part_of battle of bakenlaagte
The United East Indian ___MASK82___ ( or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in modern spelling ; VOC ), referred to by the British as the Dutch East ___MASK87___ ___MASK82___ , was originally established as a chartered company in 1602 , when the Dutch ___MASK13___ granted it a 21 - year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade . It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world , and it was the first company to issue stock . The largest and most valuable corporation in history , it possessed quasi - governmental powers , including the ability to wage war , imprison and execute convicts , negotiate treaties , strike its own coins , and establish colonies . Boer ( or ) is the Dutch and Afrikaans ___MASK28___ for " farmer ". As used in South Africa , it was used to denote the descendants of the Dutch - speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the ___MASK21___ . For a time the Dutch East India Company controlled this area , but it was taken over by the United Kingdom . The ___MASK34___ (, " Second Freedom War "), usually known as the Boer War and also at the time as the South African War , started on 11 October 1899 and ended on 31 May 1902 . Great Britain defeated two Boer nations in South Africa : the South African Republic ( Republic of Transvaal ) and the Orange Free State . Britain was aided by its Cape Colony , Colony of Natal and some native African allies . The British war effort was further supported by volunteers from the British Empire , including Southern Africa , the Australian colonies , Canada , India , and New Zealand . All other nations were neutral , but public opinion in them was largely hostile to Britain . Inside Britain and its Empire there also was a significant Opposition to the ___MASK34___ . The Union of South ___MASK96___ is the historic predecessor to the present - ___MASK33___ Republic of South ___MASK96___ . It came into being on 31 ___MASK89___ 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies : Cape Colony , Natal Colony , Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony . It included the territories formerly part of the Boer republics annexed in 1902 , South African Republic and Orange Free State . The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern ___MASK83___ , commonly known as the United Kingdom ( UK ) or Britain , is a sovereign country in western Europe . Lying off the north - western coast of the European mainland , it includes the island of Great Britain ( the name of which is also loosely applied to the whole country ), the north - eastern part of the island of ___MASK83___ , and many smaller islands . Northern ___MASK83___ is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of ___MASK83___ . Apart from this land border , the UK is surrounded by the ___MASK6___ , with the North Sea to its east , the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south - south - west , giving it the 12th - longest coastline in the world . The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and ___MASK83___ . With an area of , the UK is the 78th - largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th - largest in Europe . It is also the 21st - most populous country , with an estimated 65 . 1 million inhabitants . Together , this makes it the fourth most densely populated country in the European Union . Dominions were semi - independent polities under the British ___MASK47___ , constituting the British ___MASK79___ , beginning with ___MASK74___ Confederation in 1867 . They included Canada , Australia , New Zealand , Newfoundland , South Africa , and the Irish Free State , and then from the late 1940s also India , Pakistan , and Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ). The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the Dominions as " autonomous Communities within the British ___MASK79___ ", and the 1931 Statute of Westminster granted them full legislative independence . Louis Botha ( 27 ___MASK64___ 1862  27 ___MASK90___ 1919 ) was a South African politician who was the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa  the forerunner of the modern South African ___MASK24___ . A Boer war hero during the ___MASK34___ , he would eventually fight to have South Africa become a British Dominion . The Battle of Bakenlaagte occurred on 30 ___MASK22___ 1901 during the guerrilla phase of Anglo - Boer ___MASK57___ of 1899 -- 1902 . The battle saw the Eastern Transvaal Boer commandos of Generals Grobler , Brits , Viljoen and Louis Botha attack the rear guard of Colonel Benson ' s much feared No 3 Flying Column while it was in marching formation to its base camp . A settler is a ___MASK67___ who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there , often to colonize the area . Settlers are generally from a sedentary ___MASK62___ , as opposed to nomads who share and rotate their settlements with little or no concept of individual land ownership . Settlements are often built on land already claimed or owned by another group . Many times settlers are backed by governments or large countries . Afrikaans (, or ) is a West Germanic ___MASK99___ spoken in South ___MASK96___ , Namibia , and to a lesser extent , Botswana and Zimbabwe . It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland ( Hollandic dialect ) spoken by the mainly Dutch settlers of what is now South ___MASK96___ , where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the ___MASK21___ . Hence , it is a daughter ___MASK99___ of Dutch , and was previously referred to as " Cape Dutch " ( a term also used to refer collectively to the early Cape settlers ) or " ___MASK98___ Dutch " ( a derogatory term used to refer to Afrikaans in its earlier days ). The term is ultimately derived from Dutch " Afrikaans - Hollands " meaning " African Dutch ". It is the first ___MASK99___ of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern ___MASK96___ .