The Great Trek
Between 1835 and the 1850s, thousands of Dutch-speaking farming families, the Voortrekkers, left the British-ruled Cape Colony in ox wagons and headed into the interior of southern Africa. These stories tell what drove them, who led them, the battles they fought and the republics they founded, written in plain English for readers everywhere.
Why the Great Trek Began
Why thousands of farming families left the British-ruled Cape Colony in the 1830s.
The Trek Leaders
Tregardt, Van Rensburg, Potgieter, Maritz, Retief, Uys and Pretorius: the men who led the wagon parties.
Vegkop, 1836
A small wagon laager on the highveld holds out against Mzilikazi’s army.
Piet Retief and Dingane, 1838
A land treaty, a royal capital, and the killing that changed the course of the Trek.
A Promise to God
16 December 1838: Blood River and the Vow.
The Republic of Natalia and the Trek North
A short-lived Boer republic, a British takeover, and the move back over the mountains.
Women of the Trek
Mothers, fighters, diarists and survivors: the women who made the Trek possible.