Second Anglo Boer War propaganda poetry – the Boer side of things and cover reveal

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I am over at Writing to be Read today with a post about the Second Anglo Boer War propaganda poetry and a cover reveal for my forthcoming novel, A Ghost and His Gold, which is about this war. Thank you, Kaye Lynne Booth, for hosting me.

Background

For those of you who do not know, a Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for “farmer”.

Britain occupied the Cape in South Africa in 1795, ending the role of the Dutch East India Company in the region. After the British occupation, the infrastructure in the Cape Colony began to change as English replaced Dutch, the British pound sterling replaced the Dutch rix-dollar and a freehold system of landownership gradually replaced the existing Dutch tenant system.

Between 1835 and 1840, the Great Trek took place when approximately 12 000 Boers from the Cape Colony migrated into the South African interior to escape British control and to acquire cheap land.

Over time, the Boers achieved the independence of their two republics, the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State which shared borders with the British controlled Cape Colony.

When Sir Alfred Milner took over as Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for Southern Africa in May 1897, relations between Britain and the two Boer republics had been strained for some time. The Boers had already successfully defended the annexation of the Transvaal by the British during the first Anglo Boer War. Milner knew that an independent Transvaal stood in the way of Britain’s ambition to control all of Africa from the Cape to Cairo and that, with the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, the balance of power in South Africa had shifted from Cape Town to Johannesburg.

After the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, thousands of British and other gold seekers called Uitlanders, flocked to the Witwatersrand. The Boers considered that the Uitlanders threated the independence of their republic and refused to give them the vote. Milner used the Uitlander issue as a pretext to provoke the Boer government. The two republics declared war on the British Empire on 11 October 1899 and the second Anglo Boer War started.

Continue reading here: https://kayelynnebooth.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/second-anglo-boer-war-propaganda-poetry-the-boer-side-of-things/

A Ghost and His Gold by Roberta Eaton Cheadle: Cover reveal

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

49 thoughts on “Second Anglo Boer War propaganda poetry – the Boer side of things and cover reveal”

  6. What a great cover, Robbie. It’s very dramatic. And an interesting history. All I could think about was the Dutch and English fighting over a country that isn’t theirs. My mom’s family was Dutch and she was part of the group that colonized Indonesia… same thing. I’m looking forward to the read.

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    1. HI Diana, the same is true of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but it is impossible to change the past. The original inhabitants of South Africa were the KhoiSan people. There are very few of them now and they are not represented in government. The African tribes moved down from the north at the same time as the white settlers moved up from the south. There were a lot of clashes when the two groups met. It is quite interesting history.

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    1. I am most interested that you studied the Boer War at school. I didn’t think American students would learn about this particular war as you have so much of your own history. We didn’t study any American history at all, only English history and the two world wars.

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      1. I’m not sure when I studied it, whether in high school or college. I’m pretty sure it was high school, though. Usually kids here take U.S. History in the early grades tall hrough middle school, then they branch out to European, African/Asian and world history in high school. Different countries’ perspectives and teachings are interesting.

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    1. Hi Mae, I am so pleased you like this cover. The colours are lovely, in my view, but I love yellow. All wars are awful and full of terrible things. I just finished reading a book about William the Conqueror’s defeat of the last Anglo Saxon king. My goodness, it was very gruesome.

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        1. I also never learned how to write fiction, Miriam. I was taught how to write non-fiction which is vastly different. I learn through reading blogs and books and using a developmental editor. I have read a few writing books but I feel I learn more from the developmental editing process.

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          1. That’s something I don’t know about. What is developmental editing and other editing? I saw different kind of editing service. I learned something from the bloggers also. I have several stories in my head. I may try to do it later.

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  14. This is a history I know very little about. But as you observe, it is the same everywhere, newcomers displacing the old and fighting with the next group to arrive. What a tangled story we weave. (K)

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    1. I love the way you say things, Kerfe. You manage to sum up the position in a few words that are so clear and concise. That is exactly what humanity has always done. It isn’t only Europeans either, it is just that we know the European history better. Europe was continuously under attack from the Asia, Genghis Khan being one well-known invader.

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    1. Thank you, H. I have poured my soul into it so I hope so. It is strange because when I finished it recently, I felt completely exhausted an thought it might be my grand finale. Inspiration for another tale hit me this week and I am writing again so I am pleased about that.

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