Great Trek
The Great Trek (Afrikaans:Die Groot Trek; Dutch:De Grote Trek) was an eastward and north-eastward emigration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boere (Dutch/Afrikaans for "farmers"). The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, north-west Germany and French Huguenots. The Great Trek itself led to the founding of numerous Boer republics, the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal being the most notable.