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The Great Treks

The Transformation of Southern Africa 1815-1854

Norman Etherington author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:25th Oct '01

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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The Great Treks cover

The mass migration of the Boer farmers from Cape Colony to escape British domination in 1835-36 - the Great Trek - has always been a potent icon of Africaaner nationalism and identity. For African nationalists, the Mfecane - the vast movement of the Black populations in the interior following the emergence of a new Zulu kingdom as a major military force in the early 19th century - offers an equally powerful symbol of the making of a nation. With their parallel visions of populations on the move to establish new states, these two stories became part of divided South Africa’s separate mythologies, treated as unconnected events taking place in separate universes.

For the first time, in this groundbreaking book, accounts of both migrations are brought together and examined. In uniting these separate visions of African and Afrikaaner history, Norman Etherington provides a fascinating picture of a major turning point in South African history, and points the way for future work on the period.

"No-one teaching South African history will be able to ignore this book"Australasian Review of African Studies "In The Great Treks Norman Etherington has done South African history a great conceptual and publishing service and this book will be a benchmark in the literature for a long time to come." Kleio vol. 34, 2002

ISBN: 9780582315679

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 657g

394 pages