The Boers of Voortrekker & Trekboer descent are considered an indigenous White tribe with roots going back 350 years to the 1650s when their Dutch / Frisian / German & other north western European ancestors came as servants of the Dutch East India Co. as well as to considerable numbers of French Huguenot refugees from France escaping political & religious persecution.
The Boers are an amalgamation of & descended from Dutch Calvinist / French Huguenot / German Protestant / Danish / Frisian / Flemish & Walloon groups.
The persecution & growing genocide against the Boers & other Afrikaans communities of South Africa has been increasing during the past 15 years which is most manifest in the killing of farmers / the eradication of Afrikaans instruction in educational institutions & the restrictions against them in the employment sector.
The president of Genocide Watch Gregory Stanton has stated that the killing of Boer farmers constitutes a genocide under the Genocide Convention. Link. The Boers are the junior & less numerous segment of the Afrikaner designation which was controlled by the Afrikaners of the Cape.
Close to or about 25 % of the local South African White Afrikaans population are living under the poverty line as it has been reported that almost 500 000 Afrikaners are living under the poverty line in the republic.
The Boers germinated as a nation in the Cape long before their first encounter with a local Bantu nation. Their first ancestors arrived 120 years earlier in 1652 while the first encounter with a Bantu culture (the Xhosas) was in 1775 on the eastern Cape frontier.
The Boers are considered to be an indigenous group as they were formed on African soil from diverse national origins as a distinctive national group.
The Boers of Voortrekker descent belonged to the Dopper sect as they had been ex-communicated by & expelled from the Dutch Reformed Church over the Great Trek.
The Voortrekkers comprised of about 25 % to 33 % of the total White population at the Cape during the era preceding the Great Trek. The Boers are not White Colonials as they broke all links to Europe early on developing their own culture & language as a result of being on their own in isolation / absorbing many diverse national groups & did not have the protection of the State while living a semi nomadic life trekking inland. The Boers have been under siege for much of their history in South Africa. The Boers of the past spoke many local African languages.
The Boer Republics were fairly empty of permanent settled Bantu groups. Most came after the discovery of gold on the Vaal. The ancestors of the Boers only encountered Khoisan groups at the Western Cape in the 1650s as the Bantus had not penetrated the Kalahari desert barrier.
The Voortrekkers were assisted by the Barolong & Griquas during their battles with the Ndebele during the Great Trek. The Voortrekkers acquired their farm workers as a result of refugees looking to escape the inter tribal wars. The Voortrekkers entered into depopulated lands devastated by the Difaqane started by Shaka the Zulu King.
There was a balance of power in the region between the races & national groups before the British arrived on the scene & began to annex the various peoples & nations. Link. The Boers speak a dialect of Eastern Border Afrikaans while the Western Cape Afrikaners speak a dialect of West Cape Afrikaans in which pronunciation & lexicon differences still persist. The Boers developed their own culture / symbols & flags.
The Trekboers began migrating away from the Western Cape beginning in the 1690s & throughout the 1700s into the expanding Eastern Cape frontier. Most of the Trekboers on the eastern Cape frontier did not own slaves. The Voortrekkers were the descendents of the Trekboers who in turn were descended from generations of semi nomadic pastoralists living on the eastern Cape frontier.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that most of the Trekboers did not own slaves on the eastern frontier. Link. Stephen Crane notes that Andries Pretorius attempted to negotiate for peace with Dingaan before the battle at Nacome River. Link. Joseph Stromberg notes that the Transvaal Vierkleur was present as a symbol of anti imperialism at the Dem Convention of 1900. Link. The author Oliver Ransford noted that an urbane polish often went with the Boers of French Huguenot descent. Link.
The Afrikaner historian André Du Toit asserts that the Boers were not known as ardent Christians or for their religiosity before the Anglo-Boer War & that they were then believing in legends of spirits / primitive medicine & were superstitious. Link.
Most of the Boers were not in favour of slavery but protested the manner in which Britain compensated the few who owned slaves as many were unable to make the trip to England which would have negated any compensation due to the cost of traveling.
The Boer Republics were recognized under international law.
