Voortrekkers
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- Voortrekkers can also refer to a youth organization, see: Voortrekkers (youth organization).
The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans for pioneers, literally "those who move ahead" or "first/forward traveler") were white Afrikaner farmers, then known as Boers (or Boere), who in the 1830s and 1840s emigrated during a series of mass movements of a number of separate trekking contingents under different leaders in what is called the Great Trek from the British controlled Cape Colony into the erstwhile black-populated (depopulated from the difaqane said to have originated from Shaka, the Zulu King) areas north of the Orange River in what is now South Africa.
The Voortrekkers were mainly of Trekboer (migrating farmer) descent living in the eastern frontiers of the Cape. Hence, their ancestors had long established a semi-nomadic existence of trekking into expanding frontiers. A contingent of Voortrekkers migrated into Natal and negotiated a land treaty with the Zulu King Dingane. Upon reconsideration, Dingaan doublecrossed the Voortrekkers, killing their leader Piet Retief along with half of the Voortrekker settlers who had followed them to Natal.
Andries Pretorius filled the leadership vacuum hoping to enter into negotiations for peace if Dingaan would restore the land he had granted to Retief. When Dingaan sent around twelve thousand Zulu warriors (impis) to attack the local contingent of Voortrekkers in response, the Voortrekkers defended themselves at a battle at Nacome River (called the Battle of Blood River) on 16 December 1838 where the vastly outnumbered Voortrekker contingent defeated the Zulu impis (warriors). This date has hence been known as the "Day of the Vow" as the Voortrekkers made a vow to God that they would honour the date if He were to deliver them from what they viewed as almost insurmountable odds. The victory of the besieged Voortrekkers at Nacome River was considered a turning point. The Natalia Republic was set up in 1839 but was annexed by Britain in 1843 whereupon most of the local Boers trekked north joining other Voortrekkers who had established themselves in the region.
Armed conflict, first with the Ndebele under Mzilikazi, then against the Zulus under Dingane, went the Voortrekkers' way, mostly because of the technological superiority of their muzzle-loading rifles. This success led to the establishment of a number of small Boer republics, which slowly coalesced into the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. These two states would survive until their annexation in 1900 by Britain during the Second Boer War.
The Voortrekkers are commemorated by the Voortrekker Monument located on Monument Hill overlooking Pretoria, the erstwhile capital of the South African Republic and the current and historic administrative capital of the Republic of South Africa. Pretoria was named after the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius.
The Voortrekkers had a distinctive flag, used mainly by the Voortrekkers who followed Hendrik Potgieter, which is why it was also known as Potgieter's flag. A version of this flag was used at Potchefstroom, one of the first independent Boer towns established by local Voortrekkers.
External links
- The Voortrekker Monument.
- History of the Voortrekker monument (in English)
- History of the Voortrekker monument (in Afrikaans)
- Voortrekker Monument in Depth.af:Voortrekkers
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