South Africa and Britain

[HAnn521]

My boyfriend is a native South African, born in Durban and moved here to the U.S. with his mother at age 7...I have noticed similarities between the terms/words they use and British words...and also his mother's accent, which is very similiar to a British accent...What is the history behind the link between these two countries?? What makes the language simliar?

and I apologize if I should already know from school history lessons....but I certainly didn't learn a lot about South African or Britain (England) history in school in the states...

[Clanad]

To gain an entertaining insight into a part of the history of England/South Africa, see if you can locate a copy of Shaka Zulu at a film store.  It's quite long; filmed in 1987 and appeared here in the U.S. in a series on PBS and shown numerous times since.  Quite a good movie and Henry Cele as Shaka is especially good.  It could serve as a springboard to further understanding of the histories of the relationship of the two nations.  Additionally, read about the Boer Wars, which occurred much later (1899-1902) but is still significant relating to the British influence...

[Artemis]

Basically The British annexed Cape Province in 1814. What we now know as South Africa was in the early 19th century made up of provinces. By 1910 the Provinces of Transvaal, Natal, Orange Free State and Cape were united as The Union of South Africa under British rule. It became a sovereign state within the British Commonwealth in 1931 and an independent Republic in 1961.

[HAnn521]

Thank you Artemis...

and I am going to look into Shaka Zulu Clanad...

anyone else have anything to add?

[jno]

nonetheless, to British people the South African accent is very different from their own, as least as distinct as an American accent. This may be partly the influence of Afrikaans, a Dutch-derived language that most South African whites speak who aren't English speakers.

[Peter Pedant]

None of us think the Sarth Efrican accent is anything like Manchester!

Jan van Riebeck arrived in the Cape 1657 and this to the Dutch is looked on as as important as the Mayflower 1628 etc. Obviously less important to the British and not at all important to the Zulu who have political power now. There was rivalry throught the next centuries and the British annexed the Cape in 1814.

The Dutch founded further republics further north (Great Trek 1834) springs to mind. By this time the Zulus were migrating south. Obviously it is of political significance if the Zulus say they were there in 1650.....

The Dutch did not give political rights to  any one except the Dutch (Uitlanders = outlanders) but of course they were taxed and not surprisingly this gave the British the excuse to annex the Dutch republics. Taxation without representation must ring a bell with the americans reading this. Oom paul kruger is looked on as a patriot to the Dutch and an oppressor to the English - which he was - he didnt like them. The railways were built using Chinese indentured labour = modern slavery. {There is a thread about indentured labour in Guyana somewhere else in AB}

War broke out in 1899 and Gen Roberts ('Bobs') declared that he had won in around 1900 but no-one told the Dutch who carried on a guerilla war until the surrender in Vereniging in 1901. In order to combat the Dutch peril the british invented - da daaah - concentration camps. These were badly run and the Dutch women and children died in large numbers from typhoid in the camps. There were bleck troops fighting the Dutch and also prison camps for them of which very little has been written.

Other good films are Zulu - about an unimportant battle Rorke's Drift - lots of VCs - after an appalling defeat at Isandlhwana 1879 - about which there is also a film. I liked Breaker Morant - a third film from Australia about the Boer War.

[Artful]

Oh PP, I'd forgotten all about that film, tried getting it on DVD for a long time but to no avail. "Breaker Morant", yes HAnn do try and see that and as PP also recommends: "Zulu" (Michael Caine)

[HAnn521]

K...will do...thanks