Orange Free State

The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa, founded by Afrikaner settlers who had left British-ruled Cape Colony during the Great Trek. Britain recognized its independence in the Bloemfontein Convention. Its capital was Bloemfontein, and under President Johannes Brand it was a stable, well-run republic that kept good relations with Britain for many years. The discovery of diamonds near Kimberley led to a territorial dispute, and Britain annexed the diamond fields in 1871. The republic joined the Transvaal in the Second Boer War, which began in 1899, and lost. By the Treaty of Vereeniging it became a British colony, the Orange River Colony, and later a province of the Union of South Africa.

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