Boers
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Boers are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled Dutch Cape Colony, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
Boer family in 1886
Descending from the Sneeuberge, a scene near Graaff-Reinet, by Burchell
Passing Cradock Pass, Outeniqua Mountains, by Charles Collier Michell
An aquatint by Samuel Daniell of Trekboers making camp
Free Burghers in the Dutch Cape Colony
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Free Burghers were early European colonists in the 18th century who had been released of their service contracts to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and had become full citizens (burghers). The introduction of Free Burghers to the Dutch Cape Colony is regarded as the beginning of a permanent settlement of Europeans in South Africa. The Free Burgher population eventually devolved into two distinct segments separated by social status, wealth, and education: the Cape Dutch and the Boers.
Settlement of the first Free Burghers
Cape Wagons were built by the burghers, the wagons were adjusted to accommodate for the rough Cape landscape
French Huguenots building a house at the Cape