The Natalia Republic flag was adopted on December 24 1839. The Natalia Republic was a Boer Republic established close to a year after the Battle at Ncome River. The Republic was later annexed by Britain in 1843 & most of the Boers there then trekked into the Transvaal & Transorangia where other Boers were establishing themselves. The first few minutes of the following video mentions this flag including a number of other 19th cent Boer Republican flags which are located in the Cenotaph Hall under the Heroes Hall at the Voortrekker Monument.
The above picture shows the Natalia Driekleur / Tricolour at the right.
3 Opinion(s):
Thanks for the info. I am shy to admit that i have never heard this history before. Where exactly was this Republic.
The old guys made it sound easy to create a Republic. Why are we having so much trouble?
Great article!! Great Video!!!
Welcome Ron!! - will be looking forward to reading plenty more of your great posts.
This republic was located just below the Tugela River in Natal right up to the Indian Ocean. This map right here shows where it was along with the other first republics established after the Great Trek.
The Natalia Republic was just under half the size of the later Natal Province & was often in a loose [ quite loose ] association with the Potchefstroom & Winburg Republics of Hendrik Potgieter. Potgieter created republics much further north & inland wanting to put as much distance between his contingent & the British & the major local tribes.
The Potchefstroom