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European Motives

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The second section of Bourne's report focuses on the brutal and cruel interactions between the native people and the intruding English colonists and companies. Even though the natives are justified in keeping their land and defending it from the selfish English settlers, the natives are repeatedly harassed or receive devastating consequences for complying with the English's ways. 

Bourne illustrates the harsh penalties that the natives were subjected to just for simply residing on land the Boers, more commonly known as Dutch colonists and farmers, wanted for themselves. The brutalities include "the chiefs and their people [being] ruthlessly attacked and hunted down, in some cases with dynamite, and many of the survivors were condemned to provide labor while their lands were appropriated for the use of their conquerers" (41). This excerpt from Fox Bourne accurately illustrates the process of taking over land from the native peoples in South Africa. The Boers were allowed to lawlessly attack and impeach on lands which were not theirs, and instead of just stopping after receiving the land, they continued to go a step further and enslave the people they had just stole from. These unfair circumstances occurred constantly and contributed to the decline in population of the native people and tense future relationships between the two races. 


The future relationships of natives and English were also influenced by unfair acts by the infringing European government. The management decided to construct "a 'settlement' intended presumably by the government to be as equitable to the natives as circumstances allowed, was agreed upon by the company ... but only enforced it in so far as it enabled the company to appropriate so much as its agents and the white adventurers under their protection cared for of the people's lands and cattle, and to demand from them as much forced labor as they need of ... it is estimated that at least 3,000 natives were either shot down or died of starvation during the 'conquest'"  (40-41). This 'settlement' was far from the idealistic plan the government intended it to be. Yet again the government's subjects were able to deter and make their own rules that only benefitted them and harmed the native people. The imperialistic powers of the English further enforced their supremacy by allowing them to demand forced labor (even though slavery was abolished) and take over all native lands in an instant. This 'conquest' was frequent in other parts of South Africa as well, and resulted in large populations suffering and dying while the European colonists continued to thrive. 

Background image source: Garren, A. "Batman Signs Treaty". Simple Wikipedial, 8 March 2017. 1885. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(Austrailia)#/medua/File:Batman_signs_treaty_artist_impression.jpg 
 
 

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  1. Section 2 Overview: European Encroachments in South Africa Sean Stevens

Contents of this path:

  1. Section 3 Overview: The Conditions of Natives in South Africa