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What was the Great Trek?

The Great Trek was a perilous exodus of pioneers into the heart of South Africa, looking for a place to call home.

the great trek bloedrivier

When the British took control of Cape Town and the Cape Colony in the early 1800s, tensions grew between the new colonizers of British stock, and the old colonizers, the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers. From 1835, the Boers would lead numerous expeditions out of the Cape Colony, traversing towards the interior of South Africa. Escaping British rule would come with a host of deadly challenges, and the Boers, seeking their own lands, would find themselves in direct conflict with the people who resided in the interior, most notably the Ndebele and the Zulu.

The “Great Trek” is a story of resentment, displacement, murder, war, and hope, and it forms one of the bloodiest chapters of South Africa’s notoriously violent history.

Origins of the Great Trek

great trek gouache paper james edwin mcconnell

The Cape was first colonized by the Dutch , when they landed there in 1652, and Cape Town quickly grew into a vital refueling station between Europe and the East Indies. The colony prospered and grew, with Dutch settlers taking up both urban and rural posts. In 1795, Britain invaded and took control of the Cape Colony, as it was Dutch possession, and Holland was under the control of the French Revolutionary government . After the war, the colony was handed back to Holland (the Batavian Republic) which in 1806, fell under French rule again. The British responded by annexing the Cape completely.

Under British rule, the colony underwent major administrative changes. The language of administration became English, and liberal changes were made which designated non-white servants as citizens. Britain, at the time, was adamantly anti-slavery, and was enacting laws to end it.

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Tensions grew between the British and the Boers (farmers). In 1815, a Boer was arrested for assaulting one of his servants. Many other Boers rose up in rebellion in solidarity, culminating in five being hanged for insurrection. In 1834, legislation passed that all slaves were to be freed. The vast majority of Boer farmers owned slaves, and although they were offered compensation, travel to Britain was required to receive it which was impossible for many. Eventually, the Boers had had enough of British rule and decided to leave the Cape Colony in search of self-governance and new lands to farm. The Great Trek was about to begin.

The Trek Begins

great trek battle blaauwberg

Not all Afrikaners endorsed the Great Trek. In fact, only a fifth of the Cape’s Dutch-speaking people decided to take part. Most of the urbanized Dutch were actually content with British rule. Nevertheless, many Boers decided to leave. Thousands of Boers loaded up their wagons and proceeded to venture into the interior and towards peril.

The first wave of voortrekkers (pioneers) met with disaster. After setting out in September 1835, they crossed the Vaal River in January, 1836, and decided to split up, following differences between their leaders. Hans van Rensburg led a party of 49 settlers who trekked north into what is now Mozambique. His party was slain by an impi (force of warriors) of Soshangane. For van Rensburg and his party, the Great Trek was over. Only two children survived who were saved by a Zulu warrior. The other party of settlers, led by Louis Tregardt, settled near Delagoa Bay in southern Mozambique, where most of them perished from fever.

A third group led by Hendrik Potgieter, consisting of about 200 people, also ran into serious trouble. In August 1836, a Matabele patrol attacked Potgieter’s group, killing six men, two women, and six children. King Mzilikazi of the Matabele in what is now Zimbabwe decided to attack the Voortrekkers again, this time sending out an impi of 5,000 men. Local bushmen warned the Voortrekkers of the impi , and Potgieter had two days to prepare. He decided to prepare for battle, although doing so would leave all the Voortrekker’s cattle vulnerable.

great trek voortrekker wagon

The Voortrekkers arranged the wagons into a laager (defensive circle) and placed thorn branches underneath the wagons and in the gaps. Another defensive square of four wagons was placed inside the laager and covered with animal skins. Here, the women and children would be safe from spears thrown into the camp. The defenders numbered just 33 men and seven boys, each armed with two muzzle-loader rifles. They were outnumbered 150 to one.

As the battle commenced, the Voortrekkers rode out on horseback to harry the impi . This proved largely ineffective, and they withdrew to the laager. The attack on the laager only lasted for about half an hour, in which time, two Voortrekkers lost their lives, and about 400 Matabele warriors were killed or wounded. The Matabele were far more interested in taking the cattle and eventually made off with 50,000 sheep and goats and 5,000 cattle. Despite surviving through the day, the Battle of Vegkop was not a happy victory for the Voortrekkers. Three months later, with the help of the Tswana people, a Voortrekker-led raid managed to take back 6,500 cattle, which included some of the cattle plundered at Vegkop.