The Boers have been victims of colonization. Particularly when many died in the British concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War which lead to the conquest & annexation of the Boer Republics into the new macro state of South Africa. An estimated 27 000 Boer civilians died in the British created concentration camps representing about 15 % of the local Boer republican population.
Close to half of the total Boer child population of the republics were killed during the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boer Republics the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were recognized by the Netherlands / Britain / France / Germany / Belgium & the United States of America.
There were 3 main Boer Diasporas after the Anglo-Boer War.
The main Diaspora went to the Patagonia region of Argentina beginning in 1903. This group still exists at present. Another group went to East Africa where modern Kenya exists. Most of these Boers eventually went back to South Africa during the 1930s. The other group went to the American southwest in New Mexico & Texas. The descendents of this group was later absorbed into American culture & adopted the English language but a number of Afrikaans surnames -of mainly Dutch / French & German origin- are still present.
The Boers of the republics fought two wars of independence against the British Empire while a number of Afrikaners from the Cape fought on the side of the British during the second Anglo-Boer War.
The British Empire forced the Boers into the state of South Africa. A state that they did not want.
The Boers of the republics were once in the majority as there were only small numbers of established groups in the far north east & west.
The Boers only wanted to govern themselves but were conquered at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War & subsequently made co responsible for the Apartheid laws passed by the Cape based Afrikaner which were extensions of previous British segregationist laws.
The Boers are entitled under international law to self determination.
Numerous Boers do not accept the conditions they are in.
The tricolour in the canton of the Orange Free State flag is thought to be based on the tricolour which was used at Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet where the first Boer Republics were declared in 1795.
The new South African flag is perceived to symbolize the destruction or defacement of the old Transvaal Vierkleur.
Due to the loss of life at the concentration camps the total White Afrikaans population could have been as large as 7 million instead of the current 3 million.
15 % of the Boer population died in the concentration camps. Most of the Boer civilians who died in the concentration camps were children under the age of sixteen. Half of the total population of Boer children of the republics died in the concentration camps.
The Constitutions of the Transvaal Republic & the Orange Free State were based on the Constitutions of the United States & France.
The Boers lost their independence in 1902 at the conclusion of the Anglo-Boer War what they lost in 1994 was what little say they thought they still had in the old dispensation.
The Boers have had their own self governed independent republics in the past in Southern Africa & have been struggling for their independence since at least 1795.
The Boers are not White colonials but are in fact an indigenous cultural group which was formed on African soil which is 350 years old. The first Boers were anti authoritarian & began to break their ties to Europe as soon as they began to trek eastwards during the 1690s & into the 1700s.
The Boers trekked around & by-passed the largest & densest Bantu population groups. The two largest Bantu groups the Xhosas & the Zulus were living in the eastern Cape & Natal. Members of these groups only arrived in the Transvaal after the discovery of gold.
The Boers of Natal under the leadership of Piet Retief obtained a treaty to settle part of the empty land under Zulu influence from the Zulu king.
Retief was later killed during a formal ceremony over the agreement & the Zulu King Dingaan went on to kill 500 Boers who were living in Natal.
Andries Pretorius offered to negotiate for peace with Dingaan if he were to restore the land the he initially offered to Retief. Link.
Hendrik Potgieter was held in very high regard by many African chiefs who came to pay their respects before his death in 1852.
Professor Wallace Mills notes that the Trekboer tradition of rebelling against colonialism & declaring republics predated the coming of the British & that Trekboer political notions were not too far from anarchy. Link.
There was a Boer Rolong alliance during the era of the Great Trek.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1991.
The Boers are an anti colonial anti authoritarian pastoral people with roots in the region.
The Boers have been under siege for most of their history in South Africa.
The Boers farmed arid dry land which they make work.
The Boers fought against the Dutch colonial power particularly in 1795 / the British colonial power throughout the 19th cent / & the Afrikaner government notably during the 1914 Boer Rebellion.
A number of Boers were bywoners on the property of other Boers.
The destitute Boers of following the Anglo-Boer War became what was termed the proto urban poor.
Numerous Boers still call their language die taal.
Joseph Stromberg notes that the Voortrekkers lived in a state of stateless anarchism before the formal implementation of the republics.
