Boers and Griquas and Prisoners. Oh My!: A TLIAD, Collaborative MOTM TL

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What's all this then?

It's a TLIAD. Well, fortnight at least.

Jumping on the bandwagon are we?

The time limit does lend itself to this.

But that's British politics. This... it's not even politics!

So?

You can't just break tradition like that. You're British!

And what's more British than slowly adding more and more to an idea until it represents something much vaguer than the original concept.

You're just trying to prove your Politibrit credentials aren't you

...No comment.

Anyway, you've got far too much to do, what about Imperium Resurgam?

2025 Elections are proving a pain to write

The Empress's Decision?

You know as well as I do that the rewrite will probably be eternal.

The English Council Series? The 1885 basemap? And you've got a map to do for this.

Pre-colonial west Africa is a massive headache you know. And anyway I've
got help.

Who from?


Hello

Oh good God.

Sorry I'm late

O mesmo poderia afirmar relativamente à A África que o Português Criou

Oh shush you.

Troubles with the internal monologue?

Yes

Wait, what language was that?

Português, Obviamente

Portuguese? But you're from St. Louis!

Já leu seu material?

... Fair enough I suppose.

Could you not argue when I can't hear half the conversation please?

I'll fill you in later.

Thanks

É mesmo? Está a fazer-nos essa mapa e Linha do Tempo sobre a África do Sul

Well with these two it was going to be either that or Switzerland.

Isso é verdade

We've found a way to combine the two

Como!?

What!?

Southern Africa with the federal complexity of Switzerland!

Oh dear Lord...

Oh, meu Deus...

Let's get started shall we...
 
Setting the Stage

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This 1744 map contains New Holland and the postulated location of Terra Australis. This represented the best European knowledge of the areas, based largely on the voyages of Abel Tasman, and some supplemental knowledge from occasional Dutch visits after. Many believed Terra Australis would be an ideal location for a European colony, as its postulated position gave it the capacity to serve as a base for its colonizer to dominate the Southern Pacific.


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Once the Transit of Venus had been observed by scientists attached to Captain Cook's expedition, HMS Endeavour departed Tahiti. Once at sea, Captain Cook opened sealed orders from the British Admiralty, to search for the rumored Terra Australis, a hypothesized Southern Continent. In October of 1769, Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour became the first ship to reach the coastline of Aotearoa[1] since Abel Tasman's Heemskerck. Cook spent the next six months close to the shore of Aotearoa, circumnavigating the two main islands, conclusively proving they were not the famed Terra Australis. Indeed, Cook's catographer's believed it to be "Nieuw Zeeland" partially charted by Abel Tasman. On 31 March, Cook proclaimed British sovereignty over Aotearoa (though Cook likely referred to the place as "New Zealand" a corrupted translation of the original Dutch "Nieuw Zeeland"). After this, Cook's expedition continued west, with the hope they would happen upon Terra Australis. On 19 April, HMS Endeavour (Cook's ship) sighted the eastern shore of what Cook's expedition believed to be Terra Australis (but in reality was the continent of New Holland[2]). On 29 April, Captain Cook landed at Baie des Raies[3] (known to Cook as Botanist or Botany Bay), but no evidence of this was left to posterity. For the next several weeks, Cook's voyage charted what they believed to be the coast of Terra Australis until fate would strike HMS Endeavour and Captain Cook.

Just before 11 pm on 11 June 1770, HMS Endeavour struck a reef part of the Grande Barrière de Corail (Great Coral Reef) system. The coral reef embedded deep into the hull of HMS Endeavour to the point where the ship was immobilized. The sails of the ship were immediately taken down, a kedging anchor[4] set and an unsuccessful attempt was made to move the ship back to open water. After the unsuccessful attempt, Captain Cook ordered that HMS Endeavour be lightened to enable the ship to float off the reef. As nearly 50 tons of equipment (including Cannon) were thrown overboard, the ship began to rise a bit off the coral, water began to rush into the hull of HMS Endeavour. The three pumps aboard HMS Endeavour were then used non-stop to get water out of the ship faster than it could get in. Captain Cook even took a turn using the pumps as more equipment was overthrown. At the morning high tide of 12 June HMS Endeavour was unable to rise from the reef. Cook decided to lighten HMS Endeavour even further, and deployed two more kedging anchors and the ships 3 dinghy's in an attempt to float HMS Endeavour at the evening high tide. Around 10:20 pm, HMS Endeavour floated from the reef into open waters and two of her anchors were retrieved. However, as HMS Endeavour left the reef, the ship began to take upon far more water than anticipated. Despite all three pumps being used non-stop, the ship began taking in more water than was pumped out. Midshipman Jonathon Monkhouse proposed fothering the ship to plug the gap, as he had successfully utilized the technique on a merchant ship. Forthering was attempted early on 13 June, but the hole in the ship's hull proved too large for the technique to work. With the water level rising higher and higher within HMS Endeavour's hull, Captain Cook made the decision to abandon ship.

The three dinghys accompanying HMS Endeavour were unable to carry the entire crew, so the fateful decision had to be made as to who would abandon ship and who would go down with HMS Endeavour's. A few volunteers offered to stay on board , and lots were cast among the rest of the men. Captain Cook was initially among the men selected to abandon ship, but when his second lieutenant Zachary Hickes was selected to go down with the ship, Cook insisted that Hickes take his place (Cook had a great deal of admiration for the 31 year old, who had proven to be a capable commander, and had saved Cook and many others from a Māori attack while on Aotearoa). Hickes and many others exchanged words with those who were chosen or resolved to stay, and departed aboard the three dinghys. Undermanned, HMS Endeavour would sink just hours later (taking with it many men and priceless scientific collections) about 15 kilometers off the coast of New Holland[2], Captain Cook never knowing the nature of his discovery's. However, Cook's sacrifice was soon proven to be in vain. Just hours after HMS Endeavour sunk, strong rain and gales struck the remaining crew of the expedition, and pushed their dignhys away from the coast and each other. The remains of the last surviving crew members of HMS Endeavour have never been found. It took another few years before members of the Great Britain's government began to suspect that Captain Cook and his crew were dead. The British Admiralty commissioned a fleet of 3 ships in Portsmouth to be built to attempt another expedition to find Terra Australis, but the outbreak of the American Revolution shelved these plans as the three newly commissioned ships were needed by the Royal Navy. A British voyage to Terra Australis was no longer a high priority for the immediate future.

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HMS Endeavour shortly before sinking
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François Henri de la Motte was described as "a handsome gentleman of rank, elegantly dressed, and in the prime of life". The circumstances of how he ended up in the United Kingdom are unclear, but de la Motte moved to the United Kingdom from France sometime during the 1760s or early 1770s. When hostility between France and Great Britain broke out in 1778, de la Motte resided in the city of Portsmouth, an important base for the British Navy. De la Motte, with a number of confidants began recording fleet dispositions in Portsmouth, and sending this information back to France. This information was of great benefit to the French Navy, which was able to utilize this knowledge to better coordinate efforts against the British in the West Indies. However, on 23 October, 1780, one of de la Motte's confidants, Henry Lutterloh, betrayed him to the British, and de la Motte was arrested the following day on suspicion of being a spy. De la Motte was held in the Tower of London for six months before standing trial. At a trial held at Old Bailey on 23 March, de la Motte received damning charges directed against him, with his former confidant Henry Lutterloh being called by the prosecution as their chief witness. Spying for a foreign nation was already a treasonous charge, but spying for a foreign nation in opening hostility with the United Kingdom would carry the harshest sentence available. The presiding judge at Old Bailey ordered that de la Motte be hanged, drawn and quartered. De la Motte was set to be executed 5 days later at Tyburn. A crowd of more than 85,000 people gathered to witness de la Motte's execution at Tyburn. After hanging for nearly an hour, François Henri de la Motte was taken down and his heart cut out and burned, he was then emasculated and quartered, and buried in an unidentified coffin a few days later. This gruesome execution served as a useful deterrent many within the French spy network.

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François Henri de la Motte (??? - 2 August 1780)
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Great Britain declared war on the United Provinces of the Netherlands on 20 December 1780. Formally, the British charged the Dutch with harboring American Privateers, but the United Kingdom's true motives for war with the Netherlands was contrary to the stated casus belli. The United Kingdom primarily sought to prevent Dutch ascension into the League of Armed Neutrality, but also sought to capture strategic Dutch colonial possessions. One of these coveted possessions was the Dutch Cape Colony, which was an important way station between the United Kingdom and her possessions in the Indian Subcontinent. Dutch Cape Colony was also deemed a suitable candidate for a penal colony. With the long-term fate of the American Colonies uncertain, many alternative locations for a penal colony were proposed. Some proposed setting up a colony in the rumored Terra Australis, but Captain Cook's failure to return made many skeptical of the existence of the fabled continent. To this effect, the United Kingdom began to collect a force to capture the Dutch Cape Colony. The force assembled to capture the colony consisted of 37 ships, including five ships of the line, three frigates, and a large number of troop convoy ships carrying 4,000 soldiers. Commodore George Johnstone was placed in command of the operation, which departed from Portsmouth on 13 March 1781.

