Cape Frontier Wars
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Cape Frontier Wars also called Kaffir wars or Kafir wars (1779-1879) was 100 years of intermittent warfare and nine different wars between the Cape colonists and the Xhosa agricultural and pastoral peoples of the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. One of the most prolonged struggles by African peoples against European intrusion, it ended in the annexation of Xhosa territories by the Cape Colony and the incorporation of its peoples.
- 1st Cape Frontier War, 1779
- 2nd Cape Frontier War, 1793
- 3rd Cape Frontier War, 1799-1801
- 4th Cape Frontier War, 1811
- 5th Cape Frontier War, 1818-19
- 6th Cape Frontier War, 1834-36
- 7th Cape Frontier War, 1846
- 8th Cape Frontier War, 1851-53
- 9th Cape Frontier War, 1877-78
The 6th Cape Frontier War, 1834-36
Catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total 40 farmers (Boere) were murdered and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition 5 700 horses, 115 000 piece of cattle and 162 000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribes people.
By the end of the war 7 000 people of all race groups were left homeless. Cape governor Benjamin D'Urban took far-reaching steps to prevent similar conflicts in future. These were however not to the liking of British minister of colonies, Lord Glenelg, who decided to cancel all the measures and to accuse the Boere as instigators of the conflict. As a result the Boer community lost faith in the British justice system and often took the law into their own hands when cattle rustlers were caught.
The 7th Cape Frontier War, 1846
Known as the "War of the Ax". Tension continued to simmer between farmers and marauders. When an ax was stolen from a farmer, events overtook one another until the eastern Cape Colony is once again in the grips of a war.
See also
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