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. In 1835 and 1841, 7000 Boer men, women
and children, with further 7000 Boer servants crossed the Orange River and left
the colony permanently. The Boers who trekked away from the cape colony in the
late 1830s were known as the Voortrekkers.[1]
They packed all their belongings into ox-wagons and set off in large family groups
of several hundred. They took with them their khoikhoi and ‘coloured’ servants
for herding their cattle, sheep and their goats and for harnessing and leading
the Grek-oxen. The Boers men travelled on horseback, their women and children
in the wagons that were piled high with household utensils and supplies. They
lived where possible they bought grain from local African farmers (Shillington
1988).
The
following are the root causes of Great Trek in South Africa.
Racial
prejudice or discrimination[2]. The
Boers believed that, they were chosen race, God’s own people. Therefore, they
had clear duty to God and humankind to preserve their tradition and culture.
They had a responsibility to preserve their race by avoiding mixing with other
races. The great trek was therefore, regarded by the Boers as something which would provide them an opportunity to preserve the purity of
their race and culture by founding a new home in a new country under their
control. In joining the trek, they believed that, they were fulfilling God’s
mission. To keep God’s race from contamination through intermixing with the
inferior race.
Introduction
of British judicial system. The new legal changes introduced by the English
system of magistrates and abolished the old judicial system of the Dutch. This
new system was greatly hated by the Dutch because, It was unfamiliar to them,
therefore its application caused many inconveniences. It was foreign and
replaced the Dutch one, which was part of Dutch cultural heritage, which the
Boers were fully committed to preserve it.
Land
question, a system of land registration and rent control introduced by the
Dutch East Indies Company had not been successful. This was partly because the
farmers had refused to cooperate.
Farm
lend law[3],
this law was only applied to Dutch people who owned massive land. The law
demanded that the owner of the land must have heavy investment, heavy money and
labor power but Dutch were economically poor, so this law was geared favoring
British who were rich capitalist. The solution of this was to move to the
interior where the law was not applicable and where they could establish their
new settlement.
Anglicization
policies[4],
the Dutch did not belong to Anglican Church they had their own religion but
British introduced it in South Africa. The religion later dominated the Cape
and other areas where British settled, and then its teaching influenced local
people. Anglican Church teaching pointed out the evils that were done by Dutch
farmers to local people because Boers treated inhuman indigenous people, as
they did not recognize any rights and land rights to indigenous people. Therefore,
Anglican revealed those evils as a result Boers decided to move from the cape.
The
British insisted that land should be bought by an annual rent scheme. They said
that land should be fenced and that there should be legal documents to prove
ownership. The Dutch owned the land but there was no document of ownership
because when they arrival to South Africa they used also force to get the land
as British.[5]
Abolition
of slave trade in 1834 by the British government, also resented by the Boers
who lost their slaves, this removed the final element of forced labor, slaves
first were owned by the Boers, so after the coming of the British this system
of slaves was established, that is why the Boers move to the interior where
they could get the laborers easily who may work into their mining, farms and
industries.
Expansion
of white’s settlements into the heart of the Southern Africa interior, a lot of
the whites came to stay, claiming the land and political authority for
themselves, this was because the white people were lived in the coast or cape and
in the interior was the Africans settlement, the influx of the whites in the
interior was due to the result of the coming of the British who settled in the
coast area.[6]
The
following are the impacts of the Great Trek in South African and South Africa.
Lack
of food and other consumer goods. They were thus forced to hunt wild animals to
provide them with food. They contacted fever, as a result most of them died on
the way. They lost a great number of their livestock due to long journey and
animal diseases. Resistances from the natives. For example, In 1836, they
encountered the Ndebele under Mzilikazi. However, the Boers succeeded to defeat
him. The Zulu of Natal also posed the strongest resistance under the leadership
of Dingane. The Zulu resistance was stiff as they were prepared to defend their
land and sovereignty. However, they were finally mowed down. The Xhosa resistance
that was the longest, involving a series of wars, from 1779 to 1879[7].
These were also finally defeated. However, by the end of the 1836, the Zulu
also were completely defeated. This enables the Boers to establish the Republic
of Natal.
The
establishment of the Boer Republics of the Natal, Orange Free State and the
Transvaal. These were independent self-governed republics created by the Boers
in the northern and eastern parts of South Africa. The Boers who had superior
weapons established several of these states after military defeats of the local
population.
Discovery
of precious minerals in the interior. The most important were gold and diamond.
In 1867, diamond was discovered along the Vaal and Orange River. In 1886, gold
was discovered in Witwatersrand. The discovery of these precious metals was
responsible in transforming the economy of South Africa from an agricultural
one to industrial one.
The
interior was opened for European settlement. More and more Europeans went to
settle in the interior of South Africa where they established large farms and
ranches.
In
the Boer Republics, cultural differences between the Boers and the Africans
were clear as each side maintained its traditional values. The relationship
between master and servant continued in the traditions laid down by the Boers.
The
Boers used brutal force and trickery to rob the Africans of their wealth,
particularly land and cattle. Africans were thus made property less laborers
and squatters on the Boers farms. Thus,
plundering and looting of African wealth and the exploitation of African labor
became the basis of the Boer economy.
Expansion
of white’s settlements into the heart of the Southern Africa interior, a lot of
the whites came to stay, claiming the land and political authority for
themselves, this was because the white people were lived in the coast or cape
and in the interior was the Africans settlement, the influx of the whites in
the interior was due to the result of the coming of the British who settled in
the coast area.[8]
Existence
of apartheid based on racial segregation was one of the effects of the Boer
trek. Having occupied and established themselves in the interior of South
Africa, the Boers were forced to preserve their material interests. They had to
maintain themselves as a strong united group by treating the Africans as their
enemies to be eliminated or as their source of cheap labor.
Acquisition
of firearms in the interior, due to the influx of the whites in the interior
there was also the introduction of the weapons that was used for the defense of
the whites’ area; also, firearms became the major priority for African kingdoms
of the interior.
Generally
Boer Trek created misunderstanding between the British and the Boers due to the
introduction of different systems of administration and different culture which
interfere with other’s culture, for example introduction of Anglicization where
by the Dutch had their own way of life especially religion system which was
very different from that of British.
REFERENCES
Davis, N. E (1988) A
history of South Africa. Hong Kong. Longman Group (FE) Ltd.
Eric, W (1968),
“Chapter IV”. A History of South Africa. London, Longman Publishing Group.
Reader Digested (1988)
Illustrated history of South Africa, The real history. New York; Readers
Digest
Association.
Shillington K, (1988)
History of South Africa. London. Longman Group (FE) Ltd.
[1] Reader’s Digest. Illustrated History of South Africa:
the real story (Reader’s Digest Association, New York, 1988) p.
114-120
[2] Kevin Shillington. A History of Southern Africa( 1987, Longman Publishing Group ,
London) p.59
[3] Walker Eric, “Chapter IV”. A
History of South Africa. (London, Longman Publishing Group, 1968), p 60
[4]
Ibid p 60
[5]
Davis, N.E A History of Southern Africa, (London, Longman Group limited
(FE),1988) ,p 47
[6] Kelvin Shillington Opt p.70
[7] Walker Eric. “Chapter IV”. A
History of South Africa. (London, Longman Publishing Group, 1968), p 60
[8] Kelvin
Shillington Opt p.70
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