Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- January 1898 - March 1919 (Creation)
Level of description
sub-subsubseries
Extent and medium
Extent19 items
Context area
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Leases.
An unusual system of land tenure was devised by Chief Montsioa in the hope that the tribe would be able to prevent Whites from seizing tribal lands. Grants of land were given to important individual members of the tribe. Originally this land was inalienable except to other Barolong, but by 1896 the land could be hired or leased to Whites. Rights could be transferred from one member of the tribe to anether, but there was a strict prohibition against the mortgaging of holdings. For the most part this system known as the Barolong Farms was effective, although in 1914 there was some consternation amongst government official when it appeared that White lessees were treating Blacks living on the land as squatters.