Treaty of Vereeniging
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The Treaty of Vereeniging was a treaty signed on 31 May 1902 to end the Second Anglo-Boer War between the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State on one side and Great Britain on the other.
This settlement provided for the end of hostilities and eventual self-government to the Transvaal (South African Republic) and the Orange Free State as colonies of the British Empire. The Afrikaner republics agreed to come under the sovereignty of the British monarch and the British government agreed on various details including the following:
- To eventually give the Transvaal and the Orange Free State self-government (granted in 1906 and 1907, respectively).
- To avoid discussing the native (Black) enfranchisement issue until self-government had been given (not completely achieved until 1994).
- To pay the Afrikaners £3,000,000 in reconstruction aid.
- To imprison only Cape Afrikaner rebel leaders.
- To allow the use of Dutch (later Afrikaans) in the schools and law courts.
Subsequent to the British government giving the Boer colonies self-government, the Union of South Africa was created on 31 May 1910. It later gained complete independence under the 1926 Imperial Conference and the 1931 Statute of Westminster. It became a republic in 1961.
Although the treaty is named after the town of Vereeniging, where the peace negotiations took place, it was actually signed at Melrose House in Pretoria.
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