Boer

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This article is about the Boer people. For the animal, see Boer goat.

Boer is the Dutch (and Afrikaans) word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans-speaking farmers who left the Cape Colony to settle in the Orange Free State, Transvaal and to a lesser extent Natal. Their primary motivation for moving, was to escape British rule in the Cape. The trekboere, as they were known, are descended mainly from Dutch Calvinist, Frisian Calvinist, French Huguenot, Walloon, Flemish and German Protestant origins dating from the 1650s and into the 1700s. Smaller but significant numbers of Scandinavians, Scots, English, Indians, Malays & Khoi have been absorbed as well. Those Boers who trekked into and inhabited the eastern Cape frontier were semi-nomadic. The term Boer is sometimes used in general to refer to an Afrikaner. When used in an historical context, it may refer to an inhabitant of the Boer republics as well as those who were cultural Boers. The Boers were largely, though not completely, absorbed into the Afrikaner designation following the Anglo-Boer War.

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External links

pt:Bôeres zh:布尔人


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