The Dutch Cape Colony was completely unaware of the approaching British juggernaut. News reached Cape Town of the British declaration of war only on 31 March 1781 from the French corvette La Sylphide. La Sylphide also announced that the United Provinces had the support of France and could expect a French contingent to reinforce the colony. This was welcomed news, as the few soldiers the Cape Colony had were largely preoccupied combating Bushmen and Xhosa raiders on the frontier of the colony. The approaching British fleet stopped at the port of Praia in Portuguese Cape Verde on 12 April to take on water and departed from Praia a week later. Hoping to avoid Dutch anticipation of his attack, George Johnstone ordered his fleet to fly French Colors. On the morning of 3 June, the British fleet arrived outside Cape Town still flying French colors. As the British fleet entered Table Bay, Johnstone ordered the British colors raised, catching the Dutch completely by surprise. As Cape Town was pounded by British cannon fire, troopships landed the 4,000 soldier contingent at Blue Mountain Beach (known by the Dutch as Bloubergstrand). Cape Town capitulated to the British the following day, with the British suffering very minimal casualties. After consolidating control of Cape Town, Johnstone dispatched 750 men under the command of James Alms to seize the other two major settlements of the Dutch Cape Colony: Stellenbosch and Swellendam. Stellenbosch fell without much resistance (being so close to Cape Town and not given ample time to prepare a defense), but a number of Free Burghers[5] living in the vicinity of Swellendam attacked the British contingent using Guerrilla tactics. While the British seized Swellendam, the garrison was under sporadic siege, and supply lines into the city were frequently cut off well into 1783, when an armistice when an armistice was reached between the British and her opponents, alleviating the threat to Cape Town and enabling acting governor Johnstone to deploy more soldiers to deal with the guerrilla action. The Treaty of Paris (1784) formally concluded hostilities between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and assigned Cape Colony, along with the port of Negapatam in India to the United Kingdom. While the United Kingdom now owned Cape Colony de jure, much of the colony's North and East lacked any meaningful British presence.

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Storming of Cape Town
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After the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, the Kingdom of France was free to use its navy for non-military pursuits. With Captain Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour presumed dead, the existence of the rumored Terra Australis was left in doubt. King Louis XVI and Minisiter of the Marine Charles Eugène Gabriel de La Croix, commissioned Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse to head an expedition around the world. The aims of the expedition were to confirm or deny the existence of the fabled Terra Australis, complete maps of the Southern Pacific, establish possible trade contacts, enrich French scientific collections and establish a tentative claim to any potentially valuable lands. Among the crew selected for Lapérouse's expedition were eleven scientists including: astronomers, mathematicians, a geologist, a botanist, physicists, three naturalists, and three illustrators. Also included on the voyage was a promising young second lieutenant from Paris's military, Napoléon Bonaparte who demonstrated proficiency in mathematics and artillery, skills important for Lapérouse's expedition. Lapérouse and 220 other men departed Brest on 1 August 1785, commencing a four year voyage. Over the next two years, Lapérouse's expedition explored a variety of places in the Pacific including the Navigator Islands[6], where 11 men, including 2 scientists, were killed by the natives. After the attack, the ship turned south-east and sought to make contact with the postulated Terra Australis.

On 24 January 1788, Lapérouse's fleet arrived outside Baie des Raies[3] (named after the abundant population of Stingrays found in the bay). A strong gale kept the fleet from entering the bay until 26 January 1788. Second Lieutenant Napoléon Bonaparte was the first ashore (Lapérouse allegedly said "Jump out Bonaparte" as the dinghy touched the beach), and is widely credited with being the first European to set foot on what would become the nation of Australie (a number of scholars claim Cook landed there, but no conclusive evidence has been found). Lapérouse's expedition would spend nearly 3 months at Baie des Raies. The first Christian service (a Catholic Mass) and first geological observations in what would become Australie occured at Baie des Raies during these three months, in addition to the construction to of a garden and various scientific platforms and the collection of a number of botanical samples. Four crewmen died at Baie des Raies and were buried there with Christian ceremony. Occasional, intermittent contact was made with the aborigine people in the area. On 10 April, the expedition departed Baie des Raies and headed north and charted the coast of what appeared to be Terra Australis. On 22 June, Lapérouse's fleet arrived at Île de la Possession[7] and came to the realization that the land they had charted was not Terra Australis, but part of New Holland[6] (their maps had begun to suggest that the coast of "Terra Australis" was really that of New Holland, but the (re)discovery of Île de la Possession, which was on previous maps of the area, confirmed this). On Île de la Possession, Lapérouse officially claimed all of the area's his expedition demarcated (but did not overlap with New Holland) for France. This territory eventually came to be known as Australie (and largely corresponds to the modern nation of the same name). Lapérouse's expedition retraced most of is route along the eastern coast of New Holland, spending a two week in September at Baie des Raies, before heading further South. Over the next several months, the fleet conclusively proved the extent of New Holland, and claimed further stretches of previously unclaimed (by Europeans at least) land for France (mainly along the Southern shore of New Holland). The expedition spent two days in British Cape Town to resupply in early February. Lapérouse confiscated all crew journals and ordered that the members of the expedition remain silent about the new discoveries, which they did. Lapérouse's fleet arrived back in France on 15 June, just a month before France would descend into an abyss...

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Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse ashore on Baie des Raies.
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[1] - New Zealand
[2] - Australia Continent
[3] - OTL Botany Bay
[4] - a light Anchor used to turn a ship
[5] - Free Farmers of Dutch Cape Colony
[6] - Samoa
[7] - Possession Island (Queensland)
 
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Ooh, I've always wondered about a "Bonaparte Sails South" timeline but I never thought of combining it with a sadder end for James Cook. I am deeply intrigued.
 
Very interesting gentlemen, very interesting! Looking forward to what I am sure will be an excellent map for an excellent timeline!
 
THE CAPE PROVINCE
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cape_province_motm2__map_1_by_imperatordeelysium-d7qx8e6.png
Capital: Cape Town
Large Cities: Salisbury, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay
Official Religion: none
Official Languages: English; Afrikaans
Population: 8,822,734
White: 4,435,241
Coloured: 2,972,365
African: 1,223,302
Asian and Other:191,826​
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The historic political, economic and demographic core of the South African Federation, the history of Cape Province is in many ways emblematic of the history of the nation as a whole, from Dutch colony, to British outpost, to the oft styled 'beating heart of the African Continent'.
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Founded as a waypoint on the journey to India by the Dutch VOC, the Cape Colony was initially a small trading outpost, but gradually became a centre of Dutch settlement overseas by those seeking a better life than that available in Europe. By the time of the British capture of the colony in 1781, the population of the Dutch Cape of Good Hope Colony had reached approximately 50,000, of which about half were Dutch settlers and their descendents- increasingly known as 'Afrikaaner Dutch' and half black slaves descended from the indigenous Khoikhoi and Hottentots who had been forced to seek work on the Dutch farms through the impact of smallpox on the communities.[1]
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British conquest brought a watershed in the history of the Cape. Already chafing under the tariffs and controls of the VOC, the few farmers of the interior assumed de facto independence[2], while Swellendam would prove particularly difficult to subdue. By 1783, Britain had secured the three provinces of the Kaapstadt, now renamed Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Swellendam, though disgruntled Afrikaaners would leave for the relative freedom of the interior. Despite this, and the fact that the formal cessation of the colony to Britain would not occur until the following year, the first fleet of convicts transported from Britain arrived later that year. They were settled in the district, then on the edge of Cape Town, that was ironically nicknamed Newgate after the London Prison, a designation that has stuck to this day.
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The initial period of British rule, lasting from 1781 to 1798 under the governorships of Johnstone, Macartney and Dundas, was dominated by the early problems of establishing and maintaining the fledgling penal colony and the relations between the rapidly growing British community and the Dutch colonists. Most of the prisoners were there on 7 year internments, after which they were free to move at will or return to the Britain, and initially at least they could be put to work on those farms abandoned by the owners during the initial takeover process. With the arrival of the second fleet in 1785, and the third in 1787, however, new land was required to be worked further inland. With most of the convicts taking brides from among the African community the area around Cape Town in particular began to become largely anglicized, while overall the population in the three districts of the British controlled cape doubled in this period, with the demographic balance now being split in rough thirds between the Afrikaaners, an ethnically mixed English-speaking population and the Black African population still largely enslaved.
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The resignation of Dundas over the 1797 Eureka breakout and his replacement by Charles Somerset saw the second great watershed in the history of the Cape. With increasing Anglicization, and the resultant growth in the coloured population of the colony, the nascent legislature of the colony passed legislation in 1808 granting much greater rights to the coloured community and allowing them to own land in their own right[3]. This led to what soon became known as the Great Trek of Afrikaaner farmers, or Boers, from the Cape Colony, first into Natalia and Doleriet, and later across the Orange River into what would become the Orange Free State after the latter was brought under British rule in 1837. With this, the province became decisively Anglophone, though to this day a significant Afrikaaner minority remains.
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The abolition of slavery across the British Empire in 1834 saw the introduction of the final component of the Cape's complex ethnic mix. With the existing Cape Malay populace now liberated, and largely moving to the Boh-Cape district[4], Indian labourers began to be brought over in small numbers to supplement African labour, though the bulk of that population would arrive later in the century.
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As such, when the Cape Colony was granted responsible government in 1858, it was with a relatively broad franchise based solely on the ownership of property worth £25 or above- and thus including large numbers in the coloured community and most of the small Xhosa community in the far east of the colony. With the discovery of diamonds in the sparsely settled East of the Eureka Republic, and the subsequent annexation of the area to the Cape as the Salisbury district[5], the economy of the Cape skyrocketed, and mass immigration, both internal and external, to the area drove a period of sustained economic prosperity through the 1860s and 70s, which itself prompted the 1875 customs and currency union with Doleriet, British Kaffraria, the Eureka Republic and the Sabeland protectorate.
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From the 1880s the colonies and protectorates of British South Africa became dominated by a single issue: that of federation. London, seeing the success of confederation in Canada, now sought to bring together her possessions in Southern Africa economically and politically. In this they were greatly supported by Sir Cecil Rhodes, the 12th Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and first of the Federation of South Africa, who through negotiations with his counterpart in the Somerset colony, the President of the Oranje Free State and the Kings of Basutoland and Zululand successfully combined the existing customs areas in the Cape, Trans-orange and Somerset-Zululand with Basutoland and the Xhosa states of the Transkei in 1884. 12 years of protracted negotiations later and the Federation of South Africa was born. For what was now known as Cape Province, this meant the opening of new markets, and the easing of restrictions on the movement of people from the Labour-rich protectorates of Bechuanaland the Transvaal to the mines of the Northern district.
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The 1897 constitution of the federation located the capital in Cape Town, with suffrage for elections both provincially and federally left to the provincial legislatures to determine[6], and thus the Cape's famously liberal franchise, which by this time allowed women the vote on the same property qualification as men and, with the initial £25 figure being unadjusted for inflation, was rapidly beginning to bring members of the working class into the franchise. As a result, full suffrage for all men and women over the age of 21 was implemented in 1917, and the age lowered to 18 in 1923. The dawn of federation also brought Dominion status for South Africa, being most notable for being the first of the dominions to include native protectorates within its borders.
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The first half of the 20th Century saw a period of prolonged political and economic trouble for the Federation. Small-scale mutinies and revolts by elements of the South African army and the populace in objection to fighting Germany broke out throughout the First Great War[7], particularly as the fighting dragged on and war exhaustion set in. This was followed by mass protests by the trade unions over working conditions, particularly in the mines of the north, and the growth of the Cape Labour Party in the 20s drawing much of its support from the black, coloured and small Indian community. A demographic slump in the white population and lack of immigration began to see the relative size of the black community increase throughout the Interwar period, and correspondingly a rise in Afrikaaner nationalism, but this was less pronounced than in the Oranje and Transvaal.
The election to government of the Cape Labour Party in 1932, albeit as the largest part of a coalition government, saw the start of the most recent epoch of South African history. Initially focussed on domestic issues related to social welfare, education and working conditions, the solidarity movement with similar organisations and parties across the Federation, combined with the landmark introduction of voting rights to the populace of the Zulu Kingdom in 1934, saw the South African Labour movement become the chief champion of universal suffrage across the Federation.
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The Second Great War, and the subsequent boom in immigration due to incentives and schemes created by the government to attract poor Europeans and Americans, was to be the final watershed moment for the Federation and the Cape. With the war years seeing a 'National' government of unity in power on the federal level, the increased prominence of what had now become the South African Labour Party- the first major party to stand in multiple provinces as a single entity rather than an electoral alliance- and the agreements of the legislatures the Cape, Zululand, Bastutoland, Eureka and most of the other major members of the federation, a new constitution was drawn up in 1958 enforcing universal suffrage across the Federation, and slightly strengthening the powers of the federal government, though South Africa remains an entity in which most power lies with the provinces. To mark the occasion, the seat of government was moved away from Cape Town to the more centrally located, and highly multicultural, Pretoria. Cape Town, however, remains the true cultural centre of the federation to this day, most recently hosting the 1980 Summer Olympics.
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[1] All OTL up to this point. I've based the demographics for 1781 on a comparison between the 1750 and 1797 records, and the number of slaves on the 1756 Cape Town census.
[2] Roughly the area of the province of Graaff-Reyent OTL, though the latter town was founded after the PoD by the Dutch government.
[3] Broadly the same as Ordinance 50.
[4] Bo-Kaap OTL.
[5] Kimberly OTL.
[6] Australia OTL allowed clauses that would grandfather in suffrage for women or aborigines if the pre-federation colonial charter allowed them. In the event woman's suffrage was extended to the whole nation and the clause was determined to simply apply to current electors, but it provides a degree of precedent for this much more complex situation.
[7] Analogous, but smaller in scale than the Maritz rebellion OTL.
 