Wallace Mills notes that Boer political notions verged on anarchism.
There were Boer civil wars from 1863 - 1869 among the districts of the Transvaal Republic.
The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that the Boers of the eastern frontier did not own slaves.
The South African government is phasing out the Commando system which will leave the commercial farmers unprotected against the increasing attacks & killings. Link.
The Boer & Afrikaner farmers occupy only 6% (six percent) of South Africa's total land surface, yet are targeted by the ANC's violence-driven 'land reform' program. Link.
The murder rate for South African farmers is 313 per 100,000 - the highest in the world. Link.
More than 1 700 Boer farmers have been killed since 1994. There are just 40 000 Boer farmers: hence it has been reported that they are the most at risk group for murder in the world. An average of 3 white farmers a week are killed.
The Boer nationalists do not consider themselves part of the right wing.
The Boers paid for their former independence & their right to be in Africa with their lives & sacrifices.
The ancestors of the Boers were dumped at the Cape by the VOC.
The German arrivals came up until 1795.
The Boers have been an historically poor people who were the proto urban poor of the cities after the Anglo-Boer War.
The Boers developed into a people long before the arrival of the colonial powers as they were brought to Africa by the VOC a private company which had no intention of starting a colony in the region.
The Trekboers who trekked away from the western Cape & into the interior did not have the protection of the State as they lived as nomads in stateless anarchy on the edges of the frontier.
The Cape Dutch attempted to retain nominal control over the Trekboers with the establishment of the towns of Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet. Link.
The Afrikaans language is considered the most developed African language.
The Voortrekkers were a blend of European style general & African chief. Link.
The Boers did not create Apartheid as it was created by the British then later expanded upon by the Cape based Afrikaners. Link.
Paul Kruger did not want the Cape Dutch to immigrate to the ZAR as he viewed them as being too pro British. Link.
Plans to cerate a monument to the Voortrekkers first occurred in 1895.
President Kruger attempted to stop Boers from crossing the Limpopo.
Robert van Tonder left the National Party in 1961 in order to advocate for the restoration of the Boer Republics.
The Trekboers have been called the "gypsy of the desert" & compared to the nomadic Arab. Link.
This led to a spirit of restlessness and adventure. 'Trekgees' adventure spirit and 'drang om te trek', the urge to want to trek, became part of their psyche.
Boer families tended to settle in regions that were depopulated by Mfecane/Difaqane, and organize themselves as local clans with little centralized leadership. Instead of a centralized state, the Boers tended to produce many small "Boer Republics." From: Jim Jones. HIS 311 Lecture on Southern Africa 1800-1875. Link.
The most ardent Bitterenders were from the Orange Free State.
President T F Burgers tried to prevent the gold from being extracted as he believed that it would spell the end of the independence of the republic.
The Boers preferred to live in open spaces large enough that they did not see the smoke of their neighbours.
The British imported signs stating European non European as the Boers had long since thought of themselves as African. Link.
The Boers could be considered aboriginal to certain areas of the Kalahari Desert as the Khoisan people settled along the coast with the Boers being the first to live on certain regions of the desert.
The Boers & Zulus handed rocks of peace to each other in 1840 & in 1866 stacked rocks as a symbol of peace. Link.
The statues of Andries Pretorius / Piet Retief / Hendrik Potgieter are at the corners of the Voortrekker Monument.
The Boers are a distinct group apart from the Afrikaners.
The British illegally overturned the Sand River Convention & the Orange River Convention when they invaded & made war on the Boer Republics. The Conventions were recognized abroad pertaining to the independence of the Boer Republics.
The Boers were marginalized in the Republic of South Africa as it was a White Republic not a Boer Republic.
The Boers were marginalized by the Afrikaners. Link.
There were some Boers who did not take the Vow fearing the consequences should they break it.
The Boers did not conquer or subjugate the Zulus after the battle at Nacome River as they continued to exist in Zululand to the north.
The Boers have a long history of anti colonialism & an aversion to being ruled by foreign or alien cultural groups.
There were a total of 15 Boer Republics.
The above was obtained from Boerevryheid
The original source is Republican Trekker Volk where a wide variety of articles relating to the Boer Nation are available.
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