This Day in History: May 24, 1870
Additional Date: May 24, 1870
Jan Christian Smuts, who became South Africa's second Prime Minister in 1919, was born on the farm Bovenplaats near Riebeeck West in the Cape. Smuts had a distinguished political career as an international statesman and a general in the South African Army. He also participated in the Second Anglo-Boer War (South African War).