This is the fifth part of an interview conducted by the shortwave / internet radio program: The Right Perspective that they did with Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio on Jan 6 2007 on the 150th anniversary of the Transvaal Vierkleur flag: one of the most recognizable symbols of the Boerevolk. The Orange Free State Vierkleur flag would also become 150 on Feb 23 2007. The interview was an hour long with no breaks & is posted here in 9 parts.
The history of the Boers is often told from a Western / British or Afrikaner point of view & thus often from a skewed perspective. This interview is refreshing & important as the Boers’ history is explained & told from a Boer perspective.
The facts concerning the Boers are often obscured as the Boers have been overshadowed for the past 100 years most notably by the Afrikaner Nationalists: the Cape based political heirs to the artificial macro state of South Africa created by the British & imposed onto the region.
The Boers trekked from the Cape Afrikaners & the western Cape beginning in the late 1600s & throughout the 1700 when they were nomadic migrating farmers known as the Trekboers occupying the northern & eastern Cape frontier where some later settled down & were known as Grensboere or Border Farmers. A large number of their descendents became known as the Voortrekkers who left the eastern Cape en mass -mainly due to British Colonialism- to trek into the largely uninhabited (due to the Difaqane) interior were they would establish numerous Boer Republics of which the Transvaal Republic (also known as the South African Republic which was composed of the former Potchefstroom Republic / Lydenburg Republic / Rustenburg Republic / Utrecht Republic & the Zoutpansberg Republic) & the Orange Free State (the northern part of which was the former Winburg Republic) were recognized by other governments around the world.
The Sand River Convention signed on Jan 17 1852 between the British & the Transvaal Boers recognized the independence of the Boers north of the Vaal River. This lead to the independence of Boer Republics north of the Vaal River which would coalesce into the South African Republic on Jan 6 1857.
The Orange River Convention signed on Feb 17 1854 between the British & the Transorangia Boers recognized the independence of the Boers north of the Orange River up to the Vaal River. This lead to the independence of the Orange Free State on Feb 23 1854.
The Boer Republics were conquered on May 31 1902 by the British at the conclusion of the the second Anglo-Boer War after 27 000 Boer civilians died in the British run concentration camps. This represented the death of close to 50 % of the total Boer child population of the republics & is one of the main reasons how they were able to be overshadowed for the next 100 years by other forces ascending to power in the region.