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This could be interesting. But I'll reserve judgement.

YEEEES. I shall be watching, like a limpet.

Thanks guys.

Ooh, I've always wondered about a "Bonaparte Sails South" timeline but I never thought of combining it with a sadder end for James Cook. I am deeply intrigued.

I'm afraid Bonaparte's adventures in Australie are going to be quite peripheral to the TL, though there's some interesting effects later.

Very interesting gentlemen, very interesting! Looking forward to what I am sure will be an excellent map for an excellent timeline!

Hope we don't disappoint you then.

Very nice setup - I'm looking forward to more.

Coming from you on an African TL, I'm taking that as high praise indeed;):D.
 
Thanks guys.



I'm afraid Bonaparte's adventures in Australie are going to be quite peripheral to the TL, though there's some interesting effects later.



Hope we don't disappoint you then.



Coming from you on an African TL, I'm taking that as high praise indeed;):D.

I'd like to second Alex Richards. Thanks for the support guys!
 
The one issue I see with TTL so far is there wouldn't have been very many black Africans around Cape Town in the late 17th century for the British convicts to interbreed with. The native black population of the Cape was only found much further to the east. There were black slaves that the Dutch brought in (largely from Mozambique and Madagascar), but basically no free blacks of South African origin during this period. Many of the slaves were not black either - they were often Malay (as you noted), Indian, or Khoisan.

If the British settled around OTL's Port Elizabeth, they would have had plenty of chances to mix with the Xhosa there. But not around the Cape proper, where they'd have to basically blend in with the growing "coloured" population of the region instead.
 
The one issue I see with TTL so far is there wouldn't have been very many black Africans around Cape Town in the late 17th century for the British convicts to interbreed with. The native black population of the Cape was only found much further to the east. There were black slaves that the Dutch brought in (largely from Mozambique and Madagascar), but basically no free blacks of South African origin during this period. Many of the slaves were not black either - they were often Malay (as you noted), Indian, or Khoisan.

If the British settled around OTL's Port Elizabeth, they would have had plenty of chances to mix with the Xhosa there. But not around the Cape proper, where they'd have to basically blend in with the growing "coloured" population of the region instead.

There's a small boost in the number of freed blacks initially as some of the farmsteads are abandoned, but in general yes the initial population would be mainly mixing with the coloured population. As is Cape Town is the site of the first settlement, but after a few years the convict settlements become more spread out along the coast, partially due to population pressures in the Cape, partially to try and ease tensions with the Afrikaaners by moving to more sparsely populated areas. As a general overview of the history there's a fair amount missed out of the posts of course.
 
FREE PROVINCE OF DOLERIET
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doleriet_province_motm_2__map_2_by_imperatordeelysium-d7qyvz6.png
Capital: Pietermaritzburg
Large Cities: Ant Artaire, Burgersdorp
Official Religion: Dutch Reformed Church[1]
Official Languages: Afrikaans; Xhosa
Population: 945,229
White: 143,306
Coloured: 109,721
African: 689,237
Asian and Other:2,875​
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Considered by some to be little more than an appendage of the Cape Province, separated from her larger neighbour by an accident of history, the 'Free Province' of Doleriet has a history both paralleling and widely diverging from that of the Cape.
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Though within the boundaries claimed by the Dutch Cape of Good Hope Colony, the area was sparsely inhabited at the point of British conquest, and Governor Johnstone, unlike his Dutch predecessor, had more pressing concerns than establishing towns away from the coast. As such, what would later become Doleriet slipped out of centralised control from Cape Town, becoming a very rural area settled by farmers and acting as a buffer for the colony against raids from the Xhosa and other groups of the interior. The initial population was swelled during this period by the small number of farmers who left the more settled areas of the Cape to escape British rule.[1] In this vein the area acted as a transit route for the prisoners of the Eureka breakout and the location of the famed James-Kirk agreement between the Irish and Boer communities.
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The departure of the first of the Trekkers from the Cape following the passage of the 'Coloured Acts' in 1811 was the start of a new chapter in the history of the wider region. Though few of the trekkers settled so close to the zone of British control initially, merely passing through to cross the Oranje River, the failure of the Natalia Republic in her conflicts with the Zulus drove much of the population of that attempted state to settle in the area[2]- still beyond the dictates of London as of yet. Founding the city of Pietermaritzburg[3] after their fallen leader, they named their new home Doleriet after the stones of the Great Karoo that surrounded them.
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By the 1830s, the growing demographic pressures within the Cape, combined with the desire to enforce the abolition of slavery throughout the claimed territories of the Empire, led to governor Wade to send an expedition to Pietermaritzburg to enforce the authority of Cape Town over the interior in 1835. In the event, the actual business of having to rule a hostile population meant that Doleriet would become a separate colony in the peace treaty of 1837, with the Boers granted significant autonomy in cultural and religious matters. The was insufficient to satisfy most, however, and a large part of the population, joined by the last significant group of Trekkers from the Cape in their outrage over the conquest of Doleriet, departed across the Oranje. The small Irish community, still containing some who had participated in the initial breakout of 1805 along with their black and coloured wives and families, departed on their great journey deep into the interior, leaving only a few Irish placenames in the vicinity of Ant Artaire[4] and a handful of farmers behind them.
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The next 30 years saw Doleriet largely left to her own devises, missing out on much of the economic growth and demographic change of the Cape, until the construction of the Salisbury-Cape Town railroad through Ant Artaire began to pull the 'Free Colony' as it was commonly known firmly into the orbit of the Cape and drove settlement and economic growth in the Northwest of the colony. Further integration into the economy and infrastructure of the Cape came with the Port Elizabeth-Salisbury line which passed through Pietermaritzburg before joining the main line at Ant Artaire. As a result, one of the first actions after the granting of responsible government in 1873 was the creation of a customs and currency union with the Cape colony, inaugurated in 1876.
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Unlike the more liberal, multicultural Cape, Doleriet remained a stronghold for what have been called 'Boer sensibilities', both before and after federation. The franchise was restricted to Whites and a few token coloureds- largely belonging to the handful of Hibernophone families left in the colony. Doleriet also remained much more conservative politically and socially, in contrast to the growing labour movement in the Cape. This was exemplified during the First Great War when the execution of Colonel Gert Fleichmann for mutiny made him a folk hero among the large population of German sympathisers within Doleriet and made the province a centre of the Retief rebellion[5].
.
The interwar years were dominated by increasing disputes between Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg over policy. Blacks and coloureds in Doleriet were enthused by the greater rights of the Cape province, some leaving for a better life in the Cape, some agitating for reform at home. Pietermaritzburg accused the Cape of harbouring dissidents and breaking the federal constitution by interfering in the affairs of a neighbouring province, while the Provincial government in Cape Town accused Doleriet of using economic means to try and drive their own black population out of the province. Meanwhile private individuals and groups within the Cape took up the cause of voting reform across the federation, with the injustices of Doleriet- where unfranchised blacks and coloureds made up the majority of the population- and its proximity to the federal capital making it a cause celebre of the movement.
.
Doleriet thus formed one of the largest members of the coalition against the provisions of the 1958 constitution, and after an unsuccessful attempt at repealing the move that lasted until 1964, the federal government eventually utilised special measures to force the dissolution of the provincial parliament in 1966 and call new elections with the expanded franchise. The result was a resounding victory for the Federal African Congress and large scale reforms soon followed. Unlike in the Oranje Free State and those provinces like it that had accepted the constitutional changes in good grace, the White community in Doleriet remains one of the chief bastions of support for nationalist Afrikaaner parties and the far right.
.
[1] Maintained by the FAC as a sop to the White community, though stripped of any influence.
[2] As detailed in the Cape chapter.
[3] Largely as OTL, though earlier and with the Trekkers forced to move to a different area.
[4] Near the site of OTL Graaff-Reinet
[5] De Aar OTL, with much the same etymology.
[6] The equivalent of the Maritz rebellion.
 
