Always a keen traveler, Anthony Trollope toured South Africa in 1877 and provides a fascinating account of his travels around a still untamed land at a time when British rule was being challenged by the native peoples. Trollope relates an insightful history of the first Dutch and then British colonial rule imposed over the native peoples, as well as vivid descriptions of the people, the architecture, the landscape and the sights and sounds of late 19th-century South Africa. It is in his dealings with the natives that Trollope is at his most fascinating and unusually perceptive. His own views reflect the common opinion of the day that colonial rule could only improve their lives, but at the same time gives an insight into the negative effects of colonialism on the natives and the grievances it created. "South Africa" is an unrivalled account of the land and all its people by a master writer, and is a fascinating description of a small but vital part of the British Empire during its prime.