Boer 4971 225256481 2008-07-12T18:54:16Z 137.99.252.115 /* Boer War diaspora */ {{otheruses4|the Boer people (Boerevolk)|the animal|Boer goat}} [[Image:Afrikaner_Commandos2.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Boer guerrillas during the [[Second Boer War]].]] '''Boer''' ({{pronounced|ˈbuːr}} in Dutch, {{IPAEng|ˈbʊɚ/, /boʊɚ}} or {{IPA|/ˈbɔr/}} in English) is the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] word for [[farmer]] which came to denote the descendants of the proto [[Afrikaans]]-speaking [[pastoralists]] of the eastern Cape frontier in [[Southern Africa]] during the [[18th century]] as well as those who left the [[Cape Colony]] during the [[19th century]] to settle in the [[Orange Free State]], [[Transvaal]] (together known as the [[Boer Republics]]) and to a lesser extent [[Natal Province|Natal]]. Their primary motivation for leaving the Cape was to escape British rule as well as the constant border wars between the British imperial government and the native tribes on the eastern frontier. ==History== ===Origin=== The [[Trekboer|Trekboere]], as they were originally known, are descended mainly from [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[Calvinist]], [[Flemings|Flemish]] and [[Frisians|Frisian]] Calvinist as well as [[French people|French]] [[Huguenot]], and [[German people|German]] [[Protestant]] origins dating from the 1650s and into the 1700s. Minor numbers of [[Scandinavians]], [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], [[Italian people|Italian]], [[Spanish people|Spanish]], [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Scottish ethnicity|Scots]], [[English people|English]], [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Welsh people|Welsh]] people were absorbed, as well as some descendants from early unions with slaves of mainly [[India|Indian]] and [[Cape Malay|Malay]] descent and local [[Khoi]] people. For more information on history before the Great Trek, see [[Afrikaner]]. ===Great trek=== {{main|Great Trek}} Those Trekboers who trekked into and occupied the eastern Cape were semi-nomadic. A significant number in the eastern Cape frontier later became Grensboere ("border farmers") who were the direct ancestors of the [[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 Empire|British]] colonialism and constant border wars. When used in a historical context, the term Boer may refer to an inhabitant of the [[Boer Republics]] as well as those who were cultural Boers. ===Anglo-Boer wars=== {{main|First Boer War|Second Boer War}} The Boers fought two wars in the late 19th century in order to defend their internationally recognized independent countries, the republics of the Transvaal (the [[Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek]], or ZAR), and the [[Orange Free State]] (OFS) against the threat of annexation by the British Crown. ==Characteristics== ===Culture=== The drive to trek (known as the trekgees) was a notable characteristic of the Boers in the past beginning in the 1690s out of necessity when the Trekboers began to inhabit the northern and eastern Cape frontiers, to the era of the Great Trek when the Voortrekkers left the eastern Cape ''en masse'', as well as later after major republics were established such as during the Thirstland Trek. <ref> [http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/ransford/chap13.htm Oliver Ransford. The Great Trek. (1973) Chapter 13: Epilogue.] </ref> A rustic characteristic and tradition was developed quite early on as Boer society was born on the frontiers of white settlement and on the outskirts of civilization. <ref> [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=27642806# Brian M Du Toit. The Boers in East Africa: Ethnicity and Identity. (1998) p. 1.] </ref> The Boer tradition of declaring republics predates the arrival of the British since when the British arrived a number of Boers were in rebellion from the VOC having declared republics. <ref> [http://husky1.smu.ca/~wmills/course316/18White_Settlers.html Professor Wallace G Mills. White Settlers in South Africa to 1870.] </ref> The Boers of the frontier were known for their independent spirit, resourcefulness, hardiness, and self-sufficiency, whose political notions verged on anarchy but had begun to be influenced by republicanism. <ref> [http://husky1.smu.ca/~wmills/course316/18White_Settlers.html Professor Wallace G Mills. White Settlers in South Africa to 1870.] </ref> ==Boer War diaspora== {{See also|Afrikaner#Boer War diaspora}} After the second Anglo-Boer War, a Boer diaspora occurred. Starting in 1903 the largest group emigrated to the Patagonia region of Argentina. Another group emigrated to British-ruled Kenya, from where most returned to South Africa during the 1930s, while a third group under the leadership of General Ben Viljoen emigrated to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in south-western USA. ==Modern usage== In more recent times, mainly during the [[apartheid]] reform and post-1994 eras, a number of white [[Afrikaans]]-speaking people, mainly with "conservative" political views and of trekker descent, have preferred to be called "Boers" or [[Boere-Afrikaner]]s, rather than "Afrikaners". They feel that there were many people of [[Voortrekker]] descent who were not co-opted or assimilated into what they see as the [[Cape Province|Cape]]-based Afrikaner identity which began emerging after the [[Second Anglo-Boer War]] and the subsequent establishment of the [[Union of South Africa]] in 1910. Certain Boer Nationalists have asserted that they do not consider themselves a right-wing element of the political spectrum. <ref> [http://web.archive.org/web/20031001202018/rebellie.org/Raaktief/rk_openletter_ISS.htm Dr. Tobias Louw. Open Letter to the Institute for Security Studies.] </ref> They contend that the Boers of the [[South African Republic|South African]] (ZAR) and [[Orange Free State]] republics were recognized as a separate people or cultural group under international law by the [[Sand River Convention]] (which created the South African Republic in 1852) <ref> [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1741482 The Sand River Convention.]