1837 in South Africa
Encyclopedia
Events
- Voortrekker Louis Trichardt arrives in Lourenço MarquesMaputoMaputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
, MozambiqueMozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest... - Separate administrative districts are granted to Port Elizabeth, CradockCradock, Eastern CapeCradock is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the upper valley of the Great Fish River, by rail northeast of Port Elizabeth. The town is the administrative seat of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in the Chris Hani District of the Eastern Cape. The estimated population...
and Colesberg - 17 January Voortrekkers under Andries Potgieter, Piet UysPiet UysPetrus Lafras Uys was a Voortrekker leader during the Great Trek.He was born in Swellendam, the third son of Jacobus Johannes Uys...
and Gerrit MaritzGerrit MaritzGert Maritz was a Voortrekker pioneer and leader.-See also:*Graaff-Reinet: Gerrit Maritz, Great Trek Leader after whom Pietermaritzburg was partly named was a wagon-maker in the town....
, helped by Rolong and Griqua tribes, defeat Ndebele at Mosega - 2 February - Voortrekker leader Piet RetiefPiet RetiefPieter Mauritz Retief was a South African Boer leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent Xhosa territory...
publishes his Manifesto which sets out the reasons why the Voortrekkers are leaving the Cape ColonyCape ColonyThe Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take... - 28 March - Piet Retief and his followers leave the Cape Colony
- 23 April - Piet Retief orders Erasmus Smit to be ordained as a minister of the Voortrekkers, but meets with opposition because they consider him as being too old and sickly at 59
- October - The voortrekkers under the leadership of Piet Retief arrived in NatalKwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
over the DrakensbergDrakensbergThe Drakensberg is the highest mountain range in Southern Africa, rising to in height. In Zulu, it is referred to as uKhahlamba , and in Sesotho as Maluti...
mountains after trekking overland from the Cape Colony during the Great TrekGreat TrekThe Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers . The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, northwest Germany and French Huguenots...
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