CITIES
In the early 1960s, when the primary school I attended had the platoon system of morning and mid-afternoon sessions to cope with a larger number of pupils, the story of the Great Trek was drummed into our tiny heads during lazy afternoons.
We were taught that Boers from the Cape Colony – rural descendants of the original European settlers – were in rebellion against the British and in search of fresh pasturelands.
In January 1832, pathfinders were despatched into the hinterland. They scouted then-Natal as a potential colony. On their return to the Cape, they waxed enthusiastically about Natal as a land of exceptional farming quality that was well-watered and nearly devoid of inhabitants.
Thus, from 1835 until the early
