Who are the Voortrekkers?

Voortrekker, Afrikaans: Pioneer, Leading Migrant, or “those who go ahead”, any of the Boers (Dutch settlers or their descendants), or, as they came to be called in the 20th century, Afrikaners, who left the British Cape Colony in Southern Africa after 1834 and migrated into the interior Highveld north of the Orange ...

How many Voortrekkers were there?

The first wave of Voortrekkers lasted from 1835 to 1840, during which an estimated 6,000 people (roughly 20% of the Cape Colony's total population or 10% of the white population in the 1830s) trekked.

What happened to the Voortrekkers?

Battle of Blood River, also called Battle of Ncome River, (December 16, 1838), battle between the Zulu and the Voortrekker Boers in South Africa. Its proximate cause was a clash over land rights in Natal and the massacre of Voortrekkers by the Zulu king Dingane.

Where did the trekboers come from?

The Trekboers (/ˈtrɛkbuːrs/ Afrikaans: Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa.

Who was the leader of the Voortrekkers?

Piet Retief, leader of the Voortrekkers, agreed to this, and he and his men completed the task that was asked of them.

What was The Great Trek?

Where is Xhosa from?

Xhosa, formerly spelled Xosa, a group of mostly related peoples living primarily in Eastern Cape province, South Africa. They form part of the southern Nguni and speak mutually intelligible dialects of Xhosa, a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family.

How did the Voortrekkers live?

Many of the Voortrekkers were trekboers (semi-nomadic pastoral farmers) and their mode of life made it relatively easy for them to pack their worldly possessions in ox-wagons and leave the colony forever.

Are Trekboers Dutch?

farmers of Dutch descent, called trekboers or Boers, began to settle the area. After 1836 came the Great Trek, a migratory movement in which larger numbers of Boer farmers seeking freedom from British rule moved north across the Orange River.

Who were the Trekboers in South Africa?

The trekboers were nomadic pastoralists, forerunners of the Voortrekkers, the Dutch pioneers who forsook the Cape Colony and trekked north in the 1830s.

What did the Voortrekkers eat?

Next to grilling the meat over an open fire, the "Voortrekkers" often made a stew of venison and whatever vegetables they could find, in a three-legged cast iron pot, hence the name "potjiekos" (potfood). As each animal was shot, it was cut up and added to the pot. The large bones were included to thicken the stew.

Did the Boers fight the Zulus?

In 1838, the Boers, migrating north to elude the new British dominions in the south, first came into armed conflict with the Zulus, who were under the rule of King Dingane at the time.

What groups clashed in South Africa?

Three main powers clashed over land and resources in South Africa: Africans, Dutch, and British.

Why the Boers left the Cape Colony?

There were many reasons why the Boers left the Cape Colony; among the initial reasons were the language laws. The British had proclaimed the English language as the only language of the Cape Colony and prohibited the use of the Dutch language.

Why did the Boers go on the Great Trek?

Great Trek (1835–40) Migration of c. 12,000 Boers from Cape Colony into the South African interior. Their motives were to escape British control and to acquire cheap land. The majority settled in what became Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Natal.

Why did the Boers move north in the Great Trek?

Why did thousands of Boers move North in the Great Trek? To escape the British. What was the main reason for the Crimean War? Russia wanted land on the Black sea to get to the Mediterranean.

Who are the Afrikaners and where did they come from?

Afrikaners predominantly stem from Dutch, French and German immigrants who settled in the Cape, in South Africa, during the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th. Although later European immigrants were also absorbed into the population, their genetic contribution was comparatively small.

Who were the Boers and where did they settle?

The term Boer, derived from the Afrikaans word for farmer, was used to describe the people in southern Africa who traced their ancestry to Dutch, German and French Huguenot settlers who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope from 1652.

Are the Boers from Holland?

Boers (/bʊərz/ BOORZ; Afrikaans: Boere) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Where did the Griquas live?

Griqua, 19th-century people, of mixed Khoekhoe and European ancestry, who occupied the region of central South Africa just north of the Orange River. In 1848 they were guaranteed some degree of autonomy by a treaty with the British governor of South Africa.

How did the Voortrekkers preserve food?

Most of the Voortrekker families had a meat grinder, really useful for grinding up (mincing) tougher cuts of meat to make sausages. These hardy people also dried their sausages as another method for preserving meat. Once again this droë wors (dried sausage) is still with us today as a much sought after delicacy.

Where did the Voortrekkers cross the Drakensberg?

The apparently empty interior was entered in October 1837 by the Voortrekkers. They crossed the passes of the northern Drakensberg Mountains under the leadership of Piet Retief and others. Retief obtained from Dingaan the promise of nearly all of Natal if he recovered some stolen cattle for the Zulu leader.

Why did the British and the Boers fight a war?

The war began on October 11 1899, following a Boer ultimatum that the British should cease building up their forces in the region. The Boers had refused to grant political rights to non-Boer settlers, known as Uitlanders, most of whom were British, or to grant civil rights to Africans.

Do xhosas come from Zulus?

The Xhosa are the second largest cultural group in South Africa, after the Zulu-speaking nation. The Xhosa language (Isixhosa), of which there are variations, is part of the Nguni language group.

Is Khoisan an Xhosa?

The word “Xhosa” is derived from the Khoisan language and means “angry men”. Most of the languages in South Africa that involve tongue-clicking originate from the indigenous Khoisan people, who included plenty of different clicks in their speech and language.