The following months saw revenge attacks led by the Voortrekkers. About 15 Matabele settlements were destroyed, and 1,000 warriors lost their lives. The Matabele abandoned the region. The Great Trek would continue with several other parties pioneering the way into the South African hinterland.

The Battle of Blood River

great trek map

In February 1838, the Voortrekkers led by Piet Retief met with absolute disaster. Retief and his delegation were invited to the Zulu King Dingane ’s kraal (village) to negotiate a land treaty; however, Dingane betrayed the Voortrekkers. He had them all taken out to a hill outside the village and clubbed to death. Piet Retief was killed last so that he could watch his delegation being killed. In total, about 100 were murdered, and their bodies were left for the vultures and other scavengers.

Following this betrayal, King Dingane directed further attacks on unsuspecting Voortrekker settlements. This included the Weenen Massacre, in which 534 men, women, and children were slaughtered. This number includes KhoiKhoi and Basuto tribe members who accompanied them. Against a hostile Zulu nation, the Great Trek was doomed to fail.

The Voortrekkers decided to lead a punitive expedition, and under the guidance of Andries Pretorius, 464 men, along with 200 servants and two small cannons, prepared to engage the Zulu. After several weeks of trekking, Pretorius set up his laager along the Ncome River, purposefully avoiding geographic traps that would have led to a disaster in battle. His site offered protection on two sides by the Ncome River to the rear and a deep ditch on the left flank. The approach was treeless and offered no protection from any advancing attackers. On the morning of December 16, the Voortrekkers were greeted by the sight of six regiments of Zulu impis , numbering approximately 20,000 men.

slag van bloedrivier

For two hours, the Zulus attacked the laager in four waves, and each time they were repulsed with great casualties. The Voortrekkers used grapeshot in their muskets and their two cannons in order to maximize damage to the Zulus. After two hours, Pretorius ordered his men to ride out and attempt to break up the Zulu formations. The Zulus held for a while, but high casualties eventually forced them to scatter. With their army breaking, the Voortrekkers chased down and killed the fleeing Zulus for three hours. By the end of the battle, 3,000 Zulu lay dead (although historians dispute this number). By contrast, the Voortrekkers suffered only three injuries, including Andries Pretorius taking an assegai (Zulu spear) to the hand.

December 16 has been observed as a public holiday in the Boer Republics and South Africa ever since. It was known as The Day of the Covenant, The Day of the Vow, or Dingane’s Day. In 1995, after the fall of apartheid , the day was rebranded as “Day of Reconciliation.” Today the site on the west side of the Ncome River is home to the Blood River Monument and Museum Complex, while on the east side of the river stands the Ncome River Monument and Museum Complex dedicated to the Zulu people. The former has gone through many variations, with the latest version of the monument being 64 wagons cast in bronze. When it was unveiled in 1998, The then Minister of Home Affairs and Zulu tribal leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi , apologized on behalf of the Zulu people for the murder of Piet Retief and his party during the Great Trek, while he also stressed the suffering of Zulus during apartheid.

blood river monument

The Zulu defeat added to further divisions in the Zulu Kingdom, which was plunged into a civil war between Dingane and his brother Mpande. Mpande, supported by the Voortrekkers, won the civil war in January 1840. This led to a significant decrease in threats to the Voortrekkers. Andries Pretorius and his Voortrekkers were able to recover Piet Retief’s body, along with his retinue, and give them burials. On Retief’s body was found the original treaty offering the trekkers land, and Pretorius was able to successfully negotiate with the Zulu over the establishment of a territory for the Voortrekkers. The Republic of Natalia was established in 1839, south of the Zulu Kingdom. However, the new republic was short-lived and was annexed by the British in 1843.

great trek andries pretorius

Nevertheless, the Great Trek could continue, and thus the waves of Voortrekkers continued. In the 1850s, two substantial Boer republics were established: The Republic of the Transvaal and the Republic of the Orange Free State . These republics would later come into conflict with the expanding British Empire.

