Free Orange State

State · 1856–1899 CE · at its largest around 1871 CE

An independent Boer republic between the Orange and Vaal rivers with Bloemfontein as its capital, annexed by Britain during the Second Boer War.

On its lands while it lasted

• Moshoeshoe I (c. 1786 CE – 1870 CE): Founder of the Basotho nation, who gathered refugees of the Mfecane at the mountain stronghold of Thaba Bosiu and later sought British protection.
• Cecil Rhodes (1853 CE – 1902 CE): British mining magnate and Cape Colony prime minister who founded De Beers and drove British colonial expansion into the territories named Rhodesia.
• Maseru (1869 CE): Capital of Lesotho (1967–today).
• Kimberley diamond rush (1871 CE): Discovery of diamonds led to a rush at Kimberley, where the Big Hole was dug by hand until 1914, transforming the economy of southern Africa.
• Second Boer War (1899–1902 CE): War between the British Empire and the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State; British concentration camps caused the deaths of many Boer and Black African civilians.

More on Wikipedia.