The Boer Republics ( sometimes also referred to as Boer states ) were independent self-governed republics created by the northeastern frontier branch of the Dutch-speaking ( proto Afrikaans ) inhabitants of the north eastern Cape Province and their descendants ( variously named Trekboers, Boers, Afrikaners and Voortrekkers ) in mainly the northern and eastern parts of what is now the country of South Africa.

The Republican Bond was established in the 1930s, and other republican organisations such as the Purified National Party ( Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party ), the Voortrekkers, Noodhulpliga ( First-Aid League ) and the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigings ( Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organisations, FAK ) also came into being.

The Cape Dutch spoke a dialect called Cape Afrikaans or Western Cape Afrikaans, while the Trekboers and most Voortrekkers spoke a dialect called Eastern Border Afrikaans.

With the rise of Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa during the early part of the 20th century, Scouting was viewed with suspicion by many Afrikaners because of its English roots, and rival Afrikaans organisations including the Voortrekkers were established.

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.

In 1824 farmers of Dutch, French Huguenot and German descent called Voortrekkers ( later named Boers by the English ) from the Cape Colony who were seeking both pasture for their flocks and to escape governmental oversight settled in the country.

The descendants of the Cape Dutch in the twentieth century were considered more " liberal " and internationalist, while their northern, somewhat estranged kinsmen, the descendants of Voortrekkers and Trekboers, were considered more conservative, republican and nationalist.

The Voortrekkers, largely Dutch, secured leases over Griqua land and then refused to return the land at the end of the lease.

A fort was established by a group of Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Hendrik Potgieter with the help of a Dutch merchant Gregorius Ohrig.

* 1931 – Start of " Die Voortrekkers " youth movement for Afrikaners in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Dingane ruled for some twelve years, during which time he fought, disastrously, against the Voortrekkers, and against another half-brother Mpande, who with Boer and British support, took over the Zulu leadership in 1840, and ruled for some 30 years.

" The Kaffirs ," in Lord Glenelg's dispatch of 26 December, " had an ample justification for war ; they had to resent, and endeavoured justly, though impotently, to avenge a series of encroachments .” This attitude towards the Xhosa was one of the many reasons given by the Voortrekkers for leaving the Cape Colony.

The Battle of Blood River (; ) is the name given for the battle fought between 470 Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius, and an estimated 10, 000 – 15, 000 Zulu attackers on the bank of the Ncome River on 16 December 1838, in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Jansen was a founder member of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns ( the " South African Academy for Science and Art ") in 1909, of the Saamwerk-Unie (" Co-operation Union ") in 1917, of the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (" Federation of Afrikaner Cultural Associations ") in 1929, and of the Voortrekkers ( the Afrikaner equivalent of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides ) in 1930, and was master of ceremonies at the laying of the foundation stone of the Voortrekker Monument in 1938 and at its dedication in 1949.

Though for a long time overshadowed in history by the story of the Voortrekkers, the trek of the Griquas has been described as " one of the great epics of the 19th century.

He gave plots of land and communal grazing rights on this farm to other Voortrekkers in return for their labour in building a dam and an irrigation canal.

* Kerkenberg-The Voortrekkers camped in the area, while their leader, Piet Retief, descended into KwaZulu-Natal to negotiate for land with the Zulu chief Dingane.

The Voortrekkers offered protection for Chief Makwana from the Tswana tribes, against the Basotho tribes habouring in the mountains of the current Lesotho and stealing the cattle of the Bataung tribe.

In exchange for continued protection, the Voortrekkers were offered the land between the Vet and Vaal Rivers.

Winburg acted as a settlement and religious centre for Voortrekkers.

The Voortrekkers were those Boers ( mainly from the eastern Cape ) who left the Cape en masse in a series of large scale migrations later called the Great Trek beginning in 1835 as a result of British colonialism and constant border wars.

Etherington argues that no such thing as the Mfecane occurred, the Zulu were no more marauding than any other group in the region, and the land the Voortrekkers saw as empty was not settled by either Zulu or Basotho because those people did not value open lowland plains as pasture.

The first of the Voortrekkers to settle in the area were those of the Esterhuysens of Zandfontein.

A significant number in the eastern Cape frontier later became Grensboere (" border farmers ") who were the direct ancestors of the Voortrekkers.

Pretoria itself was founded in 1855 by Marthinus Pretorius, a leader of the Voortrekkers, who named it after his father Andries Pretorius.

Upon reconsideration, Dingane doublecrossed the Voortrekkers, killing their leader Piet Retief along with half of the Voortrekker settlers who had followed them to Natal.

The Natalia Republic was set up in 1839 but was annexed by Britain in 1843 whereupon most of the local Boers trekked further north joining other Voortrekkers who had established themselves in the region.

The Voortrekkers had a distinctive flag, used mainly by the Voortrekkers who followed Andries Hendrik Potgieter, which is why it was also known as the Potgieter Flag.

Biltong as it is today evolved from the dried meat carried by the wagon-travelling Voortrekkers, who needed stocks of durable food as they migrated from the Cape Colony north-eastward ( away from British rule ) into the interior of Southern Africa during the Great Trek.

Dingane's impis ( Zulu warriors ) then went on to kill almost 300 Voortrekkers who had settled in the Natal region.

This massive granite structure is prominently located on a hilltop, and was raised to commemorate the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854.

They moved because of the growing confrontation they faced with the Voortrekkers who had moved north of the Orange River to escape the laws of the British.

Voortrekkers, who entered the region now known as KwaZulu-Natal in the early 19th century, also had conservation policies.

The town was founded in 1849 and named after British Governor Harry Smith, who tried to persuade the Voortrekkers not to abandon Natal.

It was established by an American Presbyterian missionary named Daniel Lindley, who was the first ordained minister to the Voortrekkers in Natal.

The town was founded by the Voortrekkers in 1883 and named it after the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief, who was killed by the Zulus under their King Dingane's orders after he tried to settle on their land.

The name was changed to Mokopane in 2003 in honour of King Mgombane Kekana who resided on the land and ruled the area before he was over-thrown and killed by the Voortrekkers.

It figured prominently in the late 17th century when the Trekboers began to inhabit the northern and eastern Cape frontiers, again during the Great Trek when the Voortrekkers left the eastern Cape en masse, as well as after the major republics were established during the Thirstland Trek.

They were referred to as Voortrekkers.

This party instituted an elementary form of government, and in 1840 entered into a loose confederation with the Natalia Republic Boer, and also with the Voortrekkers south of the Vaal, whose headquarters were at Winburg.

The Voortrekkers mainly came from the farming community of the Eastern Cape although some ( such as Piet Retief ) originally came from the Western Cape farming community while others ( such as Gerrit Maritz ) were successful tradesmen in the frontier towns.

The Voortrekkers were mainly of Trekboer ( migrating farmer ) descent living in the eastern frontiers of the Cape.

These Voortrekkers arriving in the Waterberg area had believed they were in the Nile River area of Egypt based upon their understanding of the local topography.

This date has hence been known as the Day of the Vow as the Voortrekkers made a vow to God that they would honor the date if he were to deliver them from what they viewed as almost insurmountable odds.

Together these groups were later called Voortrekkers ( Pioneers ).

Several of these states were established after military defeats of the local population by the Voortrekkers / Boers by virtue of their technologically superior weaponry.

The Voortrekkers usually skirted the most densely populated areas, trekking into largely depopulated areas which were the result of the Mfecane or Difaqane initiated by the Zulu King Shaka in the 1820s.

During the late 19th century, both the Trekboere and the Voortrekkers were collectively called Boers.

Emakhosini in the Mkumbane Valley on the banks of a tributary of the White Umfolozi River near to Babanango is the site of one of King Dingane kaSenzangakhona's great royal kraals, UmGungundlovu, where Piet Retief and his Voortrekkers were massacred in 1838.

Among the Voortrekkers, 41 men, 56 women and 185 children were killed.

In addition another 250 or 252 Khoikhoi and Basuto that accompanied the Voortrekkers were killed.

Street names in the Alberton North suburb were renamed after Voortrekkers in 1938, to coincide with the 100 year commemoration of the Great Trek.

When the Voortrekkers reached the area of Winburg, there were no other tribes or inhabitants.