Majuba Hill in South Africa was the final battlefield of the First Anglo-Boer War. Sometimes known as the Transvaal War, the First Anglo-Boer War was a conflict that lasted approximately a year in which the Boers rejected British annexation of the Transvaal region of South Africa.

Majuba Hill history

The Battle of Majuba Hill 27 February 1881 was the main battle fought between British and Boer forces during the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-81). It was a comprehensive victory for the Boers, who routed a 400-strong British force occupying the summit of the hill.

Approximately 400 British soldiers, made up of the 58th Regiment and the 92nd Highlanders and led by Major-General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, had occupied Majuba Hill in early 1881. On 27 February 1881, the Boers defeated the British in battle, effectively ending the war. Colley himself had been killed together with almost half of the force.

Shocked by this defeat and unwilling to fight a long and costly war, the British signed a provisional peace treaty with the Boers in March 1881. The First Anglo-Boer War officially ended with the signing of the Pretoria Convention August-October 1881, which restored Boer self-rule in the Transvaal, albeit under British oversight for the next few years.

Majuba Hill today

In 1981, following the centenary of the Battle of Majuba, an annual festival was founded to commemorate the battle. The Majuba battle site is jointly managed by two different entities, the Majuba-Boarevolk Trust and the Majuba Management Company.