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Second Boer War concentration camps

During the Second Anglo-Boer War which lasted from 1899–1902, the British operated concentration camps in the South Africa Republic, Orange Free State, Natal and the Cape Colony. In February of 1900, Herbert Kitchener took command of the British forces and implemented some of the controversial tactics that led to a British victory.[3]

"British concentration camps" redirects here. For detention camps during the Mau Mau Uprising, see List of British Detention Camps during the Mau Mau Uprising.

Second Boer War concentration camps

1899-1902

Internment

Over 47,900 deaths:

  • 27,927 Boers
  • 20,000 or more native Africans [1][2]

154,000 interned in British concentration camps

British Empire, particularly Herbert Kitchener

As the Boers used a 'guerrilla warfare' strategy, they lived off the land and used their farms as a source of food making their farms a key item in their many successes at the beginning of the war. When Kitchener realised that a traditional warfare style would not work against the Boers, he began initiating plans that would later cause much controversy in the British public.[4][5]

List of concentration camps[edit]

Afrikaner concentration camps[edit]

The exact number of incarcerated victims of the concentration camps for Afrikaners is estimated to number around 40,000 by May of 1902, the majority of which were women and children.[26][27] The total deaths in camps are officially calculated at 27,927 deaths.[28][29]

(2002). Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power. Basic Books. p. 235.

Ferguson, Niall

Judd, Denis; Surridge, Keith (2013). The Boer War: A History (2nd ed.). London: I.B. Tauris.  978-1780765914.excerpt and text search; a standard scholarly history

ISBN

(1979). The Boer War. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-42742-4.

Pakenham, Thomas

Spies, S.B. (1977). Methods of Barbarism: Roberts and Kitchener and Civilians in the Boer Republics January 1900 – May 1902. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. p. 265.

Wessels, André (2010). A Century of Postgraduate Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) Studies: Masters' and Doctoral Studies Completed at Universities in South Africa, in English-speaking Countries and on the European Continent, 1908–2008. African Sun Media. p. . ISBN 978-1-920383-09-1.

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