The Queen and The Boer President

Looking around for traces of Afrikanerdom in Dutch society I stumbled upon an interesting trend in Dutch cities. Quite a number of them have a neighbourhood that carry Afrikaner street-names and are generally called Transvaalbuurt/Transvaalkwartier. It’s rather amusing to find a Paul Kruger Street in Amsterdam, and even a Spionkopstraat in Haarlem, but when you look at the history and support given to the Boere during the Second Boer War, it becomes more understandable.

After the annexing of the Cape Colony by the British, there were already some blistered feelings between the Dutch and British. This was also just after the rise of Napoleon, with the Netherlands under control of France. The general discontent with British rule in the Cape was felt by both the Dutch and the Afrikaner who, through a great exodus called the Groot Trek, eventually established the independent Afrikaner Republics of the Transvaal, the Oranje Vrystaat, Stellaland, and even a few other smaller ones. Even though the British weren’t too concerned with a group of Dutch Farmers establishing Free Republics north of the Cape, their expansion wouldn’t be tolerated for long. In 1877 the British Troops occupied the Transvaal, forcing the Boers to submit to their new colonial masters. The Boers didn’t bother fighting back too much, as they were already under-resourced to battle the British.

Until 1880 when the Boers declared the Transvaal independent from the Crown once again. This lead to the First Boer War, which ended in a peace agreement, known as the Pretoria Convention. At this time the Boers were considered heroes by the Dutch for standing up against the oppression of the Crown. The peace lasted only until the late 1890’s when a mixture of elements, including the Jameson Raid, the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal, and the imperialist ideas of Cecil John Rhodes, among others, led to war being declared by the Boer Republics on 11 October 1899. The Second Boer War lasted until 1902, eventually leading to the formation of the Union of South Africa after the defeat of the Boers.

During the Second Boer War the Netherlands gave a substantial amount of support, including 2000 volunteer fighters to help fight the English. Queen Wilhelmina took it upon herself to assist the Boers by writing to Queen Victoria and numerous others royal households in support of the Independent Boer States, and eventually giving Paul Kruger a safe haven during the war. Paul Kruger eventually died whilst in exile and was buried in The Hague.

To pay homage to their descendants, many Dutch cities name neighbourhoods and streets in honour the Afrikaner heroes. Many have also installed monuments to the Afrikaners throughout the Netherlands. The neighbourhoods, generally carrying the Transvaal name, are as follows:

• Transvaalbuurt in Amsterdam
• Transvaalbuurt in Arnhem
• Transvaalkwartier in Den Haag
• Transvaalbuurt in Dordrecht
• Transvaalbuurt in Haarlem
• Transvaalwijk in Leeuwarden
• Transvaalbuurt in Leiden
• Transvaalbuurt in Vaassen
• Afrikaanderbuurt in Hengelo
• Afrikaanderwijk in Rotterdam

What is interesting to note is how name-changes (something we know all too well in South Africa) also affected these neighbourhoods; after apartheid some streets and pleins were renamed in honour of Apartheid Heroes like Steve Biko, Nelson Mandela, and other more “neutral” terms (like Limpopo River, etc).

Whether anyone living in these neighbourhoods have any idea of the history connected to these namesakes I’m not sure (and I strongly doubt it), but for one it does bring a certain sense of patriotism to mind when I see them.

You can see the list of monuments situated in the Netherlands here.

I might write something a little more in-depth on this topic soon.