The history of the Albania Settlement of Griqualand West is examined from its beginnings in 1866 to its demise in 1878. Albania was very much a product of its time. Nineteenth century British colonial policy was basically expansionist, despite minor fluctuations caused by the various influences affecting it, such as the Free Trade and Mercantilist doctrines, social factors within Britain and events within the colonies themselves. From 1815 colonial settlements were fairly common in British territory, especially after Wakefield had provided a convincing theoretical framework for them. Within South Africa itself there are differing interpretations of what motivated British policy and of the role of the missionaries, while the changing political and economic landscape markedly affected Britain's decisions. British Government settlement schemes were undertaken mainly for social or military reasons, but there were also many settlements founded by land speculators. The economically depressed 1860s hit the Eastern Cape hard and this, combined with the transition to sheep farming, which created considerable land hunger, made the Albania scheme attractive to Eastern Cape farmers. The Griqua people led by Andries Waterboer had made a great effort to establish hegemony north of the Orange River, over the Sotho-Tswana and other Griqua chiefs. By 1866 the attempt had failed and Free State farmers were encroaching onto Nicholas Waterboer's lands. When Waterboer's agent, David Arnot, proposed the establishment of a settlement of Albany men to act as a "Wall of Flesh", Waterboer accepted the idea. Arnot's motivation was also land speculation in an area where diamonds were likely to push up land values. From its inception the settlement was dogged by quarrels, mainly over land, amongst the parties involved - the Griqua, brutally removed to make way for the settlers; the settlers, dissatisfied with the land tenure system and their administration; Arnot; the British and the encroaching Boer farmers . After the 1871 annexation of Griqualand West, into which Albania was absorbed, it took seven years, two Land Commissions, a Land Court and a special Land Claims Commissioner to sort out the tangled claims and bring order to the area and Albania's history to a close.

D.Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis is a study of British colonial policy in southern Afiica in the 1 gill centwy. More specifically it looks at how British imperial policy, in the period 1875 to 1881, played itself out in two British colonies in southern Africa, Wlder the direction of a British imperial agent, William Owen Lanyon. It sets Lanyon in the context of the frontiers and attempts to link the histories of the people who lived there, the Africans, Boers and British settlers on the one han~ and the histories of colonial policy on the other. In doing so it also unravels the relationship between Lanyon and his superiors in London and those in southern Africa. In 1875 Owen Lanyon arrived in Griqualand West, where his brief was to help promote a confederation policy in southern Africa. Because of the discovery of diamonds some years earlier, Lanyon's administration had to take account of the rising mining industry and the aggressive new capitalist economy. He also had to deal with Griqua and Tlhaping resistance to colonialism. Lanyon was transferred to the Transvaal in 1879, where he was confronted by another community that was dissatisfied with British rule: the Transvaal Boers. Indeed, in Pretoria he was faced with an extremely difficult situation, which he handled very poorly. Boer resistance to imperial rule eventually came to a head when war broke out and Lanyon and his officials were among those besieged in Pretoria. In February 1881 imperial troops suffered defeat at the hands of Boer commandos at Majuba and Lanyon was recalled to Britain. In both colonies Lanyon was caught up in the struggle between the imperial power and the local people and, seen in a larger context, in the conflict for white control over the land and labour of Africans and that between the old pre-mineral South Africa and the new capitalist order. He made a crucial contribution to developments in the sub-continent and it is remarkable that his role in southern Africa has thus far been neglected. / History / D.Litt. et Phil. (History)

This thesis is a study of British colonial policy in southern Afiica in the 1 gill centwy. More specifically it looks at how British imperial policy, in the period 1875 to 1881, played itself out in two British colonies in southern Africa, Wlder the direction of a British imperial agent, William Owen Lanyon. It sets Lanyon in the context of the frontiers and attempts to link the histories of the people who lived there, the Africans, Boers and British settlers on the one han~ and the histories of colonial policy on the other. In doing so it also unravels the relationship between Lanyon and his superiors in London and those in southern Africa. In 1875 Owen Lanyon arrived in Griqualand West, where his brief was to help promote a confederation policy in southern Africa. Because of the discovery of diamonds some years earlier, Lanyon's administration had to take account of the rising mining industry and the aggressive new capitalist economy. He also had to deal with Griqua and Tlhaping resistance to colonialism. Lanyon was transferred to the Transvaal in 1879, where he was confronted by another community that was dissatisfied with British rule: the Transvaal Boers. Indeed, in Pretoria he was faced with an extremely difficult situation, which he handled very poorly. Boer resistance to imperial rule eventually came to a head when war broke out and Lanyon and his officials were among those besieged in Pretoria. In February 1881 imperial troops suffered defeat at the hands of Boer commandos at Majuba and Lanyon was recalled to Britain. In both colonies Lanyon was caught up in the struggle between the imperial power and the local people and, seen in a larger context, in the conflict for white control over the land and labour of Africans and that between the old pre-mineral South Africa and the new capitalist order. He made a crucial contribution to developments in the sub-continent and it is remarkable that his role in southern Africa has thus far been neglected. / History / D.Litt. et Phil. (History)