6 - The Great Trek

Footnotes of History

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes for this episode are at: http://www.footnotesofhistory.com/6 It’s the journey that gave a country its foundational legend and shows just how tough life was in the 19th Century, but the Great Trek also meant death, destruction and horror for many of the people in its way. In this episode we’ll consider why tens of thousands of Boers decided to leave their homes and march into the interior of southern Africa. Were they driven by a desire to establish a new homeland? Were they angry about their treatment by their new British rulers or was it something else entirely that sparked an event that has been celebrated and criticised ever since?