By the 19th century the British had started a formal imperial rule over South Africa. Imperialism started because of the discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa and this shattered the economy and lead to racial discriminations.Imperialism basically started wars in South Africa over the gold and diamonds that were found there. That allowed more European settlers to come and most of these settlers settled and South Africa and outnumbered the natives that lived there, which were called White Dominions.