(

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

for "Little Free State") was a short-lived

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

in what is now

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

(around the town of

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

History

From around 1876, a group of Boers lived on land bought from the Swazi king

Mbandzeni Mbandzeni (also known as Dlamini IV, Umbandine, Umbandeen) (1855–1889) was the King of Swaziland from 1872 until 1889. Ingwenyama Mbandzeni was the son of Mswati II and Nandzi Nkambule. His mother the wife of King Mswati had died when he was ...

. In 1886, a formal government was formed, following the adoption of a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

. King Mbandzeni sold the land but kept his kingdom. He was another son of Mswati II, ruling from 1875 to 1889. This state existed until 1891 when it was incorporated into the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when i ...

(Transvaal). The flag of the Klein Vrystaat is almost identical to the Transvaal's own : a horizontal red-white-blue triband with a vertical green stripe near the hoist. The difference between the two lies in that the width of the green stripe was equal to the height of the horizontal stripes in the Klein Vrystaat flag, and a quarter thicker in the Transvaal flag. The KVS was mainly a white (largely

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cast ...

) community located on Swazi-owned land along the kingdom's southwestern border with the Transvaal, which was granted in 1877 by iNgwenyama Mbandzeni Dlamini to two hunters: Joachim Johannes Ferreira and Frans Ignatius Maritz. The land consisted of northeast of the present town of

. What Mbandzeni thought he had granted was in the nature of a permanent grazing concession, but Ferreira and Maritz opened up the territory to Afrikaner settlement and subdivided into small farms. Mbandzeni finally gave them the permission to form their own ''labndla'' (council), which led to their establishment of a local government, consisting of a president and council, with its own constitution and laws. In 1886, the settlers declared their independence as the Little Free State and were able to rebuff Mbandzeni's halfhearted attempts to evict them on the grounds that they had exceeded his mandate. In 1888, Ferreira and Maritz requested that the

(ZAR) incorporate them into the Transvaal, claiming that Mbandzeni had renounced his authority over them. At that point, Mbandzeni reasserted his sovereignty over the territory and demanded an annual rental payment of £21, but, by then, it was too late. By the terms of the first

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its n ...

Convention (1890), the Little Free State was incorporated into the ZAR, with the accord of the British, as part of the

Piet Retief, Mpumalanga Piet Retief, officially eMkhondo, is a town situated in a timber-growing region in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. It is the seat of the Mkhondo Local Municipality. It is located not far from the Eswatini border. History The town was founded ...

district. However, the creation of the Nieuwe Republiek Zuid Afrika in 1884, and the Klein Vrystaat in Swaziland 1886 as a miniature republic. In each case, use was made of tribal warfare among the African population to introduce a small army of Europeans, who, having defeated one of the contenders in the tribal war, exacted their price, in land, from the victor. In addition, the Europeans arrived in greater numbers throughout the 1880s, after the discovery of gold in neighboring Transvaal and at Piggs Peak and Forbes Reef in Swaziland. Mswati's son, Mbandzeni, granted large chunks of his territory in concessions to the new arrivals, emboldening Britain to ignore his claims to most of the rest, and, by the time Swaziland became a

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its in ...

of the

in 1894, there was precious little land left. After their victory in the

Second Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, Britain assumed control of the territory and retained it until 1968. The Swazi saw the Zulus' refusal to allow white farmers, traders and missionaries to penetrate their land, leading to Britain's destruction of the Zulu monarchy in 1879. In the 1880s, King Mbandzeni granted numerous concessions to Boer graziers, and British traders and miners. This amounted to a "paper conquest" of Swaziland. After the Zulu War, the Swazis aided the British in dismantling the Pedi Kingdom. In gratitude, Britain promised the Swazis they would retain their independence. This was despite the "

scramble for Africa The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonization of most of Africa by seven Western European powers during a short period known as New Imperialism ...

" in the 1880s. In 1886 the discovery of gold made the Transvaal the prime force in southern Africa. The Boers demanded British agreement to their expansion either north across the

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature ...

(Rhodesia-Zimbabwe) or east through Swaziland (the road to the sea). Britain reversed its position on Swazi independence and by 1894 had allowed the Transvaal to establish control over Swaziland.Patricks. "Swazi History Olden Times to 1900". SNTC. July 2000. Feb. 26 2008..

Footnotes

References

* Alan R. Booth. ''Historical Dictionary of Swaziland'' Second Edition. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. London 2000. pp. 150–151. * A.J. Christopher. ''Land Policy in Southern Africa During the Nineteenth Century''. Department of Geography, University of Port Elizabet. pp. 6–7. * "The Rough Guide to South Africa." Rough Guides. 2007. Feb. 26 2008.. * Richard M. Patricks. "Swazi History Olden Times to 1900". SNTC. July 2000. Feb. 26 2008..

External links

Klein Vrystaat at Flags of the World
{{coord missing, South Africa States and territories disestablished in 1891 Former countries in Africa Former republics 19th century in Africa States and territories established in 1886 1886 establishments in Africa 1886 establishments in South Africa

History

See also

Footnotes

References

External links