Who were the boers and why did they go to south africa?

Answer 1

People should be careful in their definition of Boer, boer and Afrikaner.

What the above have described are farming Afrikaners or boers, not Boers.

boers are farmers (small b)
Boers are a pioneering people (capital B)
Afrikaners are a grouping of colonial people.

The three distinct historical white South African groups consist of Boer and Afrikaner and White South African.

The Afrikaner are mainly the original White Cape Colony inhabitants who developed a new language by mixing Dutch, German, French and a little English (and other languages) into what is called Afrikaans today. Afrikaners are the original colonialists who also developed what later became "Apartheid".

The Boers are the original anti-colonialists who wanted to break away from British and Colonial rule. Yes, Afrikaans is the main language of the Boer, but Boers are also English, German, Dutch and French. The Boers are the original Voortrekkers of the Great Trek... an event which did not occur all at once, but in many sections over a few years. Note: There never was a Great Trek of Afrikaners!!!

Travelling north into Southern Africa the Boers met with Xhosa and Nguni people with who they met in peace and bartered for land. Ie, The Boer purchased all their land. The war part came from the Zulu leader Chaka who refused to negotiate and opted to kill the Boer leaders who approached him with offers and gifts.

Blood River was the last stand of the Boer people and they won. They did not even take any of the Zulu land; this was taken by the British. The Boers negotiated with the new Zulu king, Mpande, who gave them land in the northern parts of Natal (Natalia at the time)

The Boers settle on purchased land in the Orange Free State and Transvaal and lived peacefully until 1840 when the British annexed the entire Natal. The Boers of Natalia joined their brethren in the Orange Free State and Transvaal.

In 1852 the British Empire RECOGNISED the Boer people and accepted their independence. The Orange Free State and Transvaal became Boer Republics of their own.

In 1877 a small contingent of British tried to take over the Transvaal republic and the 1st Anglo-Boer War broke out (note, Anglo-BOER war, not Afrikaner). The British were pushed back by 1881. In 1884 the Boer republics gained recognition at the London convention.

In 1889 the British attempted to colonize the Boer Republics and ended up murdering over 21000 Boer Women and children (2/3 children) in concentration camps. This was the second Anglo-Boer war. It ended in 1902 with British rule. 20% of the Boer people died in this war.

In 1902, in Vereeniging, control of the new Union of South Africa was given to the Cape Masters, the Afrikaners. The Afrikaner later developed "Apartheid" as you know it.

Till this day the Boer still fights for his freedom. (See: www.boerevryheid.co.za)

You can see the Transvaal and Orange Free State flags in the Old South African flags' centre (the two on the left). The Union Jack on the right was the flag of the Natal after annexed by the British. The big part of the flag (Orange, White and Blue) is known as "The Princes Flag" and used by the Afrikaner.

Hope this answers your question.

Answer 2

Who Were The Boers

Answer 3

South Africa was established by the VOIC (Dutch East India Company) as a feeding /rewatering/stopover point for their ships from Europe to the East. Farms were established to provide food for the people in the Cape as well as the ships.

Boer means FARMER, but this terms has also come to identify white, Afrikaans speaking South Africans; though the majority of us do not farm.

Answer 4

Boers were dutch farmers,the word Boer is dutch for farmer.south Africa was a stopping off point on the way to the dutch east indies

Answer 5

They didn't GO to South Africa. Europeans came here and BECAME African, same as white American and Australian settlers BECAME Americans and Ozzies. Savvy?

Answer 6

ek is n boer en ek en my pa en my oupa was nog altyd hier

Answer 7

dWali's answer is correct.