The Afrikaner Bond (

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and Dutch for "Afrikaner Union"; South African Dutch: Afrikander Bond) was founded as an

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...

political party in 19th century

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. While its origins were largely in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

, it came to have a significant presence across the region, and especially in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

and the

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

. The Afrikaner Bond was distinct from the later

Afrikaner Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merw ...

which, while similarly named, was a secret cultural organisation formed in 1918, not a political party.

Formation and parent organisations

The original Afrikaner Bond was formed by the union in 1881 of the '' Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners'' (Society of True

Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...

s) of Rev S.J. du Toit, and the ''Zuidafrikaansche Boeren Beschermings Vereeniging'' (South African Farmers' Protection Association) of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr. Instrumental in this union and the resultant establishment of the Bond party across southern Africa was a German named Borckenhagen who lived in Bloemfontein. Borckenhagen in turn influenced an

named Reitz, who afterwards became the state secretary of the

Ideology

As stated by Borckenhagen, the Afrikaner Bond was established for "the States of South Africa to be federated in one independent republic". However the Cape Colony branch of the bond was less extreme in its republicanism and more inclined to cohabit with an imperial policy of

indirect rule Indirect rule was a system of public administration, governance used by imperial powers to control parts of their empires. This was particularly used by colonial empires like the British Empire to control their possessions in Colonisation of Afri ...

. The Afrikaner Bond, as established in 1881, claimed to represent all those who considered Africa to be their home, rather than Europe. These so-defined "Afrikanders" were predominantly white farmers of Dutch extraction, though the initial bond was explicitly defined as a non-racial organisation, open to people of all races. Its stated aim was to advance "Afrikander" interests from the Cape to the

Limpopo River The Limpopo River () rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mou ...

.J.L.McCracken: ''The Cape Parliament''. Clarendon Press: Oxford. 1967.

Governance in the Cape

Although frequently having a majority in the Cape Parliament, it never governed directly, generally forming coalitions with English-speaking politicians. These included the

Thomas Scanlen Sir Thomas Charles Scanlen (9 July 1834 – 15 December 1912) was a politician and Administrator of the Government, administrator of the British Cape Colony, Cape Colony. He was briefly Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, from 1881 to 1884, duri ...

ministry, the administration of

Cecil John Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes ( ; 5 July 185326 March 1902) was an English-South African mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded ...

with which it split after the

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (Afrikaans: ''Jameson-inval'', , 29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson ...

and John X. Merriman, the last Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, 1908–1910, prior to the formation of the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

on 31 May 1910. After Union, it ceased to be an independent party, merging with the

South African Party The South African Party (, ) was a political party that existed in the Union of South Africa from 1911 to 1934. History The outline and foundation for the party was realized after the election of a 'South African party' in the 1910 South Af ...

of the Cape, Het Volk of the Transvaal and Orangia Unie of the Orange Free State to form a new Union-wide

. In 1882 it was able to have Dutch recognised as an official language of the Cape Colony.

References

{{Authority control Afrikaner organizations Political parties established in 1881 Defunct political parties in South Africa Politics of the Cape Colony 1881 establishments in the Orange Free State Political parties disestablished in 1910