The Voortrekkers

The story of the Great Trek and the making of South Africa.

The Great Trek is the one of the greatest adventure stories in South African history, the "central happening" as Professor E A. Walker puts it, and Meintjes' main concern in the telling of it has been presentation in a novel form, from the viewpoints of Boer, British and Bantu, and to bring to light a large amount of information not published in English before.

The story told is about the Voortrekkers, about people, and the peoples they encountered, about human courage, endurance, resource and the frailties of humanity. Attention is also given, for the first time to this extent, to the many 'non-whites' who accompanied the Voortrekkers.

The book consists of 24 Chapters

• The Spirit of Revolt
• The Interior
• The Tregardts
• The Trek Idea
• Potgieter and Cilliers
• The Matabele
• Gert Maritz
• Piet Retief
• In the Transvaal
• Retief visits Dingane
• Massacre
• The Place of Weeping
• The End of a Road
• Pretorius and Blood River
• Boer, Bantu and Briton
• Mpande
• The First Republics
• The Return of the British
• The Annexation of Natal
• Andries-Ohrigstad
• Farewell to Natal
• The Orange River Sovereignty
• Potgieter and Pretorius
• The Conventions and Conclusion

287 Pages. Good bibliography and well indexed.   Click here to view the book's Preface

Format: DownloadablePDF