Sand River Convention

(1852)

   An agreement between Great Britain and the Boer population of the Transvaal. The agreement was brought about by the action of Sir Henry Smith, governor of the Cape Colony, in conquering the Orange River sovereignty on his own authority in 1848. The Russell and Derby governments in Britain resented Smith’s expansionist adventure and repudiated his conquest in order to lighten the burden to taxpayers of Britain’s obligations in South Africa. In the convention Britain recognized the independence of the Transvaal Boers in return for a promise to abolish slavery in the Transvaal along with British a commitment not to interfere in the affairs of the Orange River sovereignty. The convention also provided for the flow of trade across the borders of British and Boer territory, as well as the extradition of criminals. The Boers considered the British annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 to be a violation of the convention and the principal casus belli of the First Boer War.

   See also <>; <>; <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Farwell, Byron. The Great-Anglo-Boer War. New York: Norton, 1990;

    Surridge, Keith, and Denis Judd. The Boer War. London: John Murray, 2002.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE