Pieter Retief

Pieter Retief (1780-1838), Afrikaner (Boer) commander, one of the leaders of the migration known as the Great Trek (1835-1843). Born in Stellenbosch, in the western part of what was then the Cape Colony, Retief moved in 1812 to Grahamstown, in the eastern frontier, to trade. He was not successful and in 1832 was jailed for debt. In 1834 the government confiscated his estate to pay his debts. However, that year he served with distinction in the war against the native Xhosa.

Like many Afrikaners, Retief became increasingly opposed to British rule, blaming them for failing to control the Xhosa as well as for his own financial difficulties. He acted as a spokesman for Afrikaner farmers who wanted to leave the Cape Colony to escape British rule, and in 1837 he issued a historic proclamation in the Grahamstown Journal explaining the Boers' decision to migrate, or trek. Among the reasons he gave were the losses they had sustained as a result of the forced emancipation of their slaves and the prejudice of the British against the Afrikaners. Retief expressed the hope that the British would allow the Afrikaners who migrated to govern themselves without interference.

Retief led a group of pioneers, known as Voortrekkers, from the Cape Colony to join other Voortrekkers in the Orange River area (later the Orange Free State), where he was elected supreme commander. The trekkers, however, divided into two groups, with Retief and his followers wanting to go east, to the region of Natal, and the others wishing to remain in the Orange River country under Hendrik Potgieter. Retief led his group east into Zululand and sought a land concession from the Zulu chief Dingane, who was deeply suspicious of the Afrikaners. Dingane only agreed to make a land grant on the condition that Retief restore to him cattle that had been stolen by Chief Sekonyela of the Tlokwa. As Retief returned with the cattle, Afrikaners were already streaming into Zulu territory, and news reached a nervous Dingane of Potgieter's victory over Mzilikazi, a chief allied with the Zulu. On February 6, 1838, Retief and his party were invited to a celebration in Dingane's kraal (circular compound), where they were massacred. As a result, the other Voortrekkers united under Andries Pretorius and made an alliance with Dingane's brother Mpande against Dingane, whom they defeated in 1839. Retief's followers created the Republic of Natalia which survived until 1843, when it came under British control. Retief became a Boer hero figure.