The Most Lopsided Battle In History

Thousands dead on one side, zero on the other

(By Charles Davidson Bell (1813–1882). The painter was Thomas Baines (November 1820–1875) — Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis in Beeld (1989) by Anthony Preston. Bion Books: Printed in South Africa., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3735165)

The Dutch controlled the colony of Cape Town in present-day South Africa from 1652 to 1806. It was one of the most important possessions of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). Cape Colony was a vital location along the lucrative trade routes that connected Europe’s Atlantic coastlines to Africa and Asia. The territory was a popular place for VOC employees to retire and settle after they were done sailing and trading. The result was a large, affluent, and educated Dutch population located in South Africa. These people would go on to become the Boers.

Beginning in the late 18th century, the Dutch and the British began a series of conflicts. Tensions between the two had been strained for decades as British colonial interests continuously butted up against Dutch colonial interests. The first clash came in North America at the colony of New Amsterdam, later New York, which the British took possession of. Then, beginning in 1795, the British began their occupation of Cape Colony. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British seized the colony, and this time the transfer was permanent. Britain gained control over a large and wealthy colony filled with Dutch-speaking colonists, some of whom had been living there for generations.