Paul Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and President of the South African Republic from 1883 to 1900. He was the face of the Boer cause against Britain during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. As a child in the late 1830s, he took part in the Great Trek of people migrating east, away from the British Cape Colony. He witnessed the signing of the Sand River Convention with Britain in 1852 and over the next decade played a prominent role in the forging of the South African Republic, leading its commandos and resolving disputes between the rival Boer leaders and factions. After the South African Republic was annexed by Britain as the Transvaal, he became the leading figure in the movement to restore its independence, culminating in the Boers' victory in the First Boer War of 1880–81 and Britain's recognition of the republic as a fully independent state. During his presidency, tensions with Britain increased as thousands of predominantly British settlers arrived with the Witwatersrand Gold Rush. His portrait is on the Krugerrand, a gold bullion coin still being produced. (Full article...)
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