This history of the Afrikaner peoples begins with their arrival in Southern Africa in 1652 and leads up to the present day. The account covers the establishment of the Dutch East India trading post in the Cape, the Great Trek of the 1830s and the democratic elections of 1994.

Showing the Afrikaner through history, the author explains, for instance, the influence of Dutch Calvinist ancestry, the motives behind the Afrikaner resistance to external involvement in their economic development, and, most contentious of all, the appeal of the policy of apartheid as a moral solution to the racial problem in South Africa. In addresssing such issues in a direct and authoritative manner, The Afrikaners brings sharp, historical insight to the complex dynamics within South African society, both in the past and today.

List of Plates. List of Maps. A Note on Names.Introduction.1. Arrivals.2. Dispersal.3. Boer Independence Gained and Lost.4. The First 'Freedom War'.5. The Second 'Freedom War'.6. Humiliation and Revival.7. The Rise of Hertzog.8. Division and Reunion.9. The Triumph of Republicanism.10. Apartheid: Its Variations and its Collapse. Epilogue. Notes. Index.