Southern Africa: Political Settlement and the Mineral Revolution

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the political landscape, indentured labor, diamond mining monopolies, and the gold rush in 19th-century Southern Africa.

Trek Boers

Earlier Dutch settlers who moved into the interior of South Africa from the $1830s$ to escape British rule, eventually settling in the Transvaal and Orange Free State.

British East India Company (BEIC)

An organization that controlled many areas and ports in India until $1784$, when the British government officially took over control.

Indentured labourers

Workers who signed contracts to work for wages for a specific period; in Natal, many were Hindus from Madras who arrived starting in $1860$ to work on sugar plantations.

Sugar cane climate

Environmental conditions in Natal characterized by warm temperatures, high rainfall, and fertile soil, which were perfect for growing sugar.

Passenger Indians

Indians who traveled to South Africa starting from $1867$ by paying for their own passage, primarily Muslims from Mauritius and Western India who came to trade and set up shops.

Mineral Revolution

The industrial transformation of South Africa that began with the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in $1867$ and intensified with the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in $1886$.

Adamas

The Greek word meaning "unconquerable," from which the English word for diamond is derived.

Blood Diamonds

Also known as "Conflict Diamonds," these are stones produced in areas controlled by rebel forces to fund military actions against recognized governments.

Keate Award

The $1871$ legal decision by Lieutenant-Governor RW Keate that officially awarded ownership of the diamond fields to the Griqua people.

Big Hole

The largest of the four separate extinct volcano pipes in Kimberley where massive quantities of diamonds were found.

Black claim-holders

Individuals who were prohibited from owning diamond claims in the $1870s$ after the British gained control, forcing them to work for white owners.

Cecil John Rhodes

A mining magnate who arrived in South Africa in $1870$ and formed the De Beers Mining Company in $1880$, eventually gaining a monopoly on diamond mining.

Barney Barnato

A diamond millionaire and owner of the Kimberley Central Mining Company who eventually merged his interests with Cecil John Rhodes.

De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited

The company formed by the merger of Rhodes and Barnato's interests, which reduced the number of diamond claims at Kimberley from $1\,600$ to just one.

Annexation

The act of taking control of a country or region, particularly by force.

Compound

A fenced or walled area used to house mineworkers; intended to prevent the theft and unauthorized sale of diamonds.

Migrant labour

Casual and unskilled workers who move systematically from one region to another to offer temporary or seasonal services.

Closed compounds

Tightly controlled worker accommodation originating in Kimberley around $1885$ where workers were restricted from leaving before their contracts expired.

King Sekhukhune

The leader of the Pedi who armed his people by sending regiments to work in Kimberley and defeated the Boers in $1876$.

Hard rock mining

The mining method used on the Witwatersrand to extract gold reserves that are fully encased in rock deep underground, sometimes reaching depths of $3\,900\,metres$.

Chemical beneficiation

A refining process where chemicals such as cyanide or activated carbon are added to rough ore to produce gold of up to $99.9999\%$ purity.

Randlords

A small group of financiers and magnates who controlled the main finance houses at the apex of the gold mining industry.

Chamber of Mines

An organization formed in $1887$ to eliminate competition among mining companies for labor and to agree on common wage policies.

Township Franchise Ordinance (1924)

Natal legislation that deprived Indian residents of municipal franchise or voting rights.

Colour Bar Act (1926)

Also known as the Mines and Works Amendments Act, it required certificates of competency for skilled work from which Indian workers were excluded.

AmaWasha

Zulu men who surprisingly dominated the laundry work in the early days of Johannesburg.

Jameson Raid (1896)

A failed attempt to overthrow the Boer government in Pretoria that ended in a fiasco at Doornkop.

Randjieslaagte

The name of the original farm on which the town of Johannesburg was established in $1886$.