Very interesting TLIAD idea; I'm curious what the arrival of OTL Australians-to-be in South Africa will mean for the political and cultural landscape. I'll be keeping a close eye on this. Two quick comments;

-You mentioned in the Cape Province update, in the last paragraph, that the Second Great War led to a massive uptick in immigration from both Europe and America. I can get the first of the two, but would there really be a large number of immigrants from the USA (or even the Americas in general)? And,

-I noticed a reference in the Doleriet update to a treaty between Irish and Boer colonists, so-called the "James-Kirk Agreement"....I see what you did there :D.
 
-You mentioned in the Cape Province update, in the last paragraph, that the Second Great War led to a massive uptick in immigration from both Europe and America. I can get the first of the two, but would there really be a large number of immigrants from the USA (or even the Americas in general)?

The Massive uptick in immigration from the Americas is relative to the pre-War situation, not necessarily an indicator of large numbers of Americans moving to South Africa.

That being said, I suspect South Africa could probably manage to recruit twenty or thirty thousand Americans in the two decades after the Second Great War (I'm basing this partially on how many Americans the Rhodesians managed to attract)
 
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So: a more British South Africa, earlier federation with at least some of the Afrikaners on-side, Indian contract laborers in the Cape as well as *Natal, and natural erosion of the barriers to franchise (as opposed to what happened in OTL, which is that the Cape would raise the property threshold whenever it looked like too many Africans might get the vote). Very interesting indeed.

I assume the federation scheme's success in the 1880s, as opposed to ending with a Boer rebellion as in OTL, was due to the British being in a more commanding demographic and military position?
 
NATALIA REGION

natalia_provinces__motm_2__map_3_by_imperatordeelysium-d7rcc7p.png

Zulu Kingdom (Zululand)

Capital: Ulundi
Large Cities: Mkuze, Epangeni, Ezakheni
Official Religion: Nazareth Baptist Church; Zulu Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiZulu
Population: 6,467,302
White: 14,565
Coloured: 11,324
African: 6,438,587
Asian and Other:2,826

Somerset Province

Capital: Somerset
Large Cities: Aberdeen, Port Shepstone
Official Religion: none
Official Languages: English; isiZulu
Population: 4,767,309
White: 1,025,241
Coloured: 284,367
African: 2,565,875
Asian and Other:891,826

Sainte-Lucie

Capital: Sainte-Lucie
Large Cities:
Official Religion: none
Official Languages: French; Sainte-Lucie Creole
Population: 92,208
White: 43,925
Coloured: 8,271
African: 39,152
Asian and Other:860.

************************

Though closely linked economically and sharing a demographic background of isiZulu speakers, the three provinces of Natalia are notable for histories sharing a start and end point, but diverging vastly in between.

Though inhabited for centuries by Bantu tribes since their migration from the north, the modern history of the area begins with the reign of Shaka Zulu. Having united the Zulu chieftans of the Mthethwa Alliance in 1818, Shaka began a period of explosive growth, consolidating the core of the Kingdom in much its current borders, and exerting influence in a vast war zone that covered the whole of Natalia, much of the Gaza Empire and Xhosaland, and extended into the Transvaal and Basutoland.

The effects of this were far reaching. To the north, the Ndebele would migrate into the plains of Southern Zambézia where they founded the Matabele Kingdom. Closer at hand the nascent Kingdoms of Swaziland and Basutoland were driven to centralise, while the Ngwane and Hlubi were pushed into the area of the Oranje Free State. To the south, the pressure this exerted on the Xhosa would reverberate through the area and eventually lead to raids on the eastern areas of the Cape and what would become Doleriet, driving conflicts between the Afrikaaners and black Africans.[1]

As well as the expansion of the Zulu Kingdom, this period also saw the first arrival of Whites into the area. In the south, a small group of British soldiers from the Cape Colony seeking to secure the approach routes around the Cape of Good Hope established the fort of Somerset, named after the current governor, on the Bay of Natal in 1821[2]. Apocryphally, the foundation of the Somerset colony was facilitated by a grant of land from Shaka Zulu in thanks for medical help after a spear wound, though according to Zulu tales there was also a gift of cattle and an agreement to recognise Zulu suzerainty[3].

Of equal importance in the history of the region, Voortrekkers from the Cape Colony arrived in what is now the Aberdeen district to settle, founding what they called the Natalia Republic in 1820. In this, they were facilitated by an alliance with the Fengu, who had paused in the area in their migration south. Almost immediately clashes with the Zulu occurred, followed by a raid against the British settlement of Somerset in a vain attempt to drive the British out before they could become established. The violence was short lived, and after a year and the Battle of the Red Hill in which Piet Retief was killed, the short lived republic was abandoned and the population left the area, the Fengu to settle in Xhosaland, the Boers to found Doleriet. Thus began the half-century of conflicts between the Boers, Zulus and Somerset Colony in Natalia.

Shaka Zulu's assassination by internal opponents in 1832 began long period of dynastic instability within the kingdom. He was succeeded by Dingane, who after executing a half-brother and several other opponents began his rule with a period of peace. To the south the Somerset Colony was growing slowly but surely, with the city of Aberdeen[4] founded in 1834 in the heart of what had been the Natalia Republic.

This fragile peace was disrupted in 1844 by the resurgence of Zulu-Boer conflict, this time driven by the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in the Transvaal. Taking advantage of internal dissent, they attempted to overthrow Dingane and replace him with his brother Mpande.[5]. While Dingane was able to retain the throne, he was unable to completely defeat Mpande and the kingdom was for the moment divided into two. For the Somerset colony, this was a beneficial situation as it allowed them unfettered growth, yet it also gave an unexpected opportunity for a new nation to enter the complex political scene of southern Africa.

France by this point had secured most of the continent of New Holland, and was looking to expand the Austalie colony claimed by Lapérouse and Bonaparte late the previous century. While Dutch New Holland was maintained, and indeed administered at first, from Batavia, and Britain's small Swan River colony existed at the end of a long supply chain reaching from the Cape to India to Singapore, France lacked any significant port between Goreé in Senegal and Pondicherry in India. Thus the search for a suitable waypoint began, and the eye of Paris fell on the weakened and divided Zulu Kingdom. In return for a small number of guns- just sufficient to maintain control of his half of the kingdom against the Boers, Dingane was required to cede the Baie de Sainte-Lucie to France, thus beginning the Sainte-Lucie colony.

Contact with the Zulus soon sparked a wave of romanticism in Paris towards these 'proud and noble savages' which combined with the opportunity to secure Sainte-Lucie against potential British aggression out of Somerset led to small numbers of guns making their way to UmGungundlovu[6]. This increased under the French Empire as Napoleon III identified the Zulu as a potential avenue for French colonial expansion, dreaming of retaking Mauritius, conquering Mocambique and Malagasia[7] and pushing into the interior. Dingane accepted this aid willingly, though it did mean accepting greater French influence over affairs. Meanwhile the execution of Gquqgu and his family led to a large number of refugees fleeing to Dingane's court, and a smaller number to the Somerset colony.[8]

1857 saw a combination of events that would end the era of dynastic division in the Zulu Kingdom and mark the start of the modern state. First, the 1854 defeat of a small column of Boers from the Transvaal at the Battle of the Bloody River[9] sparked an upturn in interest in Paris and resulted in new deal for a large quantity of weapons and supplies being signed early in 1856. Secondly, conflict between Basutoland and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek led to violence and raids spilling over into the increasingly populated northern areas of the Somerset colony. Yet most important was the culmination of the dynastic dispute between Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi over who would succeed Mpande. Mbuyazi, favoured by his father and the Boers, who viewed him as more pliant, having the other hand, Cetshwayo fled to the court of the now aging Dingane, kept on his throne with French arms and lacking in a strong heir. Seeing an opportunity to reunite the kingdom, Dingane adopted Cetshwayo as his heir formed an alliance with the governor of Somerset Colony to complement that with Sainte-Lucie, and marched on Mpande's court. The victory was total. Both Mpande and Mbuyazi were killed in the fighting, the Boers were forced out of the kingdom and Somerset colony, and in the aftermath the Basutoland Kingdom was able to further consolidate her rule while relations between the Oranje Free State and Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek would permanently break down. Shortly afterwards, Dingane died, probably at the hand of Cetshwayo, and the latter ascended to the throne, establishing his Kraal at Ulundi[10].

