Second Boer War concentration camps

Second Boer War concentration camps
Part of Second Boer War
Tents in the Bloemfontein concentration camp
Date18991902
Attack type
Internment
DeathsOver 47,900 deaths:
  • 27,927 Boers
  • 20,000 or more native Africans
Victims154,000 interned in British concentration camps
PerpetratorsBritish Empire, particularly Lord Kitchener

During the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), the British operated concentration camps in the South African Republic, Orange Free State, the Colony of Natal, and the Cape Colony. In February 1900, Lord Kitchener took command of the British forces and implemented controversial tactics that contributed to a British victory.

Using a guerrilla warfare strategy, the Boers lived off the land and used their farms as a source of food, thus making their farms a key item in their many successes at the beginning of the war. When Kitchener realized that a conventional warfare style would not work against the Boers, he began initiating plans to destroy their farms and detain them, which would later cause much controversy among the British public.