The Cape, Natal, Transvaal and Orange River colonies united as the Union of South Africa, a self-governing dominion of the British Empire.
The South African Native National Congress, forerunner of the ANC, was founded in Bloemfontein to defend the rights of Black Africans.
In German South West Africa (present-day Namibia), German forces suppressed uprisings in a campaign that killed most of the Herero and about half of the Nama people.
Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid leader and South Africa's first Black president, was born in the village of Mvezo.
The British Empire fought the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State; the war ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging, after tens of thousands of civilians died in concentration camps.
Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II defeated an invading Italian army at Adwa, preserving Ethiopia's independence during the Scramble for Africa.
Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia as Haile Selassie I; he reigned until 1974 and became a symbol of African independence.