Tardis Time! (Or South African History, pt 2)

Okay, I've been bad about posting again. And now I'm going to post a long history fact, which probably does not make up for my tardiness. However, it must be done and there is no time like the present. I will throw in a reference to a nerdy TV show that I've recently gotten hooked on, to spice it up a little...So, let us board the Tardis and head for where I left off in part one, which is 1652!

Preparing to board the Tardis

Okay, back in 1652, there are all these Dutch people on the Cape growing fruits and vegetables in order to prevent scurvy in the East India Trading Company's sailors. This area eventually became known as Cape Town, and with time the Dutch spread across the entire southern tip of South Africa. Not much exciting happens in this time period apart from fruit and vegetable farming. So, fast forward to 1815 and South Africa is being transformed into a British Colony following the Napoleonic wars. The Dutch decided to pack up and treck North to get away from the British. While avoiding the British, the Dutch ran headlong into tribes that had moved south from central Africa. Most notably, they encountered the Zulu people, who were not too keen on being shoved to the side by advancing Boers. At the time, the Zulu people were led by Shaka Zulu, who began shifting tribal life away from loosely-organized collections of kingdoms and towards a centralized, militaristic state. Despite Shaka's efforts, the Boers triumphed and formed their own Afrikaner state in the north, including Transvaal (AKA South African Republic) and Orange Free State.

King Shaka Zulu

In 1899, the English they decided they wanted to annex this Boer Afrikaner kingdom in the north, which sparked the the second Anglo-Boer War. As the name suggests, there had been problems before 1899. The first Anglo-Boer war occurred from 1880-1881, and was a rebellion of Boer farmers against British rule in the Transvaal. The Boers won a fairly quick and decisive victory against the British. The Second Boer war, however, was a little rougher for the Boers and British alike. It lasted from 1899-1902, and ended with the British converting the Boer Republics into British Colonies. The British defeated the Transvaal and Orange Free State in both open warfare and gorilla warfare. 

Now here comes what really came as a shock to me; the British were one of the first "modern powers" to utilize concentration camps. They would round up and isolate Boer civilian populations, particularly women and children. Many died while in these camps. Ironically, this greatly angered the German Empire (and supplied ideas for later times?).

Boer Child from a British Concentration Camp

In 1910, South Africa became a Union, a coalition between the English and Afrikaner states. 

I don't know if you find this as interesting as I did, but I did notice that most of this history focuses on the strife of the foreign settlers in Africa. What about the native peoples of Africa? I intend to answer that question in my next fact, if indeed it can be answered. 

CHEETAH TIME!

Cheetahs are famous for their low levels of genetic diversity, meaning that they are all very closely related to one another. They are like one big royal family! Cheetahs are so closely related that skin grafts do not cause immune responses. The cause of this lack of diversity seems to be due a population bottleneck, meaning that the number of breeding animals dropped significantly, perhaps as low as 500 total animals. This bottleneck is usually attributed to the climate change that occurred at the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago.