The “New Imperialism” and the Scramble for Africa^833
Map 21.3 South Africa, 1800-1910 The settlement of South Africa by the
Boers and English, including the Boers’ Great Trek and the 1910 boundaries of
the Union of South Africa.
Cecil Rhodes orchestrated British expansion in South Africa, leading to
conflict with the Boers, who still bitterly resented annexation into the
British Empire. In 1880, the Boers rose up in revolt, their sharpshooters
picking off British troops at Majuba Hill a year later. Unwilling to risk fur
ther trouble, William Gladstone’s Liberal government recognized the polit
ical independence of the South African Republic. But, at the same time,
the British tried to force the Boers to trade through the port of Cape Town
by denying them access to the sea, reflecting the primacy of commerce in
the British grand scheme.
The Boers in Transvaal were given a boost by the discovery in the mid
1880s of more gold deposits, which enabled them to buy weapons. Con