Boers 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 Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
The Great Trek 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 original European settlers, known collectively as Boers, and the British Empire. It was also reflective of an increasingly common trend among individual Boer communities to pursue an isolationist and semi-nomadic lifestyle away from the developing administrative complexities in Cape Town. Boers who took part in the Great Trek identified themselves as voortrekkers, meaning "pioneers", "pathfinders" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
The Voortrekker Monument is located just south of Pretoria in South Africa. The granite structure is located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854. It was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk.
The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merwe, D. H. C. du Plessis and the Rev. Jozua Naudé in 1918 as Jong Zuid Afrika until 1920, when it was renamed the Broederbond. Its influence within South African political and social life came to a climax with the 1948-1994 rule of the white supremacist National Party and its policy of apartheid, which was largely developed and implemented by Broederbond members. Between 1948 and 1994, many prominent figures of Afrikaner political, cultural, and religious life, including every leader of the South African government, were members of the Afrikaner Broederbond.
The Weenen massacre was the massacre of Khoikhoi, Basuto and Voortrekkers by the Zulu Kingdom on 17 February 1838. The massacres occurred at Doringkop, Bloukrans River, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites around the present day town of Weenen in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Broederstroom is a village situated beside the R512 road on the Daspoortrand in the Witwatersrand, the southern foothills of the Magaliesberg in North West Province, South Africa. It grew from a Voortrekker settlement which was established in the wake of Mzilikazi's depopulation of the region during the mfecane. Various small to medium-sized businesses, overnight facilities, farm houses and informal settlements are located beside or just off the R512 on the western bank of the Crocodile River. The loose aggregation of residences and businesses are bisected by Jalalpor road running west to east, and Bart Pretorius road running south to north. The sprawling Pecanwood Golf Estate is some 4 km to the north, on the shore of the Hartbeespoort Dam.
Uys is the surname of a family that played a significant role in South African history during the nineteenth century and made distinguished contributions to South African culture, politics and sports during the course of the twentieth.
The Reverend Stephanus Jacobus du Toit was a controversial South African nationalist, theologian, journalist and failed politician. In his younger years Du Toit did much to promote the Afrikaans language as a symbol of Afrikaner nationalism. Apart from the years 1882-8 when he was Superintendent of Education in the South African Republic, he lived in or near the town of Paarl in the Cape Colony. Disillusionment with the Kruger regime led him, in later years, to moderate his views. He was instrumental in initiating the translation of the Bible into Afrikaans and was a proponent of the Afrikaans language. He died an outcast.
Stephanus Schoeman was President of the South African Republic from 6 December 1860 until 17 April 1862. His red hair, fiery temperament and vehement disputes with other Boer leaders earned him the moniker "Stormvogel den Noorden," "Storm bird of the North."
The Day of the Vow is a religious public holiday in South Africa. It is an important day for Afrikaners, originating from the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, before which about 400 Voortrekkers made a promise to God that if He rescued them out of the hands of the approximately 20,000 Zulu warriors they were facing, they would honour that day as a sabbath day in remembrance of what God did for them.
Johannes du Plessis Scholtz was a South African philologist, art historian, and art collector.
Afrikaners are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Until 1994, they dominated South Africa's politics as well as the country's commercial agricultural sector.
Die Brandwag was the first illustrated family magazine published in Afrikaans in the Transvaal, appearing monthly between 1910 and 1922 under the joint editorship of Dr W M R Malherbe and Gustav Preller. The first issue appeared on 31 May 1910 and the last in February 1922.
Hoërskool Voortrekker is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the municipality of Boksburg in the city of Ekurhuleni in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The academic school was established in 1920.
Johannes Albertus Munnik Hertzog was a South African politician, Afrikaner nationalist, cabinet minister, and founding leader of the Herstigte Nasionale Party. He was the son of J. B. M. (Barry) Hertzog, a former Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa.
The Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge is a non-profit, non-governmental Afrikaans cultural organisation. Founded in 1929, it celebrated its 85th year in 2014. Its offices are situated at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria.
Freemasonry was brought to South Africa by members of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands in 1772. Today there are lodges chartered under the United Grand Lodge of England, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the Grand Lodge of South Africa, as well as Le Droit Humain
Petrus Johannes Liebenberg was a Boer general in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
Johan Hendrik Breytenbach was the official South African state historian for the Second Boer War. He was employed by the National Archives in Pretoria and studied the Second Boer War since 1940. In 1959 the Minister of Education, Arts and Science appointed Breytenbach state historian for the Second Boer War, supervised by the Department of History of the University of Pretoria. When Breytenbach died in 1994, he had published five volumes of his Die Geskiedenis van die Tweede Vryheidsoorlog in Suid-Afrika, 1899–1902 between 1969 and 1983, with two further volumes at the planning stage. Using Breytenbach's notes, the State Archives finalised and published Volume 6 posthumously in 1996, concluding with a treatment of the Battle of Bergendal. Apart from this major work Breytenbach published many books and articles on South African history.
