Trekboers

The Trekboers were descendents of Dutch settlers / French Huguenot refugees / German Protestants & smaller numbers of Belgians / Scandinavians / Scots & also some Indian slaves due to intermarriage / & an admixture of Khoi & Malay due to absorption into the nascent Boer nation. The Trekboers began migrating from the areas near Cape Town / Paarl & Stellenbosch during the 1690s & into the eastern Cape frontier throughout the 1700s.

The Trekboers were semi-nomadic farmers also simply known as Boers (which is Dutch for "farmer") & spoke a language called Eastern Border Afrikaans. This started out as a modified Dutch dialect but became a distinct language over time with a number of words having non Dutch origins, mainly loan words of French, German, Malay, Khoi & later English origin.

Some Trekboers resisted Dutch rule & set up independent republics in the towns of Swellendam & Graaff-Reinet in 1795. This was later reversed by the British upon their acquisition of the Cape. Some Trekboers resisted British legislation in 1815 which led to a rebellion at Slagters Nek in which the British executed some of the Boer leaders of the rebellion. After experiencing further British encroachments & constant border wars with the Xhosa to the east as well as growing land shortages, a large number of Trekboers become Voortrekkers.

Some Trekboers crossed the Orange River at least a decade before the Voortrekkers did. In 1815 a Trekboer named Coenraad Du Buys (surname of French Huguenot origin) fled from the British & became the first White inhabitant of the (western) Transvaal, where he set up a farm.

During the nineteenth century both Trekboers (Afrikaans speaking migrants from the 1600s & 1700s who trekked into the eastern frontiers) & Voortrekkers (Afrikaans speaking pioneers who trekked into the interior during the 1830s & 1840s) were simply called Boers.

During the Twentieth century both Boers & the Cape Dutch -those who did not trek eastward & remained in the Western Cape- would become known as Afrikaners. A term which was applied to all White Afrikaans speakers.

While the term Trekboer has become obsolete: there is still a cultural / linguistic (accents & some terms) & geographic defference between the Boers of Voortrekker / Trekboer / Republican descent to those who are of Cape Dutch (as they were called mainly by trekking Boers) / Western Cape descent.