The Great Trek as a Cultural Symbol

voortrekker monument

In the 1940s, Afrikaner nationalists used the Great Trek as a symbol to unite the Afrikaans people and promote cultural unity among them. This move was primarily responsible for the National Party winning the 1948 election and, later on, imposing apartheid on the country.

South Africa is a highly diverse country, and while the Great Trek remains a symbol of Afrikaner culture and history, it is also seen as an important part of South African history with lessons to learn from for all South Africans.

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South Africa: The Great Trek 1836–46

South Africa: The Great Trek 1836–46

The Great Trek is the name given to the exodus of 12,000–14,000 Boers from British Cape Colony. Frustrated by the colony’s Anglicization policies, restrictions on slave labour and population pressures intensified by drought and increasing inward migration, they chose to look for better grazing pastures elsewhere. After crossing the Orange River, the trekkers split, northwards or eastwards. After a series of skirmishes, the northern trekkers achieved decisive victory over the Ndebele at Mosega in 1837 and created the independent republics of Transvaal and Transorangia. The eastwards Boers defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River and declared the republic of Natal. The British Government annexed Natal in 1843, but recognized the inland republics in 1852–54. However, they sought to restrain the Boer expansion by simultaneously granting recognition to two native protectorates in Griqua and Basuto. These territories harboured many Boer settlers, becoming a source of future contention.

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The War in South Africa

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Published in 1902, 'The War in South Africa' is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's account of the Boer War. Keen to play his part, Doyle enlisted as a doctor after being turned down by the Imperial Yeomanry. Naturally skewed towards British interests and beliefs of the time, it is an account which wholly overlooks the atrocities committed by the British, and so is a less than accurate reflection of the war. A historical eyewitness account from one of the best known authors of the time. -

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COMMENTS

  1. Great Trek

    The Great Trek (Afrikaans: Die Groot Trek [di ˌχruət ˈtrɛk] was a northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyond the Cape's British colonial administration. The Great Trek resulted from the culmination of tensions between rural descendants of the Cape's ...

  2. Great Trek

    Great Trek, the emigration of some 12,000 to 14,000 Boers from Cape Colony in South Africa between 1835 and the early 1840s, in rebellion against the policies of the British government and in search of fresh pasturelands. The Great Trek is regarded by Afrikaners as a central event of their 19th-century history and the origin of their nationhood. It enabled them to outflank the Xhosa peoples ...

  3. Great Trek 1835-1846

    Great Trek 1835-1846. The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists up into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule. The determination and courage of these pioneers has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner ...

  4. Boers

    Boers (/ b ʊər z / BOORZ; Afrikaans: Boere are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from ...

  5. Boer

    Boer, (Dutch: "husbandman," or "farmer"), a South African of Dutch, German, or Huguenot descent, especially one of the early settlers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Today, descendants of the Boers are commonly referred to as Afrikaners. ... Between 1835 and 1843 about 12,000 Boers left the Cape in the Great Trek, heading ...

  6. Boer republics

    Boer republics and Griqua states in Southern Africa, 19th century. The Boer republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent, self-governing republics formed (especially in the last half of the 19th century) by Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the Cape Colony and their descendants. The founders - variously named Trekboers, Boers and Voortrekkers - settled mainly in the ...

  7. The Boers

    This migration of more than 10,000 Boers became known as the Great Trek. The Boers eventually moved beyond the Orange and Vaal rivers and established the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. The British recognised the independence of the South African Republic in 1852 and the Orange Free State in 1854.

  8. Voortrekker

    Elizabeth Prine Pauls. Voortrekker, 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 River. During the next 20 years, they.

  9. What was the Great Trek?

    The Great Trek was a perilous exodus of pioneers into the heart of South Africa, looking for a place to call home. When the British took control of Cape Town and the Cape Colony in the early 1800s, tensions grew between the new colonizers of British stock, and the old colonizers, the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers. From 1835 ...

  10. The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa 1815-1854

    The mass migration of the Boer farmers from Cape Colony to escape British domination in 1835-36 - the Great Trek - has always been a potent icon of Africaaner nationalism and identity. For African nationalists, the Mfecane - the vast movement of the Black populations in the interior following the emergence of a new Zulu kingdom as a major military force in the early 19th century - offers an ...

