Jan Brand, president of the Free State from 1864 to 1888, established the basis for a modern state by introducing proper fi nancial management, a state bank, a sound legal system and a more modern educational system.
The town of Kimberley had a population of more than 30 000 by 1875.
The Great Trek produced two states. The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), also referred to as the Transvaal, was established in 1852, and the Republic of the Orange Free State (OFS) in 1854. For 20 to 30 years the economies of the two republics were much too weak to weld Boer society together and to underpin an efficient state. Without marketable commodities, currency was soon exhausted and both the state and its burghers became indebted to foreign merchants and banks. Burghers were reluctant to pay taxes, and many ignored the call-ups for commando.
The state squandered its major resource of land by liberally distributing it. In the ZAR absentee landowners and companies accumulated approximately half the land, and half of the burgher population was landless by the end of the century.
In 1871 Britain annexed the rich diamond fields at what would become known as Kimberley despite strong Free State claims. Jan Brand, president from 1864 to 1888, succeeded in getting Britain to pay the sum of £90 000 as compensation. Brand was a gifted leader and instilled new political confidence. By the early 1880s, he had established the basic framework of a stable state. He put special emphasis on establishing a sound legal and banking system in order to attract trade and other forms of business. He stamped out corruption.
