Final answer:
The correct answer is option b) England and Netherlands; England took control.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Boer War was a series of conflicts in South Africa involving two European nations, England and the Netherlands. After intense fighting, marked by two major conflicts—the First Boer War (1880-81) and the Second Boer War (1899-1902)—England emerged as the controlling power. The Boer Wars centered on the control of South Africa's valuable mineral resources, ultimately leading to the establishment of the British colony with a dominant white power structure.
The Boers, who were descendants of Dutch settlers and spoke Afrikaans, established independent republics such as the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State after moving inland during the Great Trek of 1836 to escape British control. Despite successfully repelling British forces during the First Boer War, the Boers were ultimately defeated in the Second Boer War, which included a brutal guerrilla warfare phase and the use of concentration camps for civilian Boer populations.
After their defeat, the British annexed the Boer republics. With the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the former Boer republics, the Cape Colony, and the Natal Colony were unified as a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, foreshadowing the continuous struggle for power between the White minorities of British and Dutch descent. This consolidation set the stage for the systemic racial segregation policies that would later be formalized as apartheid in 1948.