Transvaal

Transvaal (trănzväl`), former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Veereeniging (now Gauteng), and part of North West prov. The Transvaal was bounded on the N and W by the Limpopo River, which forms the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana, on the E by Mozambique and Swaziland, and on the S by the Vaal River, the border with Orange Free State (now Free State). It was mainly situated in the highveld, at an altitude of 3,000 to 6,000 ft (910–1,830 m). Pretoria and Johannesburg (both now in Gauteng) were the capital and the largest city, respectively. Other leading cities (all also now in Gauteng) included Brakpan, Germiston, Krugersdorp, Springs, and Vereeniging.

History

The Sotho and Venda peoples (both Bantu-speaking peoples) are thought to have settled in the Transvaal as early as the 8th cent. In the mid-1830s Afrikaner farmers (Boers), mainly from the Cape Colony (see Cape Province), came to the region (see Trek, Great). They scattered over the huge territory but were unable to form a strong government. In the Sand River Convention (1852) Great Britain, which at the time also held Cape Colony and Natal (see KwaZulu-Natal), recognized the right of the Boers beyond the Vaal River to administer their own affairs.

In 1857 the South African Republic was inaugurated in the SW Transvaal but claimed sovereignty over the whole territory. Martin Pretorius, son of the Boer leader Andries Pretorius, was its first president. In the 1860s and 70s the South African Republic expanded in size, and there were isolated finds of gold, diamonds, and copper. However, by the late 1870s the republic was bankrupt.

In 1877, Britain annexed the South African Republic after only a mild formal protest by its president, T. F. Burgers. In late 1880, however, the Boers began an armed revolt against the British and proclaimed a new republic. After defeats at Laing's Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba Hill (all in Feb., 1881), Britain granted the South African Republic independence.

In 1883, S. J. P. Kruger (Oom Paul Kruger) became the new republic's first president. In 1886 large gold deposits were discovered on what later came to be called the Witwatersrand, and many foreigners, especially Britons and Germans, entered the republic. The foreigners, called Uitlanders, threatened to overwhelm the Boers, whom they soon outnumbered by more than two to one. The Boers denied political rights to the foreigners and taxed them heavily. In Dec., 1895, Leander Starr Jameson staged a raid into the Transvaal that was intended to trigger an uprising by foreigners against President Kruger. However, only a minor revolt materialized, and Jameson was captured.

Tension between Boers and Britons in S Africa increased after the Jameson Raid, and in 1899 the South African War broke out. The Transvaal was annexed by Britain in 1900, but guerrilla fighting continued. The Treaty of Vereeniging (1902) ended the war and made the Transvaal (as well as the Orange Free State) a crown colony of the British Empire. The Transvaal, led by Jan Christiaan Smuts and Louis Botha, was granted self-government in 1907 and in 1910 became a founding province of the Union of South Africa. In 1961, the Transvaal became a province of the Republic of South Africa.

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Transvaal

 formerly (1856–77, 1881–1902) South African Republic

Former province, northeastern South Africa. Located between the Limpopo and Vaal rivers, the region was inhabited c. 1800 chiefly by various Bantu-speaking peoples. The Boers (Afrikaners) began migrating there during the Great Trek of the 1830s. They established the short-lived South African Republic in 1856. Discoveries of diamonds and gold deposits (1868–74) heightened British interest in the region, and the British annexed the republic in 1877. A Boer rebellion restored it in 1881. Further discovery of gold in 1886 brought more foreigners, who eventually outnumbered the Boers. In 1895 Leander Starr Jameson attempted to incite them to overthrow the Boer government. In 1899 Transvaal joined with Orange Free State against Britain in the South African (Boer) War. It was taken in 1900, and in 1902, following the British victory, it became a crown colony. It was granted self-government in 1906 and joined the Union (now Republic) of South Africa in 1910. In 1994 the Transvaal was split into four provinces. The region is extremely rich in mineral and agricultural resources.

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Transvaal

former province of NE South Africa: colonized by the Boers after the Great Trek (1836); became a British colony in 1902; joined South Africa in 1910; replaced in 1994 for administrative purposes by a new system of provinces (Eastern Transvaal (later Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (later Limpopo), Gauteng, and North West province. Capital: Pretoria

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Transvaal 

a province in the Republic of South Africa. Area, 283,900 sq km. Population, 8.7 million (1970), including 4.3 million Bantu. The Africans and mulattoes are subjected to severe racial discrimination.

The Transvaal occupies the interior plateau in the interfluve of the Vaal and Limpopo rivers. The land belongs to the system of velds, which decrease in elevation from 2,000 to 1,500–800 m from south to north and from east to west. Waterberg, Soutpans-berge, and other cities are situated among the peaks and mountain ranges, whose elevations are 1,000–1,500 m. The Witwaters-rand is noted for its large deposits of useful minerals. In the southern part of the province the climate is subtropical, and in the northern part it is tropical. Average monthly temperatures range from 7° to 24°C. Annual precipitation is 500–750 mm, but the north receives as little as 350 mm. The Vaal, Olifants, and Crocodile rivers are widely used for irrigation and water supply. The vegetation in the south is of the grassy steppe type, with thorny shrubs (species of acacia) growing on rocky gray-brown soils; savanna vegetation (with baobabs) on reddish brown and black soils is found in the north.

In the 1830’s and 1840’s the native population of the Transvaal—the Bantu peoples—were driven back to the north bank of the Limpopo River by the Afrikaners, or Boers, after a bitter struggle. In 1856 the Boers declared an independent republic of the Transvaal, officially called the South African Republic, in which the native population was deprived of all civil rights. After the discovery in the Transvaal of diamonds in the 1860’s and gold in the 1880’s, Great Britain undertook determined efforts to secure control of the Transvaal. In spite of the Boers’ stubborn resistance, Great Britain annexed the Transvaal during the Boer War (1899–1902). The Transvaal has been a province of the Union of South Africa (since 1961, the Republic of South Africa) since the establishment of the latter in 1910. In the 1970’s the struggle of the Africans and the Coloured population against racial discrimination became more active.

The Transvaal is the main industrial region of the Republic of South Africa, in which two-fifths of the country’s manufacturing and construction labor force is concentrated. The Transvaal accounts for two-thirds of the gold mined in the country (uranium is extracted as a by-product), more than one-half of the coal, most of the diamonds, uranium, copper, iron ore, and phosphates, and all the platinum, chromites, and antimony. The province accounts for 90 percent of the country’s steel production and 40 percent of its manufacture of textile goods. Coal is mined in the Witbank basin, gold in the Witwatersrand and at Klerksdorp, platinum and chromites at Rustenburg and Lydenburg, antimony in the Murchison Range, diamonds at the Premier Mine deposit, iron ore at Thabazimbi, and copper at Messina and Phalaborwa. Asbestos, phosphorites, and fluorspar are also mined. Large steam power plants on the Komati and Klip rivers are fired by coal. The most important centers of ferrous metallurgy are Pretoria and Vanderbijl Park. The machine-building industry produces mining and transportation equipment. The province also has a chemical industry. The primary industrial centers are Johannesburg, Pretoria, Vereeniging, Springs, Benoni, and Boksburg.

Large farms owned by European immigrants dominate in agriculture. The primary agricultural product is Indian corn (the Transvaal produces most of the country’s harvest); the wheat crop is less significant. Plantations of tobacco, citrus fruits, mango, avocado, and cotton are located on irrigated lands; the province is the country’s leading tobacco producer. There is pastoral livestock raising, with 3.8 million head of cattle, 4.4 million sheep, and 1 million goats (1967).