An Introduction to the Great Trek
The Voortrekkers' Great Trek is an epic adventure on a par with the opening up of the western United States and is contemporaneous with it. With both, there are abundant examples of religious rectitude, violent conflict, disaster, hope and despair. Those who were involved were prone to politicking, bickering, suspicion and shifting allegiances. Their characters were similar, displaying resourcefulness, perseverance, violence and ruthlessness when necessary together with an overarching belief in their actions and the unconditional support of the Almighty.
The Dutch East India Company established a supply station at the Cape of Good Hope to victual vessels to and from their Far East possessions. For more than 100 years, those inhabitants of the Cape were isolated and developed their own culture, religious convictions and language. They also multiplied and after completing their service, drifted further away, some to establish farms and others to pursue a nomadic way of life up to 500 miles from the Cape. The country to the north was terra incognita and thought to be full of savages, disease and wild animals.
The Expansion
The settlers first traded with and then subdued the aboriginal inhabitants of the land - the Hottentot bushmen. However at the eastern margins they came upon a more determined adversary, Bantus moving south. The Great Fish River was then set as the margin of settlement. The border was informal and acts of rustling and plunder and counter rustling were commonplace.
The Grievances
To exacerbate matters, a wave of religious ferver spilled over from England to Africa and missionaries were sending horrific reports back regarding the treatment of slaves by the border farmers, which caused more consternation. Finally, in 1834, slavery was abolished in England and not only were the farmers deprived of free labour but the small compensation due to them could only be collected in London.
These matters, together with disputes with the Colonial government encouraged some border farmers to consider moving to the unknown north and after some exploratory treks, they did so in increasing numbers.
The Conflicts
On the way to the the Promised Land, be it the highveld of the Transvaal or subtropical Natal, the Voortrekkers ('ahead-pullers' or pioneers) engaged in many violent confrontations with the Matabele, the Zulus and other Bantu tribes. At each major encounter, after an initial reverse, the tribes were subdued, their land taken by right of conquest and their people taken as labour.
Problems
Unity dissipated when the first steps were taken to establish responsible government. After several outrages by the Voortrekkers against local tribes, the English were finally forced to intervene in Natal and many Voortrekkers trekked back over the Drakensberg on to the highveld. There, they established the Orange River Colony (to become the Orange Free State, and currently the Free State) and the Transvaal ('country across the Vaal River'). The English, bankrupted by the Napoleonic Wars, could not afford to annex the states and the enmity between the English Colonial Government and the farmers ('boers') continued.
Thus, the seeds for further conflict - this time between the Boers and the English - were sown. It needed the spark provided by the twin discoveries of gold and diamonds in 1886 and 1867 respectively - desparately needed by the bankrupt English Government.