The Creation of the Boer Identity: The Truth about the Boer Heritge

by Wiets Buys

The story of the Trekboers is a success story. From an economic situation of depression and corrupt oppression by the VOC, they achieved much more than just survival in extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances. De Kiewiet compared the Trekboers' migration to the biblical Exodus, but with the difference that the migration of the Boers covered a much more extensive area and lasted much longer than 40 years.[138] The more the VOC government tried to prevent them from moving further, the more their numbers grew. While there was a net loss of people due to migration that was greater than immigration in that period,[139] their population, thanks to their high natural birthrate, rose from 1308 in the year 1700 to 14952 in 1795.[140] They expanded the territory of the Cape to 110 000 square miles to the Great Fish River in the Eastern Cape.[141] They overcame droughts, wild animals, hostility by the San, natural obstacles, great distances, and isolation with determination and resourcefulness. Most of all, this migration of almost a century had such a significant impact on the Trekboers that they developed a unique communal character known as the Boer cultural identity.