Tourism, Accommodation and Historical Attractions in Natal, South Africa

The Character of the Voortrekkers

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'A Mission from God'

Apart from the prospect of the Promised Land over the next mountain range, another vexation that was worth leaving behind was the attempt of the Company officials to control them and their movements.

This contempt for governmental authority bred a rugged individualism and an obstinacy that was to characterize Afrikaner thinking over more than two hundred years. Existing principally on meat, they were described as generally large and muscular people.

Above all else, religion dominated the lives of these trekboers. They each felt that the Bible was the only medium between themselves and God and that the white man was the highest image in the 'likeness of the Lord'.

The Afrikaners felt that they were reliving the story of the Bible, that they were the chosen people. They identified with Abraham and as a result there was little New Testament in their beliefs.