Great Trek
1835-1843 		History of Southern Africa Orange River Col.
1902-1910






Oranje Vrijstaat, 1854-1902



In the 1830es, Boers had migrated from the Cape Colony into the interior to escape the hated British rule, and settled the Orange River valley, without establishing a state authority. In 1848, Sir Harry Smith claimed the region for Britain as the BRITISH ORANGE RIVER SOVEREIGNTY. In 1854, Britain renounced it's sovereignty, and the ORANJE VRIJSTAAT (Orange Free State) was proclaimed.
The capital of the free state was at BLOEMFONTEIN. It's parliament was called VOLKSRAAD (people's council), where only white settlers were represented, it's official language AFRIKAANS.
From 1877 to 1880, Oranje Vrijstaat was British colony again. In 1899, Oranje Vrijstaat joined Transvaal in fighting the British in the Boer War. Occupied in 1900, the free state was annexed in 1902, now called the ORANGE RIVER COLONY.


Presidents of the Oranje Vrijstaat, 1854-1877, 1880-1900
1854-1855
1855-1959
1860-1863
1864-1877

1877-1888
1889-1895
1896-1900 		Josias Philippus Hoffman
Jacobus Nicolaas Bischoff
Martinus Wessel Pretorius
Johan Hendrikus Brand

Johan Hendrikus Brand
Frantz Willem Reitz
Martinus Theunis Steyn







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
Neville Gomm, The Commando Act of the Orange Free State Republic, from South African Military History Society
DOCUMENTS Arms of Oranje Vrijstaat, from International Civic Arms; from Wappenlexikon, comment in German; Arms of Bloemfontein from ibid.
Flag of Oranje Vrijstaat, from FOTW
Stamps of Oranje Vrijstaat, from Orange Free State Study Circle
REFERENCE Robert Ross, A Concise History of South Africa, Cambridge Concise Histories, 1999, 219 pp.
Article : Orange Free State, in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 pp.801-804, 1898 pp.801-805 [G]
Article : Orange River Colony, in : Statesman's Year Book 1901 pp.214-218 (on events of 1900) [G]
Article : Orange Free State, in : International Year Book 1898 p.585, 1899 pp.610-611 [G]
Article : Orange River Colony, in : International Year Book 1900 pp.684-685 [G]
Yves Guyot, Boer Politics (1900), posted by Gutenberg Library Online
A.G. Hales, Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) (1901), posted online by Gutenberg Library Online
Handbook of the Boer War (1910), posted online by Gutenberg Library Online



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on October 15th 2007

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