
Incredibly dangerous
Respiratory diseases
Many died
Who did the mining companies allow to work on the mines?
Black and white male workers
However kept seperate to prevent unionization
Initially both races were required to live… and were…. to prevent….
In hostels on the grounds of the mines…. strip searched daily…. people from stealing diamonds
How were black and white workers conditions different?
White workers given protective equipment
Black workers had to buy their own
Both went on strike to protest for better working conditions and were met with violence by the mine owners however…
White workers had their demands met
Black workers conditions only got worse
White workers were allowed to live in urban areas around the mines
Black workers were restricted from setting in urban areas
Black workers omly allowed in cities with written permission (passes)
Why did compound/hostel sytems develop?
To keep black workers separated and controlled while in urban areas
Describe the physical properties of the compounds.
Built on the mine grounds
Massive building filled with tiny rooms consisting of bunk beds made from concrete
Very similar to prisons
Where did workers shop and get medical treatment?
At the company store and the company clinic
How did workers get from the compounds to the mines?
Were marched along walkways covered to prevent communication with outsiders, escorted by guards armed with clubs
What were the effects of the contracts?
Workers were not allowed to leave until their contract had been completed. Some workers were punished for minor issues by having their contracts increased
How did they prevent workers from stealing diamonds?
Black miners were stripped every day and searched for hidden diamonds. In some mines this was replaced with the system of checking for diamonds only when the contract was up
Support/explain this statement:
This compound or hostel system, however, had adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of it’s occupants.
Too many people in a small space with inadequate ventilation increased the spread of disease
Why were different ethnic groups kept apart?
To prevent them from forming groups with others to riot against their living conditions
What happened to black workers deemed troublesome or turbulent?
They were expelled (i don’t know exactly what that means in this context)
What happened in 1867?
Diamonds were discovered
Given these working conditions few would choose to work on the mines. Instead l, most black people in southern Africa worked….
On their traditional land.
Black farms were….
Highly successful and often outperformed white farms
Why did people go to work on the mines before the glen grey act?
To earn British money to buy things they could not easily barter for, e.g. guns, luxury goods, manufactured goods
There was constantly a shortage of miners. Thus….
Mining operations, which were labour intensive, were not efficient
When did Cecil John Rhodes enter politics and when was he elected prime minister of the Cape Colony?
Entered politics in the 1880s and was elected prime minister in 1890
What was the Glen Grey act?
A bill passed by Cecil John Rhodes that was designed to secure cheap wage labour from the African subjects of the Eastern Cape
What did the glen grey act do?
It instituted a tax on any African in the area of Glen Grey who could not prove they had been earning a wage in the job market. It also stated that only the eldest son in the African family could inherit the family’s land. Any other family members would be landless
The tax could only be payed in British money. What did that do?
Compelled many young African men to leave their homes in search of work on the mine compounds.
White employers were incentivized to…
Send black job seekers to the mines
Explain what ‘The White Man’s Burden’ is.
Colonialist Europeans have the ‘responsibility’ to ‘civilize’ the colonized.
Define arch-imperialist.
Cecil John Rhodes
Why did Britain destroy the great African kingdoms that existed?
It would allow them greater control over black population
Allow them to pass more taxes on them, which they would need to seek wage labour in order to pay (get more labour for the mines)
Give them control over black traditional land entirely, and turn them into black labour ‘reserves’.
They also wanted to consolidate southern Africa into one large colony and could not do this if powerful independent African kingdoms stood in their way
Why was the transvaal in a terrible state in 1877?
A debt crisis, political infighting, a war against the Pedi which was going badly, and the threat of war erupting against the Zulus on their border
Why di the british annex the transvaal?
They reasoned that they coukd run the country better than the Boers
What did the british do anout the war with the Pedi once they annexed the transvaal?
They continued the war against the Pedi under King Sekhunkhune
In 1878 britain won….. and annexed…
The final frontier war…. annexed Gcaleka-Xhosa territory
What happened with the British and the Zulu?
The British viewed the Kingdom of the Zulu as a threat not only to the Natal Also to their occupied Tranvaal. In 1879 the Anglo-Zulu war broke out with Britain Conquering Zulu land. The Zulu were the last independent African group to be subdued by the British
What happened as a result of the british defeating the zulu kingdom?
With their defeat the implementation of migrant labor system rapidly increases
What happened in 1880-81 (after the british defeated the zulu kingdom)
The transvaal Boers Rose in rebellion and fought the British in the first Anglo-Boer war. The boers won and restored the transvaal’s independence, destroying Britain’s plans of a single colony
What further frustrated Britain’s plans? (in the transvaal after the first Anglo-Boer war)
Gold is discovered in the transvaal in 1886 transfer becomes the richest colony in South Africa overnight and was independent of Britain’s control
List some effects of the migrant labour system on black families.
. Glen Grey act pushed pushed black people off their traditional land and forced them into ‘reserves’
. Some family members seen as dispensable due to inheritance laws
. A lot of black land was lost due to the inheritance issueband the dangerous working conditions on the mines
. Hundreds of thousands of African men now lived in crowded compound and were not allowed to bring their families, causing family relations to break down
-They would spend months on the mines and visit their family in the reserves very briefly
. Women left behind to care for children do domestic labour, farm, look after the elderly and defend their land
-Overburdened many farms lost their prosperity
-White land theft became more common
. Becane little chance to make a living on the reserves so more men were forced to find work on the mines
