UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 



5941 



UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 



each assembMwas to have an existence of four 

 years, unless dissolved by the governor. 



The ta.-k of arranging the details of the 



change fell to Mr. Poulett Thomson, who was 



.rded by elevatioa to the peerage as Baron 



Sydenham and Toronto. The government un- 



<1. r the Union Act, however, was never entirely 



ven at its best, and after 1860 



became steadily worse. The Union came to an 



nil in 1S67. when the Dominion of Canada was 



organized. See BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT. 



UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, a British 

 colony famous throughout the world for the 

 richness of its mineral deposits. More gold and 

 diamonds are taken from it each year than 

 from any other section of the earth. The 

 I'n ion. which oc- 

 cupies the ex- 

 treme southern 

 part of the conti- 

 nent of Africa, 

 was constituted 

 by an act of Par- 

 liament in 1909. 

 This provided for 

 the legislative 

 union of the four 

 provinces of the 

 Cape of Good 

 Hope, Natal, the 

 Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and al- 

 lowed each to retain its self-governing func- 



The union has an area of 473,954 square 

 s almost four times that of England, Scot- 

 laud, Ireland and Wales combined. It consists 

 in large part of vast, undulating plains, barren 

 parsely co\( -rl with brushwood, and lofty, 

 almost treeless, plateaus. The plain, or 

 affords pasturage for millions of sheep. 

 farms are numerous, and ostrich feathers form 

 one of the chief articles of export. Agricul- 

 1s, on the whole, rather backward throu^h- 

 I "nion, partly because of scanty rainfall 

 r wide areas of the lofty veldt. The land, 

 i- quit* fertile, and ina:. bar- 



and oats are grown, in addition to such 

 products as sugar, coffee, tea, cotton 

 t obacco. 



Mineral Deposits. During the year 1911. tin 



n nni- <>f the Transvaal alone supplied com- 



< e and industry with gold valued at over 



$160,000,000, of which almost the whole 



from the great Witwatersrand mines. The total 



gold supply of the worM f.. r th it year amount. ,1 



Only I 1. $472,435,000. Less rid, 



LOCATION MAI' 



than the Transvaal in gold, the Cape province 

 exceeds it in the weight and value of its dia- 

 monds. Some of the huge fortunes of the mod- 

 ern world have been dug out of Kaffir mines. 

 During 1914 the output of the diamond in 

 was valued at more than $50,000,000, and tin 

 total value of the stones taken from the mines 

 had reached over $1,150,000,000. See DIAMOND. 



The People and the Government. The popu- 

 lation of the union was 5,973,394 in 1911, about 

 a fifth being white and of British or Dutch 

 stock. The native peoples include the Bantus, 

 Hottentots and Bushmen, with a considerable 

 proportion of mixed stock having white blood. 

 The government is conducted by a Governor- 

 General, an Executive Council and a Parlia- 

 ment of two chambers. The Governor-General 

 is appointed by the Crown, and he surrounds 

 himself with an Executive Council of his own 

 selection. The legislative function is discharged 

 by a Senate of forty members (eight appoii: 

 and thirty-two elective) and an elective House 

 of Assembly having 121 members. This Union 

 Parliament . recognizes no superior authority 

 save that of the British Parliament in London. 



Cities and Transportation. Johannesburg is 

 the largest city of the union, with a population 

 (1911) of 237,104. The railroad line connect inn 

 it with Cape Town dates from the finding of 

 the wonderful gold fields on the Witwatersrand. 

 After the discovery of diamonds, a railroad was 

 built between Kimberley and Cape Town. 

 Cape Town, with a population of 161.579 in 

 1911, is the second largest city and is the seat 

 of the legislature. Pretoria (57,674) is the seat 

 of the Union government. 



History. The early history of these united 

 colonies is a tale of the st niggle of the whites 

 with tin- native population and of the Knglish 

 with the Dutch colonists. The struggle be- 

 n the Knplish and the Dutch, or Boer peo- 

 ples, culminated in the South African War, 

 which assured British ascendency. A number 



Of recent Clashes hot ween the natives and the 



white population 1: ;rrcd. A still more 



serious conflict threatened soon after the be- 

 ninning of the War of the Nations. A faction 

 of the union, including a portion of the military 

 force, rebelled and \\ent over to the German 

 side. Martial law was proclaimed, and General 

 Botha .1 -ncrals de Wet and Beyers 



and suppressed the r< G.BJ>. 



Connult Brand'* Union of South Africa; Col- 

 vln'a South Africa. 



Itrlntrd Subject*. In connect Inr with this 

 description of the Union of South Africa, the 