  11. BBC

    Many Afrikaaners today refer to them as the Anglo-Boer Wars to denote the official warring parties. The first Boer War of 1880-1881 has also been named the Transvaal Rebellion, as the Boers of the ...

  12. Trekboers

    An aquatint by Samuel Daniell of Trekboers making camp. Depicted around 1804. The Trekboers (/ ˈ t r ɛ k b uː r s / Afrikaans: Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa.The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town, such as Paarl (settled from 1688 ...

  13. Great Trek Centenary Celebrations commence

    Great Trek Centenary Celebrations commence. 8 August 1938. The Great Trek was a migration that took place between 1838 and the 1840s, and involved the Boers leaving the Cape Colony and settling in the interior of South Africa. White settlement led to the establishment of the republics of Natalia, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal.

  14. The Great Trek in South Africa

    The Great Trek in South Africa started in 1835 when over a time span of three years more then 12,000 Boers (farmers) left the Cape Colony. They trekked (moved) into the interior by ox wagon, in search of land where they would be free and beyond British control. In time, after facing many hardships, these farmers started to build a unique ...

  15. South Africa

    South Africa Table of Contents. Dutch speakers denounced these actions as striking at the heart of their labor and land needs. Those living in the eastern Cape, most of them among the poorer segment of the Dutch-speaking population, were particularly impassioned in their criticisms, and many decided to abandon their farms and to seek new lands beyond the reach of British rule.

  16. The History of the Great Boer Trek: And the Origin of the South African

    History, Political Science. 2017. South African history books and textbooks have undergone a radical change, in step with the socio-political change and restructuring of education that occurred in 1994. On the basis of a…. Expand. Semantic Scholar extracted view of "The History of the Great Boer Trek: And the Origin of the South African ...

  17. Trekboer

    Other articles where trekboer is discussed: Orange Free State: …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. In 1848 the British annexed the territory between the Orange…

  18. The history of the great Boer trek and the origin of the South African

    The history of the great Boer trek and the origin of the South African republics by Cloete, Henry, 1790-1870; Cloete, William Brodrick, 1851-1915, ed. Publication date 1899 Topics Afrikaners Publisher London, J. Murray Collection americana Book from the collections of University of Michigan

  19. The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa 1815-1854

    The mass migration of the Boer farmers from Cape Colony to escape British domination in 1835-36 - the Great Trek - has always been a potent icon of Africaaner nationalism and identity. For African nationalists, the Mfecane - the vast movement of the Black populations in the interior following the emergence of a new Zulu kingdom as a major military force in the early 19th century - offers an ...

  20. Piet Retief

    Piet Retief (born Nov. 12, 1780, near Wellington, Cape Colony [now in South Africa]—died Feb. 6, 1838, Natal [now in South Africa]) one of the Boer leaders of the Great Trek, the invasion of African lands in the interior of Southern Africa by Boers seeking to free themselves from British rule in the Cape Colony.. Although he was better educated than most Boers, his combining of farming with ...

  21. South Africa: The Great Trek 1836-46 -The Map Archive

    South Africa: The Great Trek 1836-46. $ 3.95. Map Code: Ax00124. The Great Trek is the name given to the exodus of 12,000-14,000 Boers from British Cape Colony. Frustrated by the colony's Anglicization policies, restrictions on slave labour and population pressures intensified by drought and increasing inward migration, they chose to look ...

  22. The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815-1854

    The mass migration of the Boer farmers from Cape Colony to escape British domination in 1835-36 - the Great Trek - has always been a potent icon of Afrikaaner nationalism and identity. For African nationalists, the Mfecane - the vast movement of the Black populations in the interior following the emergence of a new Zulu kingdom as a major military force in the early 19th century - offers an ...

  23. The War in South Africa

    Published in 1902, 'The War in South Africa' is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's account of the Boer War. Keen to play his part, Doyle enlisted as a doctor after being turned down by the Imperial Yeomanry. Naturally skewed towards British interests and beliefs of the time, it is an account which wholly overlooks the atrocities committed by the British ...