Great Trek

The Great Trek (Afrikaans: Die Groot Trek; Dutch: De Grote Trek) was an eastward and north-eastward emigration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boere (Dutch/Afrikaans for "farmers"). The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, north-west Germany and French Huguenots. The Great Trek itself led to the founding of numerous Boer republics, the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal being the most notable.

Background

The Voortrekkers comprised two groups from the eastern frontier region of the Cape Colony, semi-nomadic pastoralists known as Trekboers, and established farmers and artisans known as Grensboere, or Border Farmers. Amongst the Voortrekkers were poor men too belonging to the squatter or bywoner class. Together these groups were later called Voortrekkers (Pioneers). While most settlers who lived in the western Cape (later known as the Cape Dutch) did not trek eastward, a small number did.