SOUTH AMERICA 



5448 



SOUTH AMERICA 



final and successful attempt raised the siege of 

 Ladysmith, where for months the British troops 

 had been suffering from disease and starvation. 

 British advances were made in the northern 

 part of Cape Colony, and on March 13 Lord 

 Roberts entered Bloemfontein, the capital of 

 Orange Free State, and the republic was pro- 

 claimed British territory. 



After encountering the Boers under General 

 Louis Botha on the Vet River, Lord Roberts 

 crossed the Vaal and entered the city of Jo- 

 hannesburg on May 31. Five days later he 

 took Pretoria, the capital of the South African 

 Republic, and President Kruger fled to the 

 Portuguese territory in the east. The British 

 forces in Natal pushed north, driving the Boers 

 before them, and united with Lord Roberts in 

 a drive against General Botha, who was forced 

 east into the mountains and surrendered on 

 Portuguese territory, in September, 1900. The 

 South African Republic was then declared Brit- 

 ish territory under the name of the Transvaal. 



The rest of the struggle was characterized 

 by guerrilla warfare. Lord Kitchener assumed 

 command and began the task of pacifying the 

 country. The daring action of small Boer de- 

 tachments under generals Botha and De Wet 

 lengthened the struggle, but the Boer leaders, 

 one after another, were weeded out, and the 



final surrender was made on May 3, 1902. The 

 total Boer enlistment did not exceed 75,000, 

 while the British forces engaged numbered 

 nearly 450,000 men. 



The terms of peace provided that the Boers 

 surrender all arms and munitions and swear 

 loyalty to the new sovereign, Edward VII, and 

 in return 'all prisoners outside of the colonj' 

 were to be brought back to their homes and 

 no proceedings were to be taken against 

 burghers for action in connection with the war. 

 Civil administration was to succeed the mili- 

 tary government as soon as possible, and be 

 followed by representative government; the 

 Dutch language was to be allowed in courts of 

 law and be taught in schools; a sum of $15,000,- 

 000 was to be granted to aid in the restoration 

 of property. E.B.P. 



Consult Maurice's History of the War in South 

 Africa; De Wet's Three Years' War. 



Related Subjects. Further information on 

 various phases of this subject may be gained 

 from the following articles in these volumes : 

 Boer Ladysmith 



Botha, Louis Orange Free State 



Jameson, Leander Starr Rhodes, Cecil John 

 Kimberley Roberts, Earl 



Kitchener, Horatio Transvaal 



Herbert, Earl Union of South Africa 



Kruger, Stephanus J. P. 



'OUTH AMERICA, amer'ika, one of the 

 great continents into which the earth is divided. 

 With North America, with which it is con- 

 nected by the narrow Isthmus of Panama, it 

 forms what is known as the New World, a 

 name adopted after the discovery of America 

 in the fifteenth century. South America is 

 only slightly smaller than North America, but 

 it contains only about two-fifths as many in- 

 habitants. The southern continent, including 

 Mexico and Central America, is usually called 

 Latin America, because its white inhabitants 

 are chiefly of Spanish or Portuguese descent 

 and speak one of these languages. Though 

 North and South America have developed 

 along different lines from an economic stand- 



point, it is significant that they are the world's 

 greatest centers of democracy. In all their vast 

 territory there is not one country governed as 

 a monarchy. 



Size and Location. Like North America, the 

 southern continent is irregularly triangular in 

 shape, with its widest extent in the north and 

 the apex in the south. It has an area of 7,700,- 

 000 square miles, and occupies nearly one- 

 seventh of the total land area of the globe. Its 

 greatest length, from Punta Gallinas to Cape 

 Horn, is 4,800 miles, and its greatest width, 

 along the fifth degree of south latitude, is 

 3,300 miles. It extends about 1,000 miles nearer 

 to the South Pole than does Australia, which is 

 considered the southernmost continent. 



