Centre of African Studies
Mining, Minting and Money: Imperial sterling, ZAR coins and the antecedents of the Anglo – Boer War, 1891 - 1899
The Anglo-Boer war, primarily attributed to British capital and Afrikaner interests, was triggered by the influx of gold coins into South Africa. British Secretary of State Joseph Chamberlain and High Commissioner Alfred Milner seized imperial control of the South African Republic, while Paul Kruger and his Volksraad urged Afrikaners to express Boer independence and regain economic control. However, the war's economic causes, particularly the introduction of gold coins by the ZAR, were not fully understood. This paper uses new archival evidence to highlight the currency tensions between British colonies and the ZAR, highlighting Britain's efforts to maintain global monetary hegemony and Kruger's mission at devolution.
