The South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek; ZAR; also known as the Transvaal Republic) was an independent and internationally recognised state located in what is now South Africa, from 1852 to 1902. The republic defeated the British Empire in what is often referred to as the First Boer War and remained independent until the end of the Second Boer War on 31 May 1902, when it was forced to surrender to the British after Lord Kitchener authorised the use of a scorched earth policy and concentration camps to starve captured Boer women and children. More than 27,000 of these civilians died as result. After the war the territory of the ZAR became the Transvaal Colony. During World War I, there was an attempt at resurrecting the republic in the Maritz rebellion. The land area that was once the ZAR now comprises all or most of the provinces of Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West in the northeastern portion of modern-day Republic of South Africa.