Diamonds, Gold, and War
The British, the Boers, and the Making of South Africa
PublicAffairs · Print & ebook · September 23, 2008
Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world.
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- Who it’s for
- How mineral wealth sharpened imperial conflict in southern Africa.
- Genres
- South Africa History, Other Military Conflicts, Imperialism
- Published
- PublicAffairs, September 23, 2008
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world’s richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land.
Continue reading
The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer republics. The New Yorker calls this magisterial account of those years “[an] astute history.… Meredith expertly shows how the exigencies of the diamond (and then gold) rush laid the foundation for apartheid.”
Wealth and Empire
How mineral wealth sharpened imperial conflict in southern Africa.
Come here for
- The collision of diamond and gold rushes with British-Boer rivalry
Expect
- A costly, bloody war told through imperial rivalry and mineral wealth
Where it sits
| South Africa History | 63% |
|---|---|
| Other Military Conflicts | 30% |
| Imperialism | 26% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 19th-Century History
- South Africa History
- Political History & Ideas
- Authors
- Martin Meredith
- Publisher
- PublicAffairs
- Published
- September 23, 2008
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- 19th-Century History