Oom Paul's People: A Narrative of the British-Boer Troubles in South Africa, with a History of the Boers, the Country, and Its Institutions — John Shaqi
Oom Paul's People: A Narrative of the British-Boer Troubles in South Africa, with a History of the Boers, the Country, and Its InstitutionsHillegas, Howard Clemens
History
Oom Paul's People: A Narrative of the British-Boer Troubles in South Africa, with a History of the Boers, the Country, and Its Institutions
Hillegas, Howard Clemens
Afrikaners -- History; Kruger, Paul, 1825-1904; Transvaal (South Africa) -- History -- 1880-1910
On the Randt the California scenes of ’49 were being re-enacted. Tents
and houses of sheet iron were erected with picturesque lack of beauty
and uniformity, and during the latter part of 1886 the community had
reached such proportions that the Government marked off a township and
called it Johannesburg. The Government, which owned the greater part of
the land, held three sales of building lots, or "stands," as they are
called in the Transvaal, and realized more than three hundred thousand
dollars from the sales. The prices of stands measuring fifty by one
hundred feet ranged from one dollar to one thousand dollars. Millions
were secured in England and Europe for the development of the mines, and
the individual miner sold his claims to companies with unlimited
capital. The incredibly large dividends that were realized by some of
the investors led to too heavy investments in the Stock Exchange in
1889, and a panic resulted. Investors lost thousands of pounds, and for
several months the future of the gold fields appeared to be most gloomy.
The opening of the railway to Johannesburg and the re-establishment of
stock values caused a renewal of confidence, and the growth and
development of the Randt was imbued with renewed vigour.
Owing to the Boers’ lack of training and consequent inability to share
in the development of the gold fields, the new industry remained almost
entirely in the hands of the newcomers, the Uitlanders, and two totally
different communities were created in the republic. The Uitlanders, who,
in 1890, numbered about one hundred thousand, lived almost exclusively
in Johannesburg and the suburbs along the Randt. The Boers, having
disposed of their farms and lands on the Randt, were obliged to occupy
the other parts of the republic, where they could follow their pastoral
and agricultural pursuits.
The natural contempt which the Englishmen, who composed the majority of
the Uitlander population, always have for persons and races not their
intellectual or social equals, soon created a gulf between the Boers and
the newcomers. This line of cleavage was extended when the newcomers
attempted to obtain a foothold in the politics of the country. The
Boers, who had been suddenly outnumbered three to one, naturally
resented the interference, especially as it came from persons who had no
desire to become permanent residents of the country, and who wanted a
voice in the conduct of the national affairs only as a means to attain
their own ends, without caring about the welfare of the entire republic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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