BLS states
The BLS states are a group of three states from southern Africa . These countries are Botswana , Lesotho and Swaziland .
overview
The modern group name "BLS" is related to their colonial prehistory. These three countries were grouped under the term High Commission Territories by the British authorities until the 20th century . With the establishment of the South African Union in 1910, the administrative structure in the areas of British colonial administration in southern Africa gradually changed. The South African Union became the Dominion with expanded domestic and foreign policy autonomy. The Union was further strengthened by the Statute of Westminster . Finally, South Africa left the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961 because the Republic was proclaimed after the 1960 referendum .
Basutoland (now Lesotho ) came on the basis of Proclamation No. 75a of March 18, 1884 under the direct control of the British Government, by giving the Governor of the Cape Colony in his capacity as High Commissioner the High Commissioner for the settling and adjustment of the affairs of the territories in South Africa adjacent or contiguous to the eastern or north -eastern frontier of the said colony (short: High Commissioner for South Africa ).
The impetus for a Bechuanaland protectorate (now Botswana) came from negotiations between three tribal chiefs, Khama III. , Gaseitsiwe and Sebele I. , with Charles Warren , to end the ongoing armed conflict between the indigenous people with Boer groups . With an ordinance of May 9, 1891, the boundaries of the area between Vryburg , Kuruman and Mafeking were defined and the administration was formally established. On November 15, 1895, this area, known as British Bechuanaland , came under the administrative sovereignty of the Cape Colony.
Swaziland was given secure independence status at the Cape relatively early in British colonial history. The agreements of 1881 and 1884 between the government of the United Kingdom and the Transvaal Republic were decisive. In 1894, the Transvaal Republic took over the protection and administration of Swaziland without incorporating it . After the Second Boer War , a special commissioner headed by the Governor of the Transvaal took over the administration of Swaziland until 1907. With the Constitutional Act of 1906, this responsibility was transferred to the High Commissioner for South Africa and Swaziland fell under the British Crown.
Responsibilities of the High Commissioners
From 1848 to 1901 the administrative responsibility ( High Commissioner for South Africa ) for the High Commission Territories lay with the Governor of Colony of the Cape of Good Hope . Between 1901 and 1910 the office of the high commissioner was separated from that of the governor general of the Cape Colony . Alfred Milner (1901–1905) and, after him, William Waldegrave Palmer (1905–1910) were appointed as high commissioners .
As a result of the establishment of the South African Union, there was now a Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and his secondary function as High Commissioner for Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, Southern Rhodesia and Swaziland (1910-1930). Both separate offices were held in personal union until 1930.
For the former colonies of Bechuanaland , Basutoland and Swaziland, which are in the de facto sphere of influence of the South African Union, there was the office of the High Commissioner for Basutoland, the Bechuanaland Protectorate and Swaziland (BBS), which was established by the United Kingdom High Commissioner (as much as : British Ambassador) was exercised. His official title was also abbreviated as High Commissioner for BBS .
The three BBS areas, now BLS states, achieved state independence from the United Kingdom relatively late compared to South Africa:
- Botswana on September 30, 1966,
- Lesotho on October 4th 1966,
- Swaziland on September 6, 1968.
In the respective year of their national independence, they became members of the Commonwealth of Nations .
Southern Rhodesia
When the Protectorate of Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing colony in 1923, a British governor took over the administrative tasks of the British South Africa Company . Before 1923 the High Commissioner for South Africa had certain powers over this area.
In April 1953, the governor was replaced by a high commissioner, for whom the High Commission for the Federation (meaning the Federation of Southern and Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland ) was established in September of the same year . For this reason, Southern Rhodesia is only very limited and often only counted among the High Commission Territories before 1923 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christian Peters-Berries: Regional Integration in Southern Africa - A Guidebook ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Berlin, 2010, online at www.iaj.org.za (English), PDF document p. 190
- ^ A b Hugh Ashton: The High Commission Territories . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Cape Town, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1949. p. 707
- ^ Hugh Ashton: The High Commission Territories . In: Ellen Hellmann, Leah Abrahams (Ed.): Handbook on Race Relations in South Africa . Cape Town, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1949. p. 706
- ↑ a b University of Botswana . History Department, Neil Parsons, Glorious Gumbo: Bechuanaland Colonial Administrators c.1884-c.1965. at www.thuto.org (English)
- ↑ UK, The National Archives: Dominions Office and successors: Governor, Southern Rhodesia and High Commission, Southern Rhodesia, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Rhodesia: Correspondence . www.discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk (English)
