Chapter 6 and Epilogue Summary and Analysis

Cecil John Rhodes was born in 1853 in Hertfordshire as the fifth son in a large family. He arrived in Africa at age 16 as part of a compromise: his parents wanted him to be a clergyman, he wanted to be a barrister. He went to South Africa to visit his brother in hopes that the climate would be good for his asthma.

South Africa was colonized starting in 1650 as a Dutch supply port for ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope to Indonesia. Khoikhoi herders sold cattle to the colony, but settlers pushed them out of their lands, and in 1714 the colony outlawed immigration. By 1870, when Rhodes arrived, more than 50,000 workers sought diamonds in South Africa. In 1815 the British gained control over the Cape colony, which consisted of 16,000 Europeans, mostly Boers, descendents of the Dutch colonists, and another...