This, the Third Zulu-Boer War[11] was also a watershed moment for Somerset colony. With the demographic growth of the Cape, London had sought to bring all her disparate territories in South Africa under the rule of Cape Town. They had not reckoned with the objections of the locals however. Somerset colony, with its small white minority and large black population had no interest in joining the much more liberal Cape who's existing colonial government already allowed blacks and coloureds of property to vote. In turn the insularity of the Cape was already beginning to show itself- though willing to cooperate with her neighbours she was concerned, first and foremost, with her own interests and had no desire to gain responsibility for a hostile frontier considering the relative stability of her own borders. With tensions with the Xhosa creating difficulties with British Kaffraria, and Doleriet already excluded due to the existing arrangements of 1837, the talks broke down and cape Colony gained responsible government the following year with unchanged borders.

Within the Somerset colony, the alliance with the Zulu led to a slight relaxing of attitudes towards the black community- albeit restricted to appreciation of the 'martial prowess of the Zulu race'. The spell of good feelings led to the formal delineation of the border and its recognition by both sides in 1861, and trade between Somerset, Ulundi and Sainte-Lucie began to grow, with the French frequently acting as intermediaries between the British and Zulu. At the same time, the growth of the plantation economy in the wider Somerset colony led to many indentured labourers being brought in from India- those Zulu within the colony being unwilling to do the work. As economic pressures brought more and more blacks from the countryside into the urban centres of Somerset and Aberdeen, or drove them across the border into the kingdom where the economy was beginning to boom and the reforms of Cetshwayo and later Dinuzulu were bringing a new golden age to Zululand.

The trends of the era continued without interruption past the fall of the French Empire- notable only in that the governor of Sainte-Lucie was notably less romantic towards the Zulu and the slow end of the official alliance between France and Zululand was begun. Two years after Napoleon III had been forced into exile in Kent, his son, the Prince Imperial, enamoured with tales of the noble Zulu from his childhood, arrived in Somerset- closest available port considering his barring from all territories of the French Republic. He would undetake the journey to Ulundi himself, meeting with a greatly impressed Cetshwayo, and is often credited with inspiring him to begin modernising the Kingdom to better preserve its independence- though the difficulties of the Fourth Zulu-Boer War may be more responsible in that respect.

The origins of that conflict lay in border friction and the sense of encirclement that the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek felt by the mid 1870s, especially with the Oranje Free State now on poor terms and growing rich selling food and supplies to the growing city of Salisbury. Using border frictions as an excuse, they thus attacked what was perceived as the weak link in the circle of enemies- the Zulu Kingdom- in the process killing a British botanical expedition searching for rare plants near the border. It was a costly mistake, with Somerset colony immediately pledging to aid the Zulus after the press frenzy when the sole survivor reached Ulundi. France would remain officially neutral in the conflict, but the Prince Imperial, still resident in Somerset where he had heard the news, now raised a small, though well armed, column of volunteers from Sainte-Lucie (though he never actually entered the colony himself despite popular rumour) to lend his aid in what would come to be seen as the last flowering of that brief African romanticism that had so gripped Paris two decades before.

The war itself was short, and a crushing defeat for the Boers which saw the dissolution of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and the slow subjugation of the Transvaal by British troops. It marked the end of Anglo-Zulu hostilities however, with both now distracted by internal matters. For the Zulu Kingdom, this was the controversial modernisation of the army- training men in the use of firearms and establishing state apparatus. For the Somerset Colony, it was the long petition to London for responsible government which would eventually be granted in 1883. Meanwhile the Prince Imperial, having married Louisa Victoria Rhodes, the highly eligible[12] sister of Sir Cecil Rhodes, established himself with a fortune through favourable trade monopolies with Cetshwayo. He would spend his time split between Somerset- where his wife and family enjoyed the growing sophistication of the social scene- and the newly established French Quarter at Ulundi where most of the survivors of his volunteer column had settled and taken local brides, much to the consternation of the more conservative elements of Zulu society.

While Cetshwayo had been merely approving of adopting western practices if it helped the kingdom, his son Dinuzulu was enraptured with them, seeking close relations with both the British and the governor of Sainte-Lucie colony- the latter of which remained uneasy until the dawn of the entente cordiale. Breaking with tradition by staying in Ulundi- though he did build himself a new Kraal nearer the French quarter and in slavish adoption of the European style, he began pushing to make the Zulu Kingdom into a western state that could stand proudly amongst the concert of Europe, and undertaking the first state visit by a Zulu King to London where he met the aged Queen Victoria.

At home, internal dissent pushed him to rely more and more on British aid, first economic in the form of a customs union with the Somerset colony, which he adopted whole heartedly having been told it would increase trade between the two polities though it reduced his income from tariffs, and then militarily when British soldiers were called in to help put down a revolt by conservative elements in the nation, and prompting many of those to leave, eventually making their way to their distant cousins in Matabeleland. Socially the reforms were largely successful in making Ulundi at least into a western city, complete with her own rail link to Somerset purchased at great expense, and thus great debt, from London.

It was during the negotiations for Federation that the biggest surprise would emerge, however. Having found his ambitions to stand as an equal nation on the international stage thwarted, Dinuzulu instead sought to secure the future of his Kingdom by firmly establishing its domestic independence at least in the legal documents of the British Empire. Thus when the Somerset colony was invited to join in the plan of federation, Dinuzulu shocked everyone involved by asking that the Zulu Kingdom be granted provincial status in the new federation also. The debates sparked were massive and lengthy, both within Zululand and in the wider area of southern Africa. London was in favour, seeking to cement control over a potentially wayward ally bordering one of her more prosperous colonies. Cape Town and Somerset were broadly in favour, the former out of a belief that the Zulu Kingdom had proved itself to be sufficiently willing to become a 'civilized' nation for admittance, the latter out of concern that tariffs would be enforced stifling the growing trade. Matters were further complicated by the subsequent petitions to join of Basutoland, which faced becoming surrounded, and the Xhosa States where it had been suggested they be annexed to British Kaffraria as a single province.

In the end, the deal made gave a characteristic degree of cynicism to the apparently beneficial situation. Designated protectorates, the Kingdoms would be granted extensive domestic autonomy, but at the cost of surrendering their representation in the Lower Chamber of Representatives. Instead, they merely possessed an equal vote at the Senate, and as the Representatives could overrule the senate this effectively locked out the possibility of a veto from the kings, though with the liberal Cape Franchise matters were never so simple. In addition, the initial constitution allowed Provinces to designate communities 'with a sufficiently strong link' as legally being citizens of a neighbouring protectorate, a situation which allowed Somerset to maintain a restrictive franchise easily until the practice was abolished in 1933.

For the moment, Somerset enfranchised the Whites, some Coloureds and much of the extremely large Indian community, and assigned the Black community as resident in Zululand, though military service, federal governmental service or petition by a 'respectable individual' were means for a limited number of blacks to get on the voting roll, partially out of respect for 'martial individuals' and partially to try and create a small class of loyal blacks who could be used to control the rest.

The former was the bring the system crashing down. With conscription implemented for the First Great War the number of Somerset blacks serving in the army skyrocketed, making them a significant voting bloc in the province after the war. Worst still was the accession of Umhlangana to the throne of the Zulu Protectorate in 1923. While his father had embraced economic reforms, he would embrace political ones, believing as the father of the nation that it was his duty to ensure his people were educated, healthy and well fed. By 1928 this was causing severe agitation between the provincial government in Somerset- who accused Ulundi of agitation- and Zululand, which was dealing with a crisis as people streamed across the border for a better life. Seeking to extend the vote to his own people, though only in an advisory role, Umhlangana built an alliance of Kings and liberals to strike down the Protectorate Clause in 1933, at a stroke removing non-residents from his potential voting register and severely exasperating the situation in Somerset. With Black ex-soldiers threatening to march on the Parliament building, and divisions in the Cape and Pretoria preventing federal intervention, the provincial government broke down and added a 4th exemption clause- a property qualification. While still excluding over 60% of the black population from the voting roll, it was sufficient to calm tensions, and Somerset swiftly became home to some very complicated tripartite politics. Many of the most conservative Whites would leave at this point for British Kaffraria, the Oranje Free State or Doleriet, which seemed more secure against 'Black Power'.

The final piece of the Natalia puzzle would come after the Second Great War. Set against a backdrop of calls for political reform which in Somerset would combine with the Labour movement to produce a comfortable 5 way split on policy in which the only certain majority was support for full enfranchisement of all blacks, a situation which prompted a flight of Whites from some more isolated areas to Aberdeen and Somerset City, the Sainte-Lucie Question came to dominate in the Zulu Protectorate and Somerset Province. Now the second home of Louis Napoleon (VI) after the French government had permitted the settlement of the Bonapartes in the country in 1951, Sainte-Lucie had become an economic appendage of Natalia, and increasingly irrelevant as the French Colonial Empire began to break apart. The final straw came in 1957 with the detonation of the first French nuclear bomb in the interior of Australie and subsequent development of a nuclear deterrent over a strong navy. Port after port after colony was abandoned and granted independence or ceded to a larger neighbour throughout the early 60s.

For Sainte-Lucie, it was considered obvious that the South African Federation would absorb the colony- it could hardly survive as an independent state, and acquiring the small port was a goal of the federal government. The main question was what to do with it, however. The population was too large and had too many whites to leave as a federal territory, but neither the Somerset colony- delicately balanced politically as it was, nor King Bhekuzulu, who had no desire to quadruple his small white community, particularly wanted to annex the territory. Neither was Sainte-Lucie particularly enamoured with either option, speaking French officially and a Creole of isiZulu vernacularly, the colony formed a distinct community. In the end, concerns over acquiring another province so soon after the controversial 1958 constitution were overruled by her small size, and Sainte-Lucie was annexed in 1964 and granted provincial status the following year. With his family's long history of close links with South Africa, Louis Napoleon was elected the provinces first President, soon nicknamed 'the Emperor-President' by the French press, though he has as, of yet, resisted all temptation to follow in his ancestor's Imperial footsteps.

Today, with citizens of the protectorates granted representation in the Lower House under the reformed constitution, the Zulu Kingdom sits as a proud and stable constitutional monarchy within the federation, contrasting with both Swaziland to its north, and the more fractious politics of the Somerset colony to the west. Sainte-Lucie, among the newest members of the federation, remains something of an oddity politically, frequently forming a voting bloc with Mauritius. The three Natalia provinces thus represent some of the best and worst of the federation's history.

[1] All essentially OTL at this point.
[2] On the site and with the same naming reason as Durban OTL.
[3] Supposedly the spear wound story happened OTL. Whether it actually did or not ITTL is more open to interpretation.
[4] Pietermaritzburg OTL.
[5] As happened OTL.
[6] Site of Dingane's Kraal. It was tradition for each Zulu king to make his Kraal in a new location.
[7] Madagascar OTL.
[8] OTL this led to a much larger emigration to Natal.
[9] Completely different to the OTL one.
[10] His OTL capital, though under very different circumstances.
[11] The first two being the war with Natalia and the invasion that established Mpande's rule.
[12] And not existent OTL.
 
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These just keep getting longer.

XHOSALAND REGION

xhosaland_provinces__motm_2__map_5_by_imperatordeelysium-d7rtvit.png


Rharhabe Kingdom (Rharhabeland)

Capital: Komga
Large Cities: Döhne, Keiskammahoek
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa
Population: 366,001
White: 3,209
Coloured: 4,551
African: 358,214
Asian and Other: 27


British Kaffraria Province

Capital: Queenstown
Large Cities: East London
Official Religion: Anglican Church of South Africa, Lutheran Church
Official Languages: English
Population: 650,216
White: 311,409
Coloured: 102,109
African: 236,300
Asian and Other: 398


Transkei Province

Capital: Gcuwa
Large Cities: Ndabakhazi
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church, traditional Xhosa beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa
Population: 175,303
White: 208
Coloured: 597
African: 174,498
Asian and Other: 0​

Gcaleka Kingdom (Gcalekaland)

Capital: Idutywa
Large Cities: Mpozolo
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa
Population: 318,523
White: 2,897
Coloured: 3,114
African: 312,478
Asian and Other: 34​

Thembu Kingdom (Thembuland)

Capital: Engcobo
Large Cities: Qamata, Mqanduli
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa
Population: 1,017,509
White: 1,805
Coloured: 1,441
African: 1,014,220
Asian and Other: 43

Pondo Kingdom (Pondoland)

Capital: Lusikisiki
Large Cities: Port Michael, Tabankulu
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa
Population: 755,140
White: 3,412
Coloured: 3,772
African: 747,818
Asian and Other: 138


Fengu Kingdom (Fenguland)

Capital: Tsolo
Large Cities: Qumbu
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs
Official Languages: isiXhosa, isiBhaca
Population: 302,826
White: 203
Coloured: 144
African: 302,479
Asian and Other: 0​

Bhaca Kingdom (Bhacaland)

Capital: Matatiele
Large Cities: Umzimkulu
Official Religion: Wesleyan Methodist Church; Xhosa Traditional Beliefs,
Official Languages: isiBhaca
Population: 388,988
White: 512
Coloured: 548
African: 387,914
Asian and Other: 14​


************************

Lying on the long arc of the coast between Port Elizabeth District in Cape Province, and Port Shepstone in Somerset Province, Xhosaland has often been ignored in the histories of South Africa, considered only in terms of the histories of Cape, Doleriet and Somerset Provinces, occasionally including British Kaffraria and Basutoland in more detailed accounts. This ignores what is, in fact, a rich and detailed history as complex as any which can be found in the Federation.

The first inhabitants of what is now Xhosaland were, like most of Southern Africa, a mixture of San and Khoikhoi peoples, mostly nomadic in nature, and highly susceptible to incursions by stronger migratory groups. Thus enter the first of the modern groups of Xhosaland, the Pondo people who settled in the rich grazing lands of Pondoland during the 6th Century[1]. About a thousand years later, the great Nguni migration from the Great lakes reached the Cape, displacing the San and Khoikhoi, and forming the great mass of Bantu peoples from which the Zulu, Swazi, Matabele and Xhosa would emerge.

The 15th and 16th Centuries would see the settlement of two separate groups in Xhosaland- the Xhosa proper who settled along the coast south of the Pondo towards the Great Kei River, and the Thembu who settled further inland. Of these, the Xhosa were the largest, and gradually the isiXhosa tongue would spread, becoming the main language of Thembuland and Pondoland, which combined with the long political and cultural links between the three has led to the latter groups largely assimilated to the Xhosa peoples and now considered, incorrectly, to be little more than subgroups of the Xhosa.

European contact was initially sporadic and uncommon- the great distance from Cape Town meant that there was minimal contact for the first century of Dutch rule in the Cape, though throughout this period shipwrecks and exile would lead to small numbers of whites settling in Xhosaland and becoming absorbed by the populace, most famously the abeLungu clan of Pondoland who claim descent from an English castaway named Bessie who married the son of Chief Matayi of the amaTshomane.

The first great crisis of the Xhosa People came with the reign of Paramount Chief Phalo kaTshwio. The Xhosa, like most of the Bantu peoples, practiced polygamy, and under the traditional system of the time, the eldest son of the major wife, or Great House, becoming the next Paramount Chief, the first son of the second wife, or Right Hand House, becoming a minor chieftan, and the sons of the third wife, or Left Hand House, becoming advisors to the Chief[1]. Phalo, as was common, took wives from the Thembu and the Pondo, but in an unprecedented situation both arrived on the same day, and so neither was able to be declared Great House. In order to calm tensions a secondary but equal position of Right House was created.

This was merely to delay matters however, and as the children of Phalo were born and grew up, disputes arose between Rharhabe, his eldest son but born of the Right House, and Gcaleka, the eldest son of the Great House. Both sons viewed themselves as rightful heirs to the position of Chief, and with the death of Phalo in 1775 it looked certain that war would break out. In the event, cooler heads prevailed, and Rharhabe took it upon himself to leave his father's seat with his followers and found a separate chieftanship, buying land to settle in from Queen Hoho of the Khoikhoi, herself facing difficulties from the slow but steady encroachment of the Dutch. Thus the Xhosa monarchy became divided into the amaRharhabe and the amaGcaleka, giving their names to Rharhabeland and Gcalekaland to this day.

The two branches of the people were to have very different futures. While Gcalekaland was deep within Xhosa territories, Rharhabeland lay on the fringes of the increasingly settled Cape Colony, and following the British conquest of the latter, with what would become Doleriet. Thus Rharhabeland would be subject to greater and greater pressures from European settlement, while Gcalekaland remained relatively untroubled until late in the British period.

At the other end of Xhosaland, the great wars of expansion begun by Shaka Zulu would bring a new migration of people to the area, with King Faku of Pondoland welcoming many of the refugee groups, partially to act as a buffer for his own people. Recognising that he could not defeat the armies of Shaka, he evacuated his own people from the eastern and northern areas most at risk of attack. It was thus into these areas that two groups fleeing from Natalia would settle. First, the Fengu, who's shortlived alliance with the Boers of Natalia had broken down with that state, and then the Bhaca peoples, a confederation of many small tribes united by King Madzikane and taking their name either from the practice of facial scars used for identification, or from the Nguni word ukubhaca meaning 'to flee'. Whatever the etymology, the two groups were allowed to settle in the deserted territories in return for swearing allegiance to King Faku, though war with both the Thembu and other migratory groups would be required to secure the territory [3].

Paradoxically however, the biggest problems for the Xhosa states that were to emerge as a result of Shaka Zulu's wars were to happen on the other side of the region. With the expulsion of the Boers from Natalia and their settlement in Doleriet, population pressures against Rharhabeland, and to a lesser extent Thembuland, began to grow. At the same time, growing conflicts between farmers in the far east of the Cape Colony and Xhosa, particularly of the Gqunukhwebe sub-group who's nominal allegiance to Rharhabeland was made hard to enforce due to the strong cultural differences resulting from a high degree of mixture with the Khoikhoi. While there had previously been some clashes between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa, the area of the Zuurveld had remained largely unpopulated, particularly after the British conquest of the colony and the resultant lack of support in the area. It was not, therefore, until the Xhosa occupation of the left bank of the Kareega River in 1817 as part of their slow, and unnoticed, expansion across the Zuurveld that Britain and Cape Town became concerned about the security of her eastern border[4]. In the resultant First Xhosa War[5], which ran concurrently with the revolt of the Xhosa inhabitants of Uitenhage, the British forced Rharhabeland to surrender any claims to the Zuurveld and expelled around 13,000 Xhosa settlers across the Big Fish River[6]. Looking to secure their rule, a fort was established at what would become the settlement of Johnstown[7].

Over the next decade and a half, British settlers would begin to move en masse into the Zuurveld, bringing further clashes with the Xhosa who were beginning to suffer from population pressures within their own territory, and were also suffering from tensions with Doleriet. Governor d'Urban of the Cape colony at this time was seeking to expand the area of British rule, first securing Doleriet for London, and then turning his attention to the Xhosa. As relations broke down along the Big Fish River, d'Urban, allied with the Boers of Doleriet, and with some backing from the Burghers of Cape Town, declared war in 1839. Heavy initial setbacks and scorched earth tactics on the part of the Xhosa led to the war taking 4 years[8]. Eventually, however, British forces were able to inflict a moderate defeat on the Xhosa. In the ensuing peace treaty, signed with the King of Gcalekaland in his position as head of the Xhosa nation, saw Rharhabeland reduced to about half her previous size. The land between the Big Fish and Keiskamma Rivers was annexed to the Cape Colony, despite being densely populated with Xhosa, and attempts at colonisation were begun, while the military settlement of Queenstown[9] was founded as a military settlement in the heart of Xhosaland. Supplied by the new river port of East London, the annexed areas split Rharhabeland and Gcalekaland from eachother, and were created as the colony of British Kaffraria, from the Arabic word kaffir or infidel which had become applied to Xhosaland.

The high cost of the war, and the subsequent disquiet of the annexed areas, proved troubling for London and Cape Town alike, and thus when Andries Stockenström made an eloquent defence of the Xhosa, placing blame for much of the cattle disputes that had led to the Second Xhosa War on the colonists, and suggesting a policy of negotiation and installation of trusted ambassadors in the courts of the main chieftans, London was eager to accept. Stockenström was named governor of British Kaffraria, to which at his request the so called 'Ceded territories' were transferred from the Cape in 1847- a matter which caused some resentment but widely applauded for passing on such a rebellious area to be 'somebody else's problem'. Stockenström immediately began returning land to the Xhosa, including the whole of the ceded territories to Rharhabeland, but was neither able nor particularly willing to open negotiations with Cape Town and London for the full abandonment of the main colony in Kaffraria[10]. Nevertheless, this new policy brought about an unprecedented period of peace between colonists and Xhosa, though many believed that the presence of the military in their heartlands had more to do with it.

Meanwhile at the other end of Xhosaland, King Faku had encouraged the British settlement of the Somerset colony in order to secure western-style recognised borders for his kingdom of Pondoland[11]. His death in 1844 would bring an end to the Golden Age of the Pondo however. Though reasonably capable, his successor was unable to prevent the Fengu and Bhaca from declaring independence, taking with them half his inheritance. The next decade would be spent putting down internal dissent, including an uprising in Xisebeland. Colonial clashes between the Bhaca, the Xisebe and the Somerset Colony would cause an increase in tension here, and nearly sparked a Third Xhosa War in 1848, until Stockenström intervened and mediated a peace agreement.

Stockenström's tenure as governor of British Kaffraria was not to last however, and in 1854 he was relieved of his position and replaced with his great political opponent Robert Godlonton in a Cape Town sponsored bid to prevent the latter from speaking out against the ongoing drive for responsible government[12]. Godlonton took a much harsher line with the Xhosa, and violence was soon on the increase along the borders of British Kaffraria, though the Stockenström treaty system remained in place along the Cape border with Rharhabeland thanks to his increased influence in the Cape[13]. Spurred by the need to find land for the settling the British German Legion after the Crimean War[14], he proceeded to confiscate lands from the Xhosa within British Kaffraria, leading to population pressures increasing once more in Rharhabeland, Thembuland and Gcalekaland, a situation which saw flashpoint conflicts rise once again.
These pressures were particularly prevalent in Gcalekaland. Pondoland had her own internal issues but a large and relatively secure area of land, Fenguland was small but her fiercely independent fighters had already made themselves known as mercenaries par excellence and many had settled in Basutoland after 1863 and the clashes with the Oranje Free State in which they had been so vital. The Bhaca were engaged in their border conflict with the Somerset colony, but were comparatively speaking in a better position, while the Thembu had the advantage of land. Only Rharhabeland had some of the same pressures, and they at least benefited from a mostly secure, though somewhat deteriorating, border with the Cape Colony.

Matters came to a head in 1863 after a mass wave of cattle killing in parts of Gcalekaland and Thembuland through a population pressure driven millenialist movement, much the last before the great wave of Wesleyan Methodists spreading from their initial mission in Pondoland reached the rest of Xhosaland[15]. While it didn't have the backing of any major tribal leaders, the mass of vagrants now produced, many starving and poorly clothed, was the final straw full on war broke out once more between the British and Xhosa in 1865- despite a speech urging a negotiated solution from the aged and suffering Stockenström mere days before he passed away from bronchitis. The fighting soon became wrapped up in more complex affairs, with a joint Bhaca/Fengu war against the Pondo Kingdom beginning roughly concurrently. Pondoland called in aid from the Somerset colony to defend herself, at the price of severe concessions towards British influence, but the Fengu were soon proving their worth and with Britain distracted by the ever growing death toll from the war in Gcalekaland, Thembuland and Rharhabeland, the needed troops were unable to be diverted to the Somerset Colony. The war lasted two years, eventually seeing the annexation of the Transkei district of British Kaffraria, and the transfer of far-western Thembuland to Doleriet, but the gains in no way equalled the amount of blood and treasure expended. The war in Pondoland would end up dragging on for another 3 years before British troops were able to reach Matatiele and force Bhacaland to accept recognition of independence without gaining territory. The Fengu would accept the same deal a year later, though largely after pressure from Bhacaland.

The debacle of the Third Xhosa War saw governor Godlonton removed from his post in disgrace and found guilty of misconduct and gross incompetence and negligence both in his civilian and military handling of the position. He was replaced in 1868 by John Charles Molteno, a firm opponent of further expansion in the Xhosa lands, and strong believer in the treaty system who's diplomatic skills were in much need over his 6 years in office. The borders of Rharhabeland and Thembuland were now affirmed, while the King of Gcalekaland, who's people had suffered most and had largely abandoned both Kaffraria proper and the Transkei district, agreed to recognise British rule there (which had been bought too dearly for London to counternounce its surrender) in return for a large amount of economic support to recover from the war and famine.

Thus began the long, slow absorption of the Xhosa states into the British protectorate system. Pondoland was the first, agreeing to accept a British resident in return for territorial integrity and protection in 1873, with Gcalekaland, much weakened and subject to probing advances from Thembuland, accepted the year afterwards. The Fourth Xhosa War, launched in 1876 to protect Pondoland from a renewed Fengu/Bhaca attack, would end after 3 long, but much better fought, years with the latter two being forced to accept the status of protectorate also, many leaving for distant relatives in Basutoland as a result. Rharhabeland, which had by this time become a stable and relatively prosperous place, bowed down to the diplomatic pressure only in 1879 in a bid to ensure that the increasingly large numbers of German settlers in British Kaffraria, attracted there by a generous settlement package arranged by a governor concerned with the emptiness of the land and small white population, would not intrude on the land of that Kingdom. Finally Thembuland was forced to accept British protection in 1885 in a pre-emptive move to end German attempts at establishing their own outpost in the area. While outside British Kaffraria, now increasingly known as Kaffraria in contrast to Xhosaland, the native Kingdoms retained much power, all Xhosaland now lay in the British Empire.

Xhosaland was largely uninvolved in the process of confederation. Early suggestions, going back to before the granting of responsible government to the Cape, of annexing British Kaffraria to the Cape Province were rejected by Cape Town- Queenstown was seen as too unstable, too conservative and too German to comfortably fit into a province that was already well known for her extensive franchise and progressive attitudes towards the African population, and the white population of Queenstown- unwilling to even consider enfranchising the black population even though relations with the Xhosa had improved- were equally firm in their opposition to joining the Cape. Equally rejected was the suggestion from London that the protectorates of Xhosaland should be annexed into the neighbouring provinces or into an enlarged Kaffraria province, which horrified Cape Town, Somerset and Queenstown alike with its utter ignorance of the situation.

There was still a great desire from London especially, and to a lesser extent from within the negotiating parties, to bring the Xhosa states into the federal system that was being established the better to regulate the treaty system and ensure peaceful relations with the colonists- and cynically to prevent the Xhosa from acting against Britain and potentially make their lands available in the future. It was not until the Zulu Kingdom requested provincial status that the solution to how to do this became clear however. King Sigcawu kaSarili, ruler of Gcalekeland and nominally head of all the Xhosa, was approached with the offer of a place on the senate as representative of the Xhosa people. Unlike Zululand, which was powerful enough to argue for the status of associate Kingdom, equivalent to a full Province but without representation in the Lower House, Sigcawu was offered Protected Kingdom status for the Xhosa states- the current situation would be maintained, and his position as Paramount Chief of the Xhosa would grant him, or his representative, an ex officio seat in the senate council, but in a purely advisory role, without the voting powers granted to the Zulu Kingdom[16].

