The London Convention was a treaty negotiated in 1884 between Great Britain, as the paramount power in South Africa, and the

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

. The London Convention superseded the 1881

Pretoria Convention The Pretoria Convention was the peace treaty that ended the First Boer War (16 December 1880 to 23 March 1881) between the Transvaal Boers and Great Britain. The treaty was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881, but was subject to ratification b ...

Historical background

The treaty governed the relations between the ZAR and Britain following the retrocession of the

in the aftermath of the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

Delegates

The South African Republic was represented by the following delegates: * President

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

* General Nicolaas Smit * Rev. Stephanus Jacobus du Toit * Jonkheer Gerard Jacob Theodoor Beelaerts van Blokland, a Dutch legal advisor to the South African Republic * Ewald Auguste Esselen, as secretary to the Boer delegation

Content of the convention

The convention incorporated the bulk of the earlier Pretoria Convention, but with two major differences.

Name of the country

Following the Pretoria Convention, the name of the South African Republic had been changed to the Transvaal Territory. At the request of the Transvaal Territory's Volksraad the name was restored to the South African Republic.

Suzerainty

The main outcome of the London Convention was that British

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

over the South African Republic was amended. The London convention stipulated that the South African Republic had the right to enter into a treaty with 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 ...

without approval from the British. Any other treaty with any other nation would require approval from the British subject to the British not taking longer than six months to advise the South African Republic of such an approval or rejection.

References