Episode 299 - Tariff skirmishes, a Goa Warlord menaces and the Pioneer Column goes Maxim
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The economic policies of the states and colonies in South Africa conflicted in many ways, partly because of their varying political policies. The Transvaal desired economic and political independence while the Cape Colony advocated unification with other states.
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Politics and economics were not inter-related, in in many ways, led directly to confrontation between these early states of the South Africa.
The Free State for example was economically closer to the Cape than to the Transvaal, while politically it was the other way around. Even the two British-coastal colonies, the Cape and Natal, differed in their economic policies.
The discovery of gold exacerbated these differences. The Boer Republics believed they deserved some of the import duties on goods flowing through the ports. The first tariff barrier instituted in 1881 which was partly caused by an economic depression leading to the Transvaal imposing an import duty on goods entering the ZAR including tobacco, mielies and liquor which were all from the Cape or Natal. The Cape responded by imposing their own tariffs on Transvaal tobacco.
The region that faced the most pressure was the Free State, slap bang in the middle of the subcontinent. President Johannes Brand was anxious to cooperate with the Transvaal politically, but wary of entering any economic agreement lest it mess up his relationship with the Cape. Bloemfontein needed the Cape’s ports more than they needed the Transvaal’s meat. At a trade conference between the Cape, the Free State and Natal in 1888, the three states agreed to free trade amongst themselves, the the Cape and Natal couldn’t agree on common import tariffs on goods shipped to Southern Africa from abroad.
Natal wanted low tariffs to handle more goods in Durban, while the Cape Colony wanted to protect its own goods by imposing higher import tariffs. The free trade agreement broke down when Natal bypassed the Free State, and built a railway line straight to the goldfields from Durban which broke the terms of the deal.
A year later, in 1889, new Free State President Francis William Reitz met with Transvaal president Paul Kruger at a Potchefstroom conference and signed a trade and political. The Transvaal agreed to block a rail connection from the south or west - ie from the Cape or Natal — without the consent of the Free State, which meant any line built from Cape Town to Johannesburg would have to cross Free State territory. Things were moving fast on the land — not least a large group of mercenaries who had gathered under a false flag. There were shenanigans planned, perhaps even skullduggery, because Cecil John Rhodes was about to indulge in a bamboozle, nay, worse, a hornswoggle. And shenanigan is a relevant word, because etymologists have traced its earliest recorded appearances in print to the mid-1850s Californian gold rush, it popped up in San Francisco, Sacramento, and the Sierra Nevada.
It was a phrase made famous by gold prospectors, when weights were fiddled, and diggers claims were stolen. And Cecil and his column were after gold - land - and empire. So too were a faction of Boers led by Louis Adendorff who had negotiated their own secret land grant known as the Chibe Concession directly with local Shona chiefs in Banjailand - southeastern Zimbabwe. One thousand armed Boers were preparing to cross the Limpopo River and establish a new Boer Republic right across the middle of Rhodes’ intended empire.
While the Shona in the west of Mashonaland had been cowed by the Ndebele, further north and east it was a different story they were still largely independent of the Lobengula’s reach. To access this region, Rhodes and his British South African Company mercenaries, the Pioneer column, had to navigate serious geographical and political obstacles.
A quick note about LearnClash!
Play real people in quick trivia duels on LearnClash, free on iPhone and Android. Code DESMOND gets you a month of Premium free: https://learnclash.com/sahistory.
Politics and economics were not inter-related, in in many ways, led directly to confrontation between these early states of the South Africa.
The Free State for example was economically closer to the Cape than to the Transvaal, while politically it was the other way around. Even the two British-coastal colonies, the Cape and Natal, differed in their economic policies.
The discovery of gold exacerbated these differences. The Boer Republics believed they deserved some of the import duties on goods flowing through the ports. The first tariff barrier instituted in 1881 which was partly caused by an economic depression leading to the Transvaal imposing an import duty on goods entering the ZAR including tobacco, mielies and liquor which were all from the Cape or Natal. The Cape responded by imposing their own tariffs on Transvaal tobacco.
The region that faced the most pressure was the Free State, slap bang in the middle of the subcontinent. President Johannes Brand was anxious to cooperate with the Transvaal politically, but wary of entering any economic agreement lest it mess up his relationship with the Cape. Bloemfontein needed the Cape’s ports more than they needed the Transvaal’s meat. At a trade conference between the Cape, the Free State and Natal in 1888, the three states agreed to free trade amongst themselves, the the Cape and Natal couldn’t agree on common import tariffs on goods shipped to Southern Africa from abroad.
Natal wanted low tariffs to handle more goods in Durban, while the Cape Colony wanted to protect its own goods by imposing higher import tariffs. The free trade agreement broke down when Natal bypassed the Free State, and built a railway line straight to the goldfields from Durban which broke the terms of the deal.
A year later, in 1889, new Free State President Francis William Reitz met with Transvaal president Paul Kruger at a Potchefstroom conference and signed a trade and political. The Transvaal agreed to block a rail connection from the south or west - ie from the Cape or Natal — without the consent of the Free State, which meant any line built from Cape Town to Johannesburg would have to cross Free State territory. Things were moving fast on the land — not least a large group of mercenaries who had gathered under a false flag. There were shenanigans planned, perhaps even skullduggery, because Cecil John Rhodes was about to indulge in a bamboozle, nay, worse, a hornswoggle. And shenanigan is a relevant word, because etymologists have traced its earliest recorded appearances in print to the mid-1850s Californian gold rush, it popped up in San Francisco, Sacramento, and the Sierra Nevada.
It was a phrase made famous by gold prospectors, when weights were fiddled, and diggers claims were stolen. And Cecil and his column were after gold - land - and empire. So too were a faction of Boers led by Louis Adendorff who had negotiated their own secret land grant known as the Chibe Concession directly with local Shona chiefs in Banjailand - southeastern Zimbabwe. One thousand armed Boers were preparing to cross the Limpopo River and establish a new Boer Republic right across the middle of Rhodes’ intended empire.
While the Shona in the west of Mashonaland had been cowed by the Ndebele, further north and east it was a different story they were still largely independent of the Lobengula’s reach. To access this region, Rhodes and his British South African Company mercenaries, the Pioneer column, had to navigate serious geographical and political obstacles.
