Editing Graaff-Reinet (section)

==History==
{{see also|!Kora Wars}}
[[File:Kapkolonie 1795.jpg|thumb|Boer republic of Graaff-Reinet (blue) and other Dutch territories around 1795]]
Graaff-Reinet was established by the [[Dutch East India Company]] in 1786, after Cape Town in 1652, Stellenbosch in 1679, Paarl in 1687 and Swellendam in 1745. The town is named after then-governor of the [[Cape Colony]], [[Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff]], and his wife. The town was originally established as a trading post to expand trading inland from the Cape Colony.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911 |wstitle=Graaff Reinet |volume=12 |page=306 |inline=1}}</ref>

In 1795, the town's burghers, who were annoyed by company taxation, proclaimed themselves to be the independent "Colony of Graaff-Reinet". The burghers then requested guardianship from the government of the Netherlands. Similar action was subsequently taken by the burghers of [[Swellendam]].<ref name=EB1911/> Before the authorities at [[Cape Town]] could take decisive measures against the rebels, they were compelled to capitulate to the British who had invaded and occupied the Cape.<ref name=EB1911/>

In January 1799, [[Marthinus Prinsloo (President)|Marthinus Prinsloo]], a leader of the 1795 independence movement, rebelled again but surrendered the following April. Prinsloo and nineteen others were imprisoned in the [[Castle of Good Hope|Cape Town castle]]. After trial, Prinsloo and another commandant were sentenced to death. Other conspirators were sentenced to exile. The sentences were not carried out and the prisoners were released in March 1803, on the retrocession of the Cape to the [[Netherlands]].

In 1801, there was another revolt in Graaff Reinet, but due to the measures of [[Francis Dundas|General Francis Dundas]], the acting governor of the [[Cape Colony]], peace was soon restored. In February 1803, due to the 1802 signing of the [[Treaty of Amiens]], the British returned the Cape Colony to the Netherlands, then named the Batavian Republic.<ref name=EB1911/>

On 13 August 1814 the Cape Colony was formally ceded to Britain by a convention under which Dutch vessels were entitled to resort freely to the Cape of Good Hope for the purposes of refreshment and repairs. Britain agreed on 13 August 1814 to pay five million sterling to the United Netherlands for the Dutch possession at the Cape.

The [[Cape Colony]] received a degree of independence in 1872 when "[[Responsible Government]]" was declared in South Africa. In 1877, the government of Prime Minister [[John Molteno]] began construction of the railway line connecting Graaff-Reinet to [[Port Elizabeth]] on the coast. This railway was officially opened on 26 August 1879.<ref>Burman, Jose (1984), Early Railways at the Cape. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, p.68. {{ISBN|0-7981-1760-5}}</ref>

Graaff Reinet became the centre of British military operations for the Eastern Cape during the [[Second Boer War]]. In 1901, a number of captured Boer rebels were tried in the town for crimes ranging from [[high treason]], murder, attempted murder, arson and robbery. Nine were sentenced to death, with eight of these being executed by firing squad on the outskirts of the town, while the ninth sentence was carried out in Colesberg. A monument stands in the town to commemorate these fallen Boers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCyiA5yBTSIC|title=Innocent Bloodauthor=Graham Jooste, Roger Webster|isbn=0-86486-532-5|publisher=New Africa Books|year=2002|access-date=12 October 2008|page=50}}</ref>