Paul Kruger

Paul Kruger (1825 to 1904), known as Oom Paul or Uncle Paul, was a South African politician and one of the dominant political and military figures of the nineteenth century in the region. Born in the Cape Colony, he took part in the Great Trek as a child, had almost no education apart from the Bible, and rose as a protege of Andries Pretorius to lead commandos and help forge the South African Republic, or Transvaal. He was prominent in the restoration of independence after the First Boer War, and he served as State President of the republic from 1883 to 1900. Tensions with Britain over the foreign uitlander gold miners led to the Jameson Raid and the Second Boer War of 1899 to 1902. He left for Europe in 1900, died in Switzerland in 1904 and was buried in Pretoria, honored by admirers as a symbol of Afrikaner identity.