On the Fact that for 16 YEARS, from 1854 When the Brits Finally Granted the Boers Their Own Independent States; the Orange Free State and the South African Republic to 1870, the British Had Absolutely Nothing to Do with These Territories but When Diamonds Were Discovered There, They Suddenly (and Through Subterfuge) Decided that this Region Which Added "No Lustre to the Crown" and Which Secured Zero "Genuine Interests" Was Worthy of One More Look After All

This is the whole history of South Africa in a nutshell; the Boers finding a place to live and the British ultimately showing up and taking it from them. It happened in 1795, 1806, 1839, 1840, and finally in 1871. You want to know why the British empire was so hated? Start here maybe.........................................................................................................P.S. It also should be stated here that this particular episode of British overreach was especially despicable in that they tried to justify their invasion by saying that the Boers were attempting to enslave the neighboring mixed-race Griqua people (the real reason of course being that they wanted the precious stones), an absolute and unmitigated piece of slander that no reputable historian (even the Anglophiles) accepts.