Page "South African Republic" Paragraph 7

In the 1830s and the 1840s, descendants of Dutch and other settlers, collectively known as Boers ( farmers ) or Voortrekkers ( pioneers ), left the British Cape Colony, in what was to be called the Great Trek.

With their military technology, they overcame the local forces with relative ease, and formed several small Boer republics in areas beyond British control, without a central government.