The Sand River Convention was a convention

Treaty

A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...

 whereby Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 formally recognised the independence of the Boer

Boer

Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...

s living beyond the Vaal River

Vaal River

The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...

. In return, the Boers promised that slavery would be outlawed in the Transvaal

South African Republic

The South African Republic , often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer-ruled country in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. Not to be confused with the present-day Republic of South Africa, it occupied the area later known as the South African...

 and that they would not interfere in the Orange River Sovereignty

Orange River Sovereignty

The Orange River Sovereignty was a short-lived political entity between the Orange and Vaal rivers in southern Africa. In 1854, it became the Orange Free State, and is now the Free State province of South Africa.-History:...

's affairs. The convention was signed on 17 January 1852 by Andries Pretorius

Andries Pretorius

Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius was a leader of the Boers who was instrumental in the creation of the Transvaal Republic, as well as the earlier but short-lived Natalia Republic, in present-day South Africa....

 (for the Boers) and William Hogge and Mostyn Owen (for Great Britain) in a marquee on the banks of the Sand River

Sand River (South Africa)

The Sand River, in South Africa in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga, provinces. Is 80 kilometers which is very short and shallow compared to the standard river lengths in Africa. It derives its name from the fact that in the drought season the sandy banks starts to show on both sides...

.