The Boer War, also known as the South African War, was a fierce and defining conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics — the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. It took place from 1899 to 1902 and reshaped the political future of South Africa. How It Started The roots of the Boer War stretch back decades before the first gunshot was fired. The Boers were descendants of Dutch settlers who had moved inland during the 1830s and 1840s in what was known as the Great Trek. They established independent republics to escape British control in the Cape Colony Tension between the British and the Boers grew over political authority, land, and economic power. The discovery of diamonds in Kimberley in 1867 and gold in the Transvaal in 1886 changed everything. Gold attracted thousands of foreign workers, mostly British, known as “Uitlanders.” The British government wanted political rights and influence in the Boer territories, partly to cont...