Part 1 of 2: The Boer Republics under siege: ‘But the heart of the Boer is deeper and wider’

Via Mike

 

A flag made by a Boer prisoner of war, H.J. Steyn, in Diyatalawa camp, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The flag is an example of the so-called ‘Unity’ flags of the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). These were unofficial flags representing ‘Boer’ forces fighting the British during the Anglo-Boer War.

South Africa 1899 – 1903

Boer is the Dutch/Afrikaans word for “farmer” now applied to the mainly Dutch, German, and French Huguenot early settlers in South Africa. About 2.6 million of the 4.6 million whites in South Africa consider themselves ethnic Boers.

Once a majority, but because of massive migration of Bantu tribes from western and central Africa and much higher black birthrates, the white population is down to 8.4 percent of South Africa’s 80 percent black 55 million people. Following World War II and especially since the end of Apartheid in 1994, the Boers have considered themselves and their culture under ethnic and political siege. To understand their increasingly dangerous situation, it is good to know some essential Boer history.

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