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The Transvaal region is known to have been inhabited since the 8th century by Venda and Sotho peoples. In 1817, the region was invaded by tribes pushed from their land by the Zulu king Shaka and his Impis. This made the region very weak, and easy to colonize by the nearby European settlers. In the 1830sEvents and Trends Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers emigrate northwards from the Cape Colony. Croquet invented in Ireland Railroad construction begins in earnest in the United States. World Leaders Emperor Francis II ( Austria) Emperor Ferdinan and the 1840sEvents and Trends First signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) on February 6, 1840 at Waitangi New Zealand. The treaty between the British Crown and Maori made New Zealand a British colony and is considered the founding point of modern N, descendents of DutchDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium and other settlers, collectively known as Boers (farmers) or VoortrekkersThe Voortrekker Monument built in 1949''. The Voortrekkers ( Afrikaans for pioneers literally "those who move ahead") were white Afrikaner farmers, then known as Boers, who in the 1830s and 1840s emigrated in what is called the Great Trek from the British (pioneers), exited the British Cape ColonyThe Cape Colony was a part of South Africa under British occupation during the 19th century. It stretched from the Atlantic Ocean eastwards: the final eastern boundary, after several wars against the Xhosa, stood at the Fish River. In the north, the Orang, in what was to be called the Great Trek. With their military technology, they overcame the local forces with relative ease, and formed several small Boer republics in areas beyond British control, without a central government.
On January 17January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 348 days remaining (349 in leap years) Events 1562 Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. 1773 Captain James Cook becomes the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circl, 1852 the United Kingdom signed the Sand River Convention treaty with 5000 or so of the Boer families, recognizing their independence in the region to the north of the Vaal River, or the Transvaal. In 1856 the Boers adopted the name South African Republic for the region, and a new racially-biased constitution was put in place.
In 1877, after the republic faced considerable economic hardship and outside Zulu threats, Britain annexed the Transvaal, hoping that this move would be perceived by the Boers as salvation. But it wasn't - the Boers viewed it as an act of aggression, and protested. In December 16, 1880 the independence of the republic was proclaimed again, leading to the first Boer War. The Pretoria Convention of 1881 gave the Boers self-rule in the Transvaal, under British oversight, and the republic was restored with full independence in 1884 with the London Convention, but not for long. Gold was soon discovered in Witwatersrand ( 1885), bringing in a rush of non-Boer European settlers (called uitlanders, outlanders, by the Boers). This led to a destabilization of the republic; In 1895, Cape Premier Cecil Rhodes planned to support an uitlander coup d'etat against the Transvaal government. Leander Starr Jameson carried out this plan, without British authorization, in December of that year - in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. After the failed raid, there were rumors that Germany offered protection to the Boer republic, something which alarmed the British. Fearing Britain's imminent annexation, the Boers launched a preemptive strike against the nearby British colonies in 1899, a strike which became the second Boer War, a war which the Boers would lose. The Boer War is a watershed event for the British Army in particular and for the British Empire as a whole. It was here that the British first used Concentration Camps in a war setting {the first general use being by the Spanish during the Cuban insurrections of the 1890s}.
By May 1902, the last of the Boer troops surrendered, and the independent Boer republic in the Transvaal was no more - the region became part of the British Empire. In 1910 the Transvaal became a province of the newly created Union of South Africa, a British Dominion. In 1961, the union ceased to be part of the British Commonwealth and became the Republic of South Africa.
In 1994, after South-Africa's first all-race elections, the former provinces and homelands were restructured, and a separate Transvaal province no longer exists. Parts of the old Transvaal now belong to the new Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces.