Brandwater Basin

{{Short description|Drainage basin of the Brandwater River}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} [[File:Tweede en derde dryfjagte op De Wet, 1900 & 1901, a.png|thumb|Map of the historical Orange Free State (orange), with the Brandwater Basin bottom center to the north east of Basutoland (Lesotho, grey).]] thumb|The Brandwater Basin in Orange Free State, South Africa, 1900. The position of the blocking British troops before the surrender of Prinsloo is shown. thumb|Marthinus Prinsloo (1838–1903) The '''Brandwater Basin''' is the drainage basin of the Brandwater River (Afrikaans: Brandwaterrivier), a tributary of the Grootspruit River in the south-east of Orange Free State, South Africa, north of Lesotho.<ref name="tina">{{cite web |url=https://clarensnews.co.za/clarens-history/ |title=Clarens History. (Extract from an Article written by Tina de Beer for Open Africa) |last=de Beer |first=Tina |date=16 April 2018 |website=clarensnews.co.za |publisher=Clarens Guide |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=..Brandwater Basin, an area situated between the town of Fouriesburg and the well-known landmark of Golden Gate. The Brandwater Basin gets its name from the Brandwater River, a tributary of the Caledon River that runs along the foothills of the Maluti Mountains.}}</ref> The basin is situated south of Bethlehem and south-east of Senekal, between the Witteberg (White Mountains) to the west and north, the Rooiberge (Red Mountains) to the east, and the Drakensberg over the Caledon River to the south. It is also northwest of the Slaapkrans Basin (Afrikaans: Slaapkransbekken) and the Maloti Mountains on the northern border of Lesotho.<ref name="tina" /> Towns in the Brandwater Basin are Fouriesburg, founded in 1892,<ref>{{cite web |title=Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain) |url=https://archive.org/details/DictionaryOfSouthernAfricanPlaceNames |publisher=Human Science Research Council |page=166}}</ref> and Clarens, established in 1912.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dictionary of Southern African Place Names (Public Domain) |url=https://archive.org/details/DictionaryOfSouthernAfricanPlaceNames |publisher=Human Science Research Council |pages=116–117}}</ref>

==Mountain passes== The main entry and exit points of the Brandwater Basin south of Bethlehem are a number of mountain passes, in clockwise order from the north: Retief's Nek,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/free-state/item/872-retiefs-nek-r26.html |title=Retiefs Nek (R26). The Free State |last=Roberts |first=Trygve |date=2020 |website=mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za |publisher=MOUNTAIN PASSES OF SOUTH AFRICA |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Naauwpoort's Nek (Noupoortsnek),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/free-state/item/298-noupoortsnek.html |title=Noupoortsnek (R712). The Free State |last=Roberts |first=Trygve |date=2020 |website=mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za |publisher=MOUNTAIN PASSES OF SOUTH AFRICA |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Golden Gate east of Clarens, Kommando Nek (Commando Nek) north east of Ficksburg,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/free-state/item/952-kommandonek-r26.html |title=Kommandonek (R26). The Free State |last=Roberts |first=Trygve |date=2020 |website=mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za |publisher=MOUNTAIN PASSES OF SOUTH AFRICA |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref> and Slabbert's Nek south east of Senekal. Minor passes are Witnek,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/find-a-pass/free-state/item/1478-witnek-s162.html |title=Witnek (S162). The Free State |last=Roberts |first=Trygve |date=2020 |website=mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za |publisher=MOUNTAIN PASSES OF SOUTH AFRICA |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Nelspoort, and Bamboeshoek.

==1900 Boer surrender by Prinsloo in the Brandwater Basin== <gallery> File:Prinsloo's Commando retreating to the Brandwater Basin. Artist's impression, 1901.jpg|Prinsloo's Commando in the mountains retreating to the Brandwater Basin below after the lost fight at Retief's Nek on 23–24 July 1900. File:Resa del bacino del Brandewater.jpg|Prinsloo's Boer forces surrender en masse handing over their Mauser Model 1895 rifles near Surrender Hill, starting 30 July 1900. Drawing around 1902. File:Sandkol by Surrender Hill, R711, Slaapkrans, oos-Vrystaat.jpg|''Sandkol'', hot sandy hill near Surrender Hill, on the R711 road, Slaapkrans, Orange Free State. Photo 2015. File:Surrender Hill 01, monument.jpg|Surrender Hill monument in Brandwater Basin, beside the Clarens-Fouriesburg road. Photo 2011. </gallery> The Brandwater Basin was the scene of a massive surrender of Boer troops under the command of General Marthinus Prinsloo in the Anglo-Boer War on 30 July 1900. After British troops had taken both the Boer state capitals of Bloemfontein (13 March 1900) and Pretoria (5 June 1900), Prinsloo and his men guarded the mountain passes of the Drakensberg at the Brandwater Basin.<ref>Kinsey 1999</ref> Generals Christiaan de Wet, Paul Roux and Jonathan Crowther would each retreat from the Brandwater Basin with their troops northwards and eastwards.<ref name="Bossenbroek p. 284-285">Bossenbroek 2018, p. 284-285.</ref> De Wet indeed escaped escorting president Steyn, while the remainder of the Boer army instead failed to defend the pass Slabbert's Nek on 15 July 1900 and gave up Retief's Nek after a fight on 23–24 July 1900.

The British surrounded Prinsloo by also blocking the passes of Witnek, Kommandonek, Noupoortsnek (Nauwpoortsnek) and finally the Golden Gate pass to the east on the Little Caledon River, so that Prinsloo felt forced to surrender with his army to general Archibald Hunter on 30 July 1900. Boer general Piet Fourie<ref>Bossenbroek 2018, p. 285.</ref> or general Jan Hendrik Olivier<ref>Pakenham 1992, p. 444.</ref> had got away with 1500 men and several commanders in the east over the Golden Gate pass in time.

Some 4300 of his troops including Prinsloo, Roux and Crowther were taken prisoner of war near Fouriesburg, most of them at Surrender Hill.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://clarens.co.za/listing/surrender-hill/ |website=clarens.co.za |access-date=28 November 2024 |publisher=Clarens. Accommodation and tourism in Clarens |title=Surrender Hill |quote=Is a historic Anglo Boer War site about 10km on the Fouriesburg road from the town of Clarens. The site was proclaimed a heritage site in 1986 and marks the place where Free State Boers surrendered to British troops on July 31 1900. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240713033009/https://clarens.co.za/listing/surrender-hill/ |archive-date=13 July 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> This was the largest number of Boers captured in the war so far, even more than the 4000 at the surrender of general Piet Cronjé at Paardeberg on 27 February 1900. While most of the prisoners from Prinsloo's army were sent to Ceylon, Prinsloo himself was held captive at Simon's Town.<ref name="Bossenbroek p. 284-285" /><ref name="Afrikanergeskiedenis">{{cite web |url=https://www.afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za/presidente/biografiese-profiele/marthinus-prinsloo-1838-1903/ |title=Presidente (1845–1902) Biografiese profiele Marthinus Prinsloo (1838–1903) |last= |first= |date=3 May 2022 |website=afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za |publisher=Afrikanergeskiedenis |language=Afrikaans |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote= |archive-date=10 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110195502/https://www.afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za/presidente/biografiese-profiele/marthinus-prinsloo-1838-1903/ |url-status=dead }}. The text overlaps with the Afrikaans wikipedia article w:af:Geskiedenis van die Boererepublieke.</ref><ref>Pakenham 1992, p. 440-445.</ref> Prinsloo's surrender in 1900 was viewed by some of his compatriots as a treasonous act. Christiaan de Wet called it a "a horrible murder of government, country and people" (Afrikaans: ''’n gruwelike moord op regering, land en volk'').<ref name="Afrikanergeskiedenis" /><ref>Pakenham 1992, p. 445.</ref>

==Literature== * M. P. Bossenbroek, Yvette Rosenberg (Translator), ''The Boer War'', Seven Stories Press, New York, NY, 2018. {{ISBN|9781609807474}}, 1609807472. Pages 284–285. * Thomas Pakenham, ''The Boer War'', George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1979. Abacus, 1992. ISBN 0 349 10466 2. Pages 438, 441–445.

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{cite web |url=https://www.chrisash.co.za/2018/07/30/on-this-day-in-1900-boer-surrender-at-the-brandwater-basin |title=On this day in 1900… Boer surrender at the Brandwater Basin |last=Ash |first=Chris |date= |website=chrisash.co.za |publisher=Chris Ash |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=By early July 1900, the Boer invasions of British territory had been thrown back in disarray, the capitals of both republics had been captured, and Lord Roberts had all but won the conventional war. In the north east of the OFS, Imperial troops drove the remnants of the Orange Free State commandos out of Bethlehem, prompting them to retreat southwards towards the border with Basutoland, and into an area known as the ‘Brandwater Basin’.}} * {{cite web |url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol113hk.html |title=The Brandwater Basin and Golden Gate surrenders, 1900. Military History Journal Vol 11 No 3/4 – October 1999 |last=Kinsey |first=H. W. |date=October 1999 |website=samilitaryhistory.org |publisher=The South African Military History Society / Die Suid-Afrikaanse Krygshistoriese Vereniging |access-date=23 March 2023 |quote=In view of the advance of General Hunter southwards towards Bethlehem mentioned below, General C R de Wet had decided to abandon that town and to fall back on the mountain strongholds surrounding the Brandwater Basin, whither the bulk of the burgher forces of the Orange Free State had already retired.}}

Category:Geography of South Africa Category:Geology of South Africa Category:1900 in South Africa  Category:Landforms of South Africa