SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC

either of two 19th-century Boer states in what is now South Africa. The first was established in the Potchefstroom area of the Transvaal, by Voortrekkers (Afrikaner migrants from the Cape) in 1838. In 1860 the name was applied to the amalgamated Boer republics in the area bounded by the Vaal, Hartz, and Limpopo rivers. Annexed by Britain in 1877, this South African Republic became the Crown Colony of the Transvaal. In December 1880 rebellious Boers in the Transvaal again proclaimed a South African Republic; and after its conquest by Britain in 1900 during the South African War, it once again became the Crown Colony (and after 1910, the Province) of the Transvaal.