Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 11 - Southern Africa

  • Edited by A. D. Roberts
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Africa
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    24 July 1986, pp 544-601

  • Summary

    Geographically, southern Africa encompasses huge contrasts. Its watershed, the Drakensberg range, falls abruptly to the east coast and causes monsoon rains to fall over Natal and the eastern Cape. The general election in 1910 brought into power a government headed by General Botha of the Transvaal. The most important way in which the government subsidised white enterprise was by helping to mobilise African labour while keeping down its price. In August 1914 the First World War broke out. South Africa, with a German colony on its borders, was at once involved, and the war aggravated the tensions within the Afrikaner community. Between August and October 1915 a contingent of white South Africans left for the Western Front. The middle and later 1920s were a period of slow growth in the South African economy. Goldmining became more important than ever to the country's economy.