Oranje Vrijstaat
1854-1902 		History of Southern Africa






On the Left : Orange Free State Stamp overprinted V.R.I. (Victoria Regina Imperatrix, Queen and Empress Victoria)
On the Right : Cape of Good Hope Stamp overprinted Orange River Colony



Orange River Colony, 1902-1910



British troops occupied the Oranje Vrijstaat in 1900. Britain annexted the state in 1902, rechristening it ORANGE RIVER COLONY. English was introduced as official language next to Afrikaans. The area was under British colonial administration until SELF-GOVERNMENT was restored in 1907.
In 1910, the old name ORANJE VRIJSTAAT (Orange Free State) was adopted again; the Free State joined the UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, together with Transvaal, Natal and the Cape Colony.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Orange Free State, Article from Catholic Encyclopedia
History of the Orange Free State, from the Orange Free State Study Circle, a philatelic group
Article Free State, from Infoplease
DOCUMENTS Arms of Orange River Colony, from International Civic Arms
Flag of Orange River Colony, from FOTW
Stamps of Orange River Colony, from Orange Free State Study Circle
REFERENCE Robert Ross, A Concise History of South Africa, Cambridge Concise Histories, 1999, 219 pp.
Article : Orange River Colony, in : Statesman's Year Book 1905 pp.232-236 [G]
Article : Orange River Colony, in : New International Year Book 1907 pp.587-588, 1908, p.525, 1909 pp.543-544 [G]
Article : Orange Free State, in : New International Year Book 1910 p.545 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 31st 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics