Program Information

To escape what they considered to be invasions of their privacy and outside moral pollution, South Africans of Dutch ancestry migrated northeast in the 1830s away from the Cape Colony in the Great Trek.

A Moment in Time is a brief, exciting and compelling journey into the past. Created to excite and enlighten the public about the past, its relevance to the present and its impact on the future, A Moment In Time is a captivating historical narrative that is currently broadcast worldwide.

Transcript

Lead: To escape what they considered to be invasions of their privacy and outside moral pollution, South Africans of Dutch ancestry migrated northeast in the 1830s away from the Cape Colony in the Great Trek.

Intro: A Moment In Time with Dan Roberts.

Content: The first Europeans to settle the southernmost tip of Africa were placed there by the Dutch East India Company in 1652. Their purpose was to provide provisions for ships carrying goods between Holland and Southeast Asia. The company pretty much left the settlers alone, but that began to change in the early 1800s when the British took over the colony at the Cape of Good Hope.

Tension grew because Britain challenged the Dutch way of life in three areas: labor, land and security. For 200 years Afrikaner culture had developed in isolation. They had come to regard their way of life as unique. Many of them were deeply religious members of the Dutch Calvinist Reformed church. They regarded native Africans as subhuman, provided by the Almighty to assist whites as they conquered the land. Under pressure from reformers and missionaries, the British began to insist that slavery come to an end.

Next, until the 1820s, land on the cape had been virtually free, but the British began to restrict the size of land grants and charge for them. The days of free land for the Afrikaner herdsmen had come to an end.

Finally, the Afrikaner farmers insisted that the British provide law and order on the frontier. Theft of livestock by native tribes such as the Hotentots and various Bantu clans on the fringes of the colony was a regular occurrence. Britain insisted that the Afrikaners not conduct raids across the border to prevent this. By 1835 the Dutch had had enough and slowly began to move northeast, across the Orange and Vaal Rivers to find a new home. Next time: on the way.

At the University of Richmond, this is Dan Roberts.

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