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

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.

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 ( Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneers, literally " those who pull ahead ", " fore-trekkers ") were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony ( British at the time, but founded by the Dutch ) moving into the interior of what is now South Africa.

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.

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.

Together these groups were later called Voortrekkers ( Pioneers ).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After the defeat of Mzilikazi the town of Winburg ( so named by the Boers in commemoration of their victory ) was founded, a Volksraad elected, and Piet Retief, one of the ablest of the Voortrekkers, chosen " governor and commandant-general.

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.

The Voortrekkers ( mainly descendants of Trekboers ) embarked on a series of mass migrations caused by the invading British, later known as the Great Trek.

The first major clash after Shaka's death took place under his successor Dingane, against expanding European Voortrekkers from the Cape.

Initial Zulu success rested on fast-moving surprise attacks and ambushes, but the Voortrekkers recovered and dealt the Zulu a severe defeat from their fortified wagon laager at the Battle of Blood River.

* Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers emigrate northwards from the Cape Colony.

The Voortrekkers comprised two groups from the eastern frontier region of the Cape Colony, semi-nomadic pastoralists known as Trekboers, and established farmers and artisans known as Grensboere, or Border Farmers.

On April 6, 1838 the Voortrekkers retaliated with a 347-strong punitive raid against the Zulu ( later known as the Flight Commando ), supported by new arrivals from the Orange Free State.

After the defeat of the Zulu forces and the recovery of the treaty between Dingane and Retief from the latter's skeleton, the Voortrekkers proclaimed the Natalia Republic.

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.

It was heavily used by the Voortrekkers driving their oxen while migrating from the Cape of Good Hope.

The Voortrekkers under the leadership of Piet Retief obtained a treaty from the Zulu King Dingane to settle part of the lands the Zulus administered or held sway over, but Dingane later changed his mind, killing Retief and 70 members of his delegation.

* The Voortrekkers Vow, a poem by Lynn Lyster from

The Cenotaph Hall is decorated with the flags of the different Voortrekker Republics and contains wall tapestries depicting the Voortrekkers as well as several display cases with artefacts from the Great Trek.

He favoured large tracks of land that had been purchased from the ethnic Swazis in the eastern portion of the South African Republic, from the Zulus in northern Natal, and others, as well as largely uninhabited portions of the interior that had been settled by the Voortrekkers.

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.