Diamonds were discovered in South Africa in 1866 and this sparked a flood of treasure hunters, especially from England, who streamed to the interior of the country.
Ownership of the diamond fields was contested by the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, as well as various other groups, including the Khoikhoi, the Koranas under the leadership of Andries Waterboer, and the Batlhaping, who were ruled by Chief Mankuroane.
The Transvaal President, Andries Pretorius, declared the diamond fields to be Boer property in 1870.
Immigrant miners were enraged and a former British sailor called Stafford Parker organised his fellow countrymen and drove all the Transvaal officials out of the area.
On 30 July, 1870, the Klipdrift Republic was declared and by December of the same year about 10 000 British settlers had made their home in the new republic.
Parker was elected as the President of the new republic, which was also called the Digger’s Republic and the Republic of Griqualand West.
The republic existed for an extremely short time and was situated next to the Vaal River.
Later the Boer forces attempted to regain the territory through negotiation, but were unsuccessful, and on 27 October, 1871, British forces marched in and occupied the small country.
It became the Griqualand West colony and was eventually incorporated into the Orange Free State.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