</ref>, the Bloemfontein Convention (which created the Orange Free State Republic in 1854), the Pretoria Convention (which re-established the independence of the South African Republic 1881), the London Convention (which granted the full independence to the South African Republic in 1884) and the [[Peace of Vereeniging|Vereeniging Peace Treaty]], which formally ended the [[Second Anglo-Boer War]] on [[31 May]] [[1902]]. Others contend, however, that these treaties dealt only with agreements between governmental entities and do not imply the recognition of a Boer cultural identity ''per se''. The supporters of these views feel that the Afrikaner designation (or label) was used from the 1930s onwards as a means of unifying (politically at least) the white Afrikaans speakers of the Western Cape with those of Trekboer and Voortrekker descent (whose ancestors began migrating eastward during the 1690s and throughout the 1700s and later northward during the [[Great Trek]] of the 1830s) in the north of South Africa, where the Boer Republics were established. Since the Anglo-Boer war the term "Boervolk" was rarely used in the twentieth century because of this attempt to assimilate the Boervolk with the Afrikaners. A portion of those who are the descendants of the Boerevolk have reasserted this designation. <ref> [http://www.chico.mweb.co.za/art/2007/2007mar/070309-bang.html Yolandi Groenewald. Bang bang – you’re dead. Mail & Guardian Online.]</ref> The supporters of the "Boer" designation view the term "Afrikaner" an artificial political label which usurped their history and culture, turning "Boer" achievements into "Afrikaner" achievements. They feel that the Western-Cape based Afrikaners — whose ancestors did not trek eastwards or northwards — took advantage of the republican Boers' destitution following the Anglo-Boer War and later attempted to assimilate the Boers into a new politically based cultural label as "Afrikaners". ==See also== *[[Afrikaner]] *[[Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging]] *[[Boere-Afrikaner]] *[[Boeremag]] *[[Boer music]] *[[Great Trek]] *[[Natalia Republic]] *[[Orange Free State]] *[[South African Republic]] *[[South African Farmer Murders]] *[[Transvaal]] *[[Volkstaat]] *[[Voortrekker]] ==Notable Boers== <!-- This section is linked from [[Lists of people by nationality]] --> ;Voortrekker leaders * [[Andries Hendrik Potgieter]] * [[Andries Pretorius]] * [[Sarel Cilliers]] Voortrekker leader * [[Piet Retief]] Voortrekker leader ;Great trek * [[Dirkie Uys]] * [[Racheltjie de Beer]] * [[Marthinus Oosthuizen]] ;Participants in the Second Anglo-Boer War * [[Christiaan Rudolf de Wet]], general * [[Danie Theron]], soldier * [[Gideon Jacobus Scheepers]], soldier * [[Japie Greyling]], hero * [[Koos de la Rey]], general and regarded as being one of the great military leaders of that conflict. * [[Manie Maritz]], soldier * [[Siener van Rensburg]], considered a prophet by some. ;Politicians * [[Louis Botha]], first prime minister of South Africa (1910 - 1919) and former Boer general * [[Paul Kruger]], president of the [[Transvaal Republic]] * [[Petrus Jacobus Joubert]], general and cabinet member of the Transvaal Republic * [[Eugene Terre'Blanche]], leader of the [[Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging]] (AWB) political and paramilitary group. ;Spies * [[Fritz Joubert Duquesne]], a Boer Captain known as the ''Black Panther'', served in the [[Second Boer War]]. Captured in [[Mozambique]], he escaped prison in [[Portugal]] and returned to South Africa as a British officer. In 1901, he was caught planning to sabotage strategic British installations in [[Cape Town]] and sentenced to life in prison; however, he escaped and was re-captured several times again throughout his life. In [[World War I]], Duquesne spied for [[Germany]], earning the [[Iron Cross]] for allegedly sinking the [[HMS Hampshire (1903)|HMS ''Hampshire'']] thereby killing [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchner]] in 1916. He also served as a [[Nazi]] spy in the United States and, in 1941, he was caught by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) in the largest espionage case in U.S. history: The ''[[Duquesne Spy Ring]]''. ==References== <references/> [[Category:South African society]] [[Category:Afrikaner people|Boer]] [[af:Boere]] [[bg:Бури]] [[da:Boer]] [[de:Buren]] [[el:Μπόερς]] [[es:Bóer]] [[eo:Buroj]] [[fr:Boer]] [[ko:보어족]] [[hi:बोअर]] [[id:Bangsa Boer]] [[hu:Búrok]] [[nl:Afrikaner]] [[no:Boere]] [[pl:Burowie (nowożytni)]] [[pt:Bôeres]] [[ro:Buri (Africa)]] [[ru:Буры]] [[simple:Boer]] [[sk:Búri]] [[fi:Buurit]] [[sv:Boer]] [[uk:Бури]] [[ur:بوئر]] [[zh:布尔人]]