Anglo-Boer War concentration camps, South Africa
The Anglo-Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) was fought between the British Empire and two Boer states, the South African Republic (Republic of Transvaal) and the Orange Free State, over the Empire’s influence in South Africa. During the war, Boer women, children and men unfit for military service were rounded up and placed in concentration camps by the British forces.
“The first two of these camps (refugee camps) were established to house the families of burghers who had surrendered voluntarily, but very soon, with families of combatant burgers driven forcibly into camps established all over the country, the camps ceased to be refugee camps and became concentration camps. The abhorrent conditions in these camps caused the death of 4 177 women, 22 074 children under sixteen and 1 676 men, mainly those too old to be on commando,” writes South African History Online. Most of the blacks in these camps were forced to work – either by growing crops for the troops or digging trenches. Others also worked as miners.
