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The Voortrekker Monument built in 1949.
The Voortrekkers ( Afrikaans for pioneers, literally "those who move ahead") were white Afrikaner farmers, then known as Boers, who in the 1830s and 1840s emigrated in what is called the Great Trek from the British controlled Cape Colony into the erstwhile black-populated (depopulated from the difaqane said to have originated from Shaka, the Zulu King) areas north of the Orange River in what is now South Africa.
The Voortrekkers were mainly of trekboer (migrating farmer) descent living in the eastern frontiers of the Cape. Hence, their ancestors had long established a semi-nomadic existence of trekking into expanding frontiers. A contingent of Voortrekkers migrated into Natal and negotiated a land treaty with the Zulu King Dingane. Upon reconsideration, Dingaan doublecrossed the Voortrekkers, killing their leaders Piet Retief and Gerhard Maritz along with half of the Voortrekker settlers who had followed them to Natal.
Andries Pretorius filled the leadership vacuum and sought revenge at a battle at Nacome River (called the Battle of Blood River) on 16 December 1838Events January 6 Samuel Morse first publicly demonstrates the telegraph. January 8 Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code) January 12 Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon flee Ohio for Missouri Marc where the vastly outnumbered Voortrekker contingent defeated the Zulu impis (warriors). This date has hence been known as the "Day of the Vow" as the Voortrekkers made a vow to God that they would honour the date if He were to deliver them from what they viewed as almost insurmountable odds. The NataliaThe Natalia Republic was the name of a short lived Boer republic which was established in 1839 by local Afrikaans speaking Voortrekkers shortly after the famous battle at Nacome River. The Natalia Republic was located on the coast of the Indian Ocean beyo Republic was set up in 1839Events January 9 The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process. January 19 British East India Company captures Aden January 20 In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance. February 24 William Ot but was annexed by Britain in 1843Events February 6 The first minstrel show in the United States The Virginia Minstrels opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City). February 11 Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi premieres in Milan May 18 The Disruption of the Church of Scotland took place.Armed conflict, first with the Ndebele under MzilikaziMzilikazi (meaning the path of blood (ca. 1790 9 September 1868) was a Southern African king who founded the Ndebele (sometimes also called the Matabele) kingdom in what is now Zimbabwe. He was born near Mkuze, Zululand (now part of South Africa) and died, then against the ZulusThis article is about the African ethnic group. For other meanings, see Zulu (disambiguation). Zulus Zulu Warriors, late 19th century (with some Europeans in the background) Total population: 5 million (est. Significant populations in: KwaZulu-Natal Provi under Dingane, went the Voortrekkers' way, mostly because of the technological superiority of their muzzle-loading rifles. This success led to the establishment of a number of small Boer republics, which slowly coalesced into the Orange Free State and the South African Republic. These two states would survive until their annexation in 1900 by Britain during the Boer War.
The Voortrekkers are commemorated by the Voortrekker Monument located on Monument Hill overlooking Pretoria, the erstwile capital of the South African Republic and the current administrative capital of the Republic of South Africa. Pretoria was named after the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius.
The Voortrekkers had a distinctive flag. The one depicted to the right was used mainly by the Voortrekkers who followed Hendrik Potgieter , which is why it was also known as Potgieter's flag. A version of this flag was used at Potchefstroom - one of the first independent Boer towns established by local Voortrekkers.
The Voortrekkers is also an Afrikaner youth movement founded in South Africa in 1931 as an Afrikaans-language alternative to the English-speaking Boy Scout movement. The Voortrekkers developed their own identity, represented in what they called their ABC: Afrikanerskap, Burgerskap, Christenskap (Afrikanership, Citizenship, Christianity).