The Boers In East Africa

The end of the Anglo-Boer War in May 1902 left the Boers (Afrikaners) defeated and bitter in a ravaged land. Poverty and disillusionment spurred many to leave the post-war British-administered South Africa. This book studies one group of emigres who trekked northward to German East Africa and British East Africa. The author relies heavily on primary sources written in both Dutch and Afrikaans to describe the experiences of the Boers in East Africa. The literature dealing with the Afrikaners documents a people known for their independent insistence upon their language and culture, for their territorial sovereignty established in southern Africa, and for their characteristic religiosity and reliance on Old Testament-based Calvinism. Large numbers of Boers would not or could not adjust to living under an administration with whom they had been at war, and those who tried did not receive much support. As one eyewitness wrote, Not much was needed to stimulate the desire to trek. And so the Afrikaner Diaspora began.

Much of the historical debate surrounding the partition of Africa, the events that led up to it and its implications for the continent itself and for the rest of the world is so controversial that it is difficult to provide a coherent survey of the shifting theories of the last twenty years. In this pamphlet Dr MacKenzie attempts to do this, by sketching the historical background to the partition, surveying the events of the partition in the four main regions of Africa and then examining in turn the theories produced to explain the sequence of events.

Excerpt from Towards Pretoria: A Record of the War Between Briton and Boer, to the Relief of Kimberley South africa, or Africa south of the Zambesi, may be described in a few sentences, so that its physical peculiarities are revealed, and it becomes Clear to the mind's eye that it is practically one country by nature, and must eventually be one by government. A high plateau of rolling, grass-covered land falls away abruptly on each sea-shore, and at the Cape or southernmost end, leaving a more or less swampy, malarial, and generally narrow margin between the tableland and the water. On the Indian Ocean coast lie Natal, and Portuguese East Africa; and on the Atlantic German South-west Africa, and Portuguese West Africa. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This “fascinating” biography of a South African-born warrior provides a window into a full century of military conflicts(Adam Makos, New York Times–bestselling author of A Higher Call). Four-War Boer traces Pieter Krueler’s highly colorful life from the Second Boer War, where he first served as a fourteen-year-old scout, to his service in World War I with the German army in East Africa to the Spanish Civil War to World War II, this time with the Allies, and on into the latter part of the twentieth century, when he served as a mercenary during the 1960s Congo Crisis. Later, in his eighties, he became a civilian trainer for the original Selous Scouts of Rhodesia and, later still, a trainer for South African commandos. The book follows Krueler through a remarkable career that included, among other adventures, leading native African soldiers on extremely dangerous missions in the Belgian Congo; volunteering as a mercenary during the Spanish Civil War, during which he worked with the Pyrenees Basque movement; serving as a coast watcher to keep South Africa safe from German incursion; and fighting alongside Michael Hoare during the 1960s Congo Crisis. A chapter is devoted to the formation of Rhodesia’s highly elite Selous Scouts, along with highlights of several previously classified missions. This material includes a wealth of new information, and breaks the secrecy surrounding Rhodesian and South African special operations, as unveiled through the experience of a man who was a founding father of counterinsurgency in Africa. Based on six years of historical research through hard-to-find secondary and published primary sources, as well as extensive interviews with Krueler himself, and interviews with German officers and others who knew and worked with him, this biography is filled with extensive first-person testimony that gives it the immediacy of a memoir.

In Out of Africa, author Isak Dinesen takes a wistful and nostalgic look back on her years living in Africa on a Kenyan coffee plantation. Recalling the lives of friends and neighbours—both African and European—Dinesen provides a first-hand perspective of colonial Africa. Through her obvious love of both the landscape and her time in Africa, Dinesen’s meditative writing style deeply reflects the themes of loss as her plantation fails and she returns to Europe. HarperTorch brings great works of non-fiction and the dramatic arts to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperTorch collection to build your digital library.

In October 1899, the twenty-four-year-old Winston Churchill sailed for South Africa as war correspondent for the Morning Post to report on the Anglo-Boer War. When he returned the following year, it was as a military celebrity. This book follows Churchill's footsteps across South Africa and gives his impressions of the places he visited, the landscapes he saw, the people he encountered and the events he was involved in. Churchill's South Africa covers the future statesman's travels across the Great Karoo and through the green hills of Natal, his capture by the Boers, his escape to Del.