THE BOERS TREK 1830's-1840's
A trek: simply means a movement of people from one place to another in large groups. The term Trek originated from the dutch word which means Journey.
Boers trek: was the migration of Boers from the Cape of Good Hope to other interior parts of South Africa in order to find new settlement areas.
The historical background of the Boers movement can be traced back with the arrival of British towards the end of 18th century, who established their administration at the cape colony. With presence of British, everything at the cape changed into negative to Boers. For example, Bores were now treated of equal status with the Africans.
The migration took place from 1830s to 1840s where the Boers moved in groups of families at different times to different parts of interior South Africa, in a movement that later became known as the BOERS GREAT TREK.
REASONS/CAUSES OF THE BOERS TREK
1. Introduction of British government at the cape: British established their settlements at the Cape of Good Hope early in 19th century. Here, both Boers and natives were under British domination. The Boer did not want to be under the British government, that’s why they decided to move out from the Cape of Good Hope, to interior where they could establish their independent states.
2. Abolition of slavery and slave trade: the other fundamental change that British rule brought about was the ending of the slave trade and then the total banning of slavery. The British abolished slavery and slave trade in 1833 which was established by the Boers. Nevertheless, many of the original Dutch settlers were extremely unhappy about the emancipation of slaves.
3. Introduction of English language as an official language: the coming of the British led to introduction of English language as an official language in 1822 that was to be spoken by all people at the cape. This made the Boers to become discontent hence Boer Trek.
4. Shortage of land at the cape: the coming of the British at the cape led to increase of population. The Cape of Good Hope became overpopulated. This led to shortage of land hence Boers decided to move to interior in search of the new land for agricultural undertakings.
6. British Introduced land act in 1812: this put limitation on the amount of land that one could own. This violated the Boers practice of owning large farms.
7. Introduction of the Black circuit court system in 1811: in order to reduce acts of violence committed by European employers against African employees. The law angered the Boers who considered themselves a superior race and thus natural masters of the Africans.
DIAGRAM BELOW SHOW THE MOVEMENT OF BOERS
EFFECTS OF BOERS TREK
1. Establishment of Boer Republics: the movement of the Boer from the cape to the interior led to the establishment of two Boers Republics which were Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State.
2. Occurrence of Afro-Boer Wars: the movement of the Boers to the interiors led to conflicts between the Boers and Africans who lost their land. This was due to the fact that Boers confiscated natives’ lands. A good example of those conflicts was the Zulu war with the Boers in 1837, The Kaffir war and other resistances.
3. It accelerated mfecane wars on the interiors Southern Africa: this is due to the fact that the Boer penetration increased shortage of land in the hinterland.
4. It led to the establishment of apartheid policy in south Africa: The Boer trek has led to the introduction of racial segregative policy in south Africa where African were suffered much from this policy which come officially introduced in 1948.
5. Discovery of Minerals: The Boer Trek also led to discovery of minerals in the interior parts of South Africa. The minerals discovered in the interiors were, Diamond which discovered at Kimberley in the Orange Free State in1867 and gold minerals which discovered in Witwatersrand in the Transvaal Republic in 1886.
6. The Boers lost touch with their homeland: their movement to the interior of South Africa developed a new language and culture known as Afrikaans and referred to themselves as Afrikaners.
7. Exploitation of African resources: Boers exploited African resources like the land cattles and minerals in the interior of South Africa.
8. Introduction of slave trade: The Boer trek resulted in to establishment of slavery and salave trade in the interiors of south Africa where Afeican suffered much on this.
