DIAMONDS,GOLD,AND BRITISHIMPERIALISM
Americans were reduced to a tiny proportion of the population of North
America and were confined to scattered reservations forming a minute
proportion
of the land area. The indigenous Africans had experienced
havoc and losses, but survivors still occupied substantial parts of their
ancestral land. A struggle ensued as Africans strove to maintain control
over their lives while Whites tried to consummate their political victory
with economic success; or, rather, a series of struggles, for the relationships
between Whites and Blacks varied immensely from place to place.
In some areas, Africans still exclusivelyoccupied the land, except for the
sites of white traders, missionaries, and administrative officials.That was
the case in all of Basutoland, in most of Bechuanaland and the Transkei, in
much of Zululand and Swaziland, and in the reservations in the Ciskei and
Natal; also in scattered areas in the Afrikaner republics, especially in the
arc of land around the white settlements in the Transvaal. There, African
communities were struggling to continue to produce enough food for
subsistence. Where possible, especially among the Xhosa and the Basotho,
innovative families were seizing the opportunity to produce a surplus for