During the late 19th century and early 20th century, a number of South African and British political leaders advocated for aGreater South Africa. Thisirredentism can be regarded as an early form ofPan-Africanism, albeit strictly limited toWhite Africans of European ancestry.^[1]

StatesmanJan Smuts repeatedly had called for South African expansion since 1895, envisioning a future South African border along the riverZambesi or even theequator.^[2]German South-West Africa,Southern Rhodesia, and at least the southern parts ofPortuguese Mozambique (especially the port ofLourenço Marques in theDelagoa Bay) along with theHigh Commission Territories (Basutoland,Bechuanaland andEswatini, the last one having been aTransvaal protectorate from 1890–99) were to be included in this state, withPretoria now being its geographical capital.^[2] Although the initial objective of Smuts' expansion plan was the Zambesi, he took great geopolitical interest in theEast Africa Protectorate andTanganyika. Smuts was impressed with theBritish colonists of theWhite Highlands and believed that the area could be transformed into a "great European state or system of states" in the near future, eventually leading to a "chain of white states which will in the end become one from the Union to Kenya".^[3] Smuts believed this expansion would finally lead South Africa to become "one of the greatest futureDominions of theEmpire", the equal of Australia and Canada.^[3]

Smuts' expansionist aims received weak domestic white support.^[4]Afrikaner nationalists feared that the incorporation of British territories near South Africa would result in a state with a much larger black majority than in the then-currentUnion of South Africa.^[4]

The formation of theUnion of South Africa in 1910 was seen^{[by whom?]} as the first step in bringing about the unification of the British-held territories in Southern Africa.^[5] The British initially supported the territorial enlargement of the South African State. Neither the British nor the South Africans expected London's continuing imperial responsibility forRhodesia,Nyasaland and theHigh Commission Territories to be the ultimate territorial arrangement: theSouth Africa Act 1909 made provisions for admitting Rhodesia as a fifth province of the Union in the future, and laid out the terms for the potential future transfer of the High Commission Territories.^[5] Prime MinisterLouis Botha agreed with Smuts that the South African annexation of the High Commission Territories was only a matter of time.^[6]

The British approved Smuts' war aims during theSouth-West Africa Campaign of 1914-1915, and supported themandate ofGerman South-West Africa to South Africa in 1919, although Smuts looked to formally incorporating the territory.^[6][7] He suggested naming this new territoryBothaland after the Prime Minister.^[8] Even future fulfilment of the territorial objects in Portuguese Mozambique – by the means of a purchase approved unanimously by the South African cabinet^[6] – were looked upon^{[by whom?]} favorably, despite Portugal being a member of theEntente.^[7]

However, theSouthern Rhodesian government referendum of 1922 saw the colony of Southern Rhodesia reject joining the Union. This decision made the South African acquisition of theBritish South African Company rights in Bechuanaland unnecessary, and thus its transfer to the Union was halted.^[7] Rhodesia, functioning as a British counterweight to Afrikaner dominance, had laid claims to at least a part of Bechuanaland, and thus it was increasingly in British interests to transfer the latter from the South African sphere of influence.^[9] The British were also disappointed with the South African parliament passing theNatives Land Act, which created the land tenure system which eventually became one of the foundations ofApartheid.^[10]

Without Rhodesia, Smuts' projections for further South African expansion northward became impossible to actualize and his aspirations towards Mozambique difficult to accomplish.^[11]The South African general election of 1924 brought the end of Smuts' premiership and the election ofJ. B. M. Hertzog as the new prime minister.^[12] The British were suspicious of the anti-imperial and pro-Afrikaner Hertzog compared to the anglophile Smuts, and became less willing to meet South African territorial demands.^[12]

In the Afrikaner-dominatedApartheid South Africa (1948-1994), especially under the premiership ofHendrik Verwoerd (in office 1958-1966), the concept of an incorporation of Southern African territories into a white-dominated South Africa revived, aiming now atBotswana,Lesotho andSwaziland which became independent from the United Kingdom in 1966-1968.^[13]

• Pink Map

Bibliography

• Nationalism in South Africa
• Pan-Africanism in Africa
• Irredentism
• Political history of South Africa
• Political terminology in South Africa
• South Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations
• White South African culture

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2015