The Great Trek
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Some governors did more than others to protect the frontier farmers but there was nevertheless a significant number of wars on the eastern frontier. During the sixth eastern frontier war, farmers lost livestock to the value of R600 000. Vagrant Hottentots also plundered the farms. Conditions deteriorated badly after the institution of Ordinance 50 of 1828, which cancelled the pass laws. In 1834, when the slaves were freed, the situation worsened even further, as many of them had no option but to steal to make a living. The freeing of the slaves also meant financial loss for the farmers and this added to their dissatisfaction. The Dutch-speaking people also felt that their identity was being threatened. A series of laws proclaimed between 1823 and 1828 enabled the government to substitute the official use of Dutch with English. When the magistrates and councils were also abolished, the colonists no longer had any say in the government and their desire for self-government increased. |
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The Van Rensburg party was subsequently massacred near the Limpopo River. Louis Trichardt moved on to the area where the town of Louis Trichardt is situated today. He waited for some time for Potgieter’s trek to meet up with them but eventually became impatient and moved on to Lourenco Marques (present day Maputo). By the time Trichardt reached Maputo, on 13 April 1838, many of his cattle had been killed by tsetse flies and nearly half of his group had died of malaria. On his return, he instructed his people to form a laager (circle of ox wagons) as a defence strategy against the black armies. Two months later, all their cattle were stolen during another attack at Vegkop. Moroka (chief of the Barolong) and Gerrit Maritz helped Potgieter’s group to get back to Thaba Nchu. |
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Piet Retief was the commandant of the Winterberg ward in the district of Albany. He was also a farmer, building contractor and speculator and had sufficient money to finance a venture into the interior. Before he left, he published a manifesto in the Grahamstown Journal in which he explained his reasons to join the Great Trek in South Africa. He left the Cape in March 1837, together with 400 people. When he joined the Voortrekkers in the Free State, they numbered more or less 5 000. Retief was elected governor and military leader at a convention held at Winburg. At the same convention Maritz was elected chairman of the Political Council. Piet Uys and his followers were the last to leave the Cape as part of a big organised trek. These 100 odd men, women and children departed from the district of Uitenhage in April 1837. They arrived in the Free State in August of the same year. |
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Maritz, Cilliers and Retief did not share his fears and decided to move to Natal. Piet Uys was not quite sure where his trek should be heading. When the Voortrekkers arrived in Natal, one of the favourite destinations during the Great trek in South Africa, the greater part of Natal was under the control of Dingane. Retief attempted to buy land from Dingane who promised to sell it if the Voortrekkers agreed to recover the cattle which had been stolen by Sikonyela. When Retief and his people brought back the stolen cattle, they signed a contract with Dingane. Later that day, however, Dingane’s people killed 67 of the Voortrekkers, including Retief. Dingane’s soldiers then went to the laagers (camps) of the Voortrekkers and killed many more, including women and children. |
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Dingane fled, after setting fire to his kraal. At Kwa Maritane, the skeletons of Retief and his men were found, together with a satchel containing the treaty between Dingane and the Voortrekkers. The Voortrekkers were now the owners of the land between the Drakensberg Mountains, from the Tugela River to the Umzimvubu River and the sea. Dingane was finally defeated by Mpande who became the new paramount chief of the Zulus. The British sent reinforcements and the Voortrekkers were forced to retreat to Pietermaritzburg. On 12 May 1843, Natal became a British colony and most of the Voortrekkers chose to return to the Free State and the Transvaal.After being attacked by Chief Mzilikazi and his Matabele army, the Voortrekkers in the Transvaal moved back to Thaba Nchu under the leadership of Andries Potgieter. In two attacks against Mzilikazi, one a counter-attack and the second a precautionary attack, the Matabele were defeated and Potgieter and his followers thought it safe to remain in Transvaal. Soon after, Potgieter gave in to pressure and moved to Natal, but soon returned to the Transvaal where he founded the town of Potchefstroom. He proclaimed the district as the Republic of Winburg-Potchefstroom. From here, the Voortrekkers moved to Marico and Rustenburg. Potgieter and his people wanted to move as far away from the Cape as possible and in the process, other towns such as Ohrigstad and Lydenburg were founded. |
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Britain did not recognise the independence of Transvaal, but made no attempt at annexation. The reason for its inactivity was the hostile attitude of certain black tribes towards Britain and also the fact that war was looming in Europe. On 17 January 1852, the Sand River Convention was signed between Britain and the Transvaal Republic. It was the first time that Britain had acknowledged the independence of a Voortrekker Republic. Long before the Great Trek in South Africa started, the "Trek Boers" had already moved into the area that would come to be known as the Free State, as early as the 17th and 18th centuries. At the start of the 19th century there were already different groups present in the area. Some of these groups were the Basotho (under leadership of Moshweshwe, the Griqua (under Adam Kok), the Batlokwa, the Bataung and the Barolong. The area that became known as Trans Orangia was situated between the Orange and the Vet Rivers. Many of the Trek boers settled in the Phillippolis area, where Adam Kok rented land to them. |
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Potgieter eventually agreed, but he moved back to Winburg after his defeat at Italeni by Dingane. He later also founded Potchefstroom, a town next to the Mooi River. Potgieter linked the towns of Winburg and Potchefstroom by declaring the Winburg Potchefstroom Republic. The Vet River divided the area between the Vaal River and the Orange River. The southern part became known as Trans-Orangia and the Northern area formed part of the Winburg - Potchefstroom Republic. |
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Jan Mocke and Jan Kok were the leaders of the Voortrekkers who lived in the vicinity of the Vet River. After the annexation of Natal, their numbers increased because many people who were not prepared to submit to British rule moved back to the area. In Trans-Orangia, however, the Trek boers, under the leadership of Machiel Oberholzer, wished to remain under British authority. Oberholzer therefore informed the judge at Colesberg of the plans of the upper region to establish a republic. Without consulting the British government, the judge immediately annexed the area but the British government would not ratify the annexation. | |||
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The Battle of Boomplaats disturbed the British government because it cost a lot of money and proved that many of the inhabitants were opposed to the annexation. The Basotho under Moshweshwe were one of the dissatisfied groups and in 1854 they defeated a British armed force sent to punish them for their raids. The British government was of the opinion that since the independence of Transvaal had been recognised in 1852, there was no reason why the same could not be done for the Orange Free State. When the Basotho defeated another British force in the area of Berea, Britain decided to officially recognise the Republic of the Orange Free State. | |||
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