1843–1870s: (Balances of Power — Britain Annexes Natal in 1843, Recognizes the Transvaal and Orange Free State by the Mid-1850s, Xhosa Settled in Reserves, A…

1843–1870s: (Balances of Power — Britain Annexes Natal in 1843, Recognizes the Transvaal and Orange Free State by the Mid-1850s, Xhosa Settled in Reserves, African Peasant Farmers as Tenants on White Farms, and a Fragile Equilibrium on the Eve of the Diamond and Gold Discoveries That Would Destroy African Self-Sufficiency): The migration of the Boers presented the British with a dilemma — should the recalcitrant voortrekkers be left alone or controlled? Initially, Britain decided control was necessary, annexing Natal in 1843 and briefly taking control of the Orange River zone in 1848, but this was considered too expensive. By the mid-1850s, Britain had recognized the political independence of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. As Boers expanded into the highveld, they came up against the Sotho, who resisted but were greatly reduced in territory through the 1850s and 1860s — only a request for British protection saved the kingdom. The British extended the boundary to incorporate Xhosa territory, settling the Xhosa in reserves that would later become a core feature of white-dominated southern Africa. African peasant farmers became tenants on white farms, paying rent or providing unpaid labor. Yet by the 1860s, some degree of political and economic balance had been established — strong African states successfully resisted European incursion, Africans imported firearms through lucrative trade in skins and ivory, and the British government was singularly uninterested in extending its territorial reach. This was the situation on the eve of the discovery of diamonds north of the Orange River at the beginning of the 1870s, and of gold in the Transvaal in the mid-1880s — finds that would dramatically alter the balance of power, destroy African self-sufficiency, and lead to the creation of a capitalist economy by century’s end.