Despite being a significant step below what was being offered to the Zulu, the ability to at least influence policy as a recognised part of the government was a significant gain for the Xhosa, and a much needed boost for the prestige of Gcalekaland, now the weakest of the Xhosa states. British Kaffraria would thus become a founding member of the Federation, and Xhosaland, for a time at least, was considered a single protectorate within South Africa.

It was an unsustainable situation however. Kaffraria, taking his position as 'representative of the Xhosa', in combination with the right to assign the native Africans to a neighbouring protectorate, to its logical extreme began to approach Sigcawu, and his successor Salukaphathwa, with any grievances they had with the Xhosa in their own territory. Still further, they held him responsible for making restitutions, and ensuring that those accused were brought to the relevant authorities. Without any ability to do so within the boundaries of Kaffraria, they were thus free to blame him for not doing enough, and began to enact their own policies of 'concentration', moving much of the Xhosa population to the Transkei district- an area found to be less useful for white farmers.

By the time the reign of King Mpisekhaya began in 1923 the system was beginning to break down. The age-old divisions of the Xhosa Kingdoms had re-erupted, and only Rharhabeland truly followed Gcalekaland. Meanwhile within Kaffraria ethnic tensions were rising between displaced Xhosa in the increasingly poor conditions around Butterworth and in the segregated communities of Queenstown and East London. Matters came to a head in 1928. First the kings of Pondoland, Fenguland, Bhacaland and Thembuland presented a petition to the Federal Government seeking to have their own lands recognised as separate from the Kingship of the Xhosa. It was in Butterworth however that the biggest crisis in the Federation's history was to be sparked.

Seeking food, work and the restoration of confiscated lands, thousands of Xhosa, both original inhabitants and those displaced by the provincial government, began a mass march through the city, which eventually became a riot. The mansion of the district governor on the edge of town was stormed, the governor himself fleeing to Queenstown. For three days the town burned, and in the chaos a white family, the Peinke's, lately of East London, were killed. Heavy police and a small battalion of the army were sent in by the government in Queenstown to restore order, which was accomplished with significant violence. By itself, this would merely have led to greater tensions and outrage from the liberal press in the Cape, but the government in Queenstown now proceeded to embark on a course that was not simply shocking but downright explosive. Holding King Mpisekhaya responsible for the violence as a result of his failure to keep the Xhosa in line, Queenstown demanding a formal apology and extensive reparations to be payed both the relatives of the family and to the state for damage done during the riots. Mpisekhaya, while offering condolences and support in mediation and negotiating a peaceful solution to any grievances, refused to pay the reparations-indeed was quite unable to. Kaffraria, now determined to 'show these kaffirs they're rightful place' sent police, backed by a provincial militia as the army had refused to become involved, to the royal seat at Idutywa to arrest the king and force the payment of the demanded reparations, in land if needs be.

Mpisekhaya caught wind of this, and fled to Lusikisiki, the capital of Pondoland, where he called for the support of the other groups of Xhosaland. In a rare moment of Xhosa unity, this was given gladly, for none wanted to encourage a repeat performance, and Mpisekhaya departed from Port Michael[17] to address the Federal Parliament in Cape Town. In his absence, Kaffraria announced that the entire Gcaleka Kingdom was to be held in trust until the reparations had been gathered from the populace, immediately sparking more riots across Kaffraria and the Transkei in protest.

The rest of the federation was outraged. In the liberal Cape, the large black population held marches calling for the immediate liberation of Gcalekaland and the trial of the provincial government of Kaffraria. The kings of Zululand, Basutoland, Swaziland, Matabeleland and the Gaza Emperor made a joint protest and call for the immediate withdrawal of the Kaffrarian government and even in the Oranje Free State and far off Enkeldoorm where the view on Africans was poor as a rule, the potential impact this might have on calls for full emancipation of the blacks drove them to condemn the matter, a situation made easier to justify by the fact that the actions were against the constitutional ban on interference in provincial matters. Kaffraria, entering full siege mentality, attempted to justify the situation by arguing that the Xhosa states did not have full provincial status and so were not bound by the same restrictions on interference. It was a futile excuse, and with the security situation deteriorating in the province, a delegation of federal representatives from East London and Queenstown stepped up to request military assistance in restoring order.

While this at least was legal under the constitution and could be approved without provoking a wider debate, the question of what to do next was telling. It was clear that the government in Kaffraria had acted in a manner which was essentially illegal, particularly the raising of a provincial militia in a time of peace, but how to prevent a future reoccurrence proved difficult to agree. In providing security the military were largely sidestepping the provincial government, who had been forced to withdraw their agents from Gcalekaland when it became clear that they did not have the support of the rest of the country, especially in the Transkei where they were soon providing the best government the inhabitants had known since the acquisition of the area by Queenstown. A long running court case was begun which would eventually see Kaffraria forced to pay a small payment to Mpisekhaya for the 'insult to his person', a landmark decision though the amount was small. Meanwhile the Federal Government was divided on two key issues- how to ensure the Transkei district was administered peacefully and properly in future, and to what extent the government and constitution in Kaffraria should be restructured. The former would see the military rule in the area, as the Transkei Military District, continue indefinitely to form a de facto separation between Kaffraria and the Transkei, while the latter was to be a harbinger of the debates leading up to the 1958 constitution. With the Oranje Free State and Doleriet leading the opposition to extending the franchise, and concerns in general even among moderates over the extent to which attempts to do so represented a hypocritical breaking of the constitution, the end result was an unsatisfactory decision to keep the previous system, though some of those considered most responsible for the actions were barred from holding office or prosecuted for malpractice.

Matters remained tense but at peace until the signing of the new constitution in 1958. Kaffraria had been prominent among the groups opposed to full enfranchisement, and despite the fact that the flight of most the Xhosa in the province to the improving conditions and better treatment found in the Transkei and elsewhere in the federation had brought the white population to a plurality even excluding the coloureds, they Queenstown was strongly unwilling to go through with full enfranchisement. In the event, the proximity of the military forces in the Transkei meant that they only utilised legal battles in the courts rather than violence, and with the failure of the anti-enfranchisement case in 1969 the provincial government reluctantly acquiesced and moved onto less overt means of discrimination. The military district of the Transkei was now formally separated from Kaffraria and made into a separate province, and with full enfranchisement of the black population and the representation of the population of the Xhosa states in the lower house, the status of 'Protected Kingdom' became of lesser importance, becoming an indication that with their relatively small populations they were accorded a half-vote in the Senate.

Today, Xhosaland remains a land of contrasts. British Kaffraria, barely maintaining white rule through discriminatory electoral practices[18] is one of the most conservative and nationalist areas of the Federation, while Transkei remains particularly poor and suffering from social issues. Of the kingdoms, Rharhabeland is the most prosperous, while Gcalekaland has used the compensation from the Great Trouble to produce the best educated population in the Xhosa states. Overall, Xhosaland is one of the less developed areas of the Federation, and certainly the least developed in the heartlands of the nation, though a far-reaching movement to improve basic education and sanitation across the region has recently begun. There remain some ethnic tensions between Transkei and British Kaffraria, with the former objecting to the name change of Butterworth to Gcuwa, and the latter increasingly objecting to the name Kaffraria as the offensiveness of the term Kaffir has become more frequently voiced.

[1] One thing which made this update quite difficult to write is the fact that all the names rather unfortunately look as though they were made up by Dr. Seuss...
[2] Second sons of the Great House had no defined role and became destined to either serve as advisors or be killed in internecine conflict, and frequently both. They were also very infrequent (under Swazi law the heir to the throne is specifically the child of the Great Elephant, their equivalent to Great House, and who must have only one son).
[3] Apart from where the Fengu have settled and the mention of Doleriet this is essentially all OTL up to this point.
[4] The flight of the Boers and takeover of the colony meant that there were less whites in the area, and the Second and Third Xhosa Wars did not occur, though there were some clashes between farmers.
[5] Analogous to the Fourth and Fifth merged OTL, with OTL's First being considered little more than a minor flashpoint clash as it happened in the immediate run-up to British conquest and so was largely forgotten TTL.
[6] By having Makana's rebellion at the same time as the Fourth Xhosa War, the second set of boundary changes pushing the border of the Cape Colony to the Keiskamma are avoided at this time.
[7] Grahamstown OTL.
[8] Again, I've merged a couple of wars together here, the 6th and Seventh Wars in this case, as with the area between the Big Fish and Keiskamma still in Xhosa hands the population pressures take a bit longer to get through, and Doleriet is the first target for Cape Expansion. With the Fengu settled elsewhere, the war is much harder for Britain.
[9] OTL King William's Town.
[10] This is essentially consistent with his OTL thoughts and decisions on the subject.
[11] OTL on this point, though a different colony of course.
[12] As he did OTL.
[13] The treaty system is much more widely respected ITTL than OTL as it's actually been in place for nearly a decade and led to prolonged period of peaceful relations, rather than being undermined virtually as soon as it was implemented.
[14] Largely settled around King William's Town OTL.
[15]. This was earlier and more widespread OTL as the Xhosa were in a worse position, but they've reached that point locally by now TTL.
[16] Yes, they are thinking that he can, therefore, be safely ignored if needs be.
[17] OTL Port St Johns, which TTL is the name of Port Edward, the wreck site of the São João being correctly identified.
[18] Think the Ohio ID card situation.
 
Well, you're certainly delivering on your promise of a South Africa with the complexity of Switzerland.

Did you just avert the Mfecane? If so, then the ethnic distribution of the northern and eastern parts of the federation will be very different from OTL, and the Nguni ethnic groups as well as the Sotho will have different borders.

Ironic fate for Napoleon IV, and keeping all the Xhosa kingdoms intact is inspired. I assume you'll get to the Griquas and Oorlam eventually.
 
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