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The emigration became known as the Great Trek and the emigrants Voortrekkers. Details on the various motives behind the Great Trek are laid out in the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief's 1837 manifesto. [8] The Voortrekkers first moved east into the territory later known as Natal. In 1839, they founded the Natalia Republic as a new Boer homeland.
The Great Trek was used by Afrikaner nationalists as a core symbol of a common Afrikaans history. It was used to promote the idea of an Afrikaans nation and a narrative that promoted the ideals of the National Party. In 1938, celebrations of the centenary of the Battle of Blood River and the Great Trek mobilised behind an Afrikaans nationalist ...
The carronade used during the battle on an improvised carriage Andries Pretorius brought with him from the Cape. The trekkers—called Voortrekkers after 1880 [4] —had to defend themselves after the betrayal murder of chief Trekker leader Piet Retief and his entire entourage, and ten days later the Weenen/Bloukrans massacre where "not a soul was spared."
Despite the distance covered by the itinerant Boers, known as voortrekkers, British attempts to re-assert control over them continued during the Great Trek . [81] This resulted in the first British annexation of a Boer state, the Natalia Republic , in 1843, and subsequently of two others, the South African Republic (also known as the Transvaal ...
This plunged the Great Trek into temporary disarray. In total 534 men, women and children were killed in the Weenen massacre . Retief's death and the Weenen massacre eventually led to the decisive Voortrekker victory at Blood River , after which Andries Pretorius and his "victory commando" recovered the remains of the Retief party.
The conflict was the catalyst for Piet Retief's manifesto and the Great Trek. In total, 40 farmers (Boers) were killed and 416 farmhouses were burnt down. In addition, 5,700 horses, 115,000 head of cattle, and 162,000 sheep were plundered by Xhosa tribespeople. In retaliation, sixty thousand Xhosa cattle were taken or retaken by colonists.
Potgieter's attack. On his side Potgieter made what was reported as a "half-hearted" attack on the Zulu forces, and then retired. At first he diligently searched every garden, gulley and donga for possible hidden enemies. Watching the 2000 warriors closing in across the plain, he halted at the drift of the Nzololo stream. [10]
Nicolaas Balthazar Prinsloo. (He took part in the Great Trek and was murdered with the van Rensburg trek party at Djindispruit, Limpopo River, Mozambique at the end of July 1836. [9]) Some were acquitted, but six of the rebels were sentenced to death, one of whom was subsequently pardoned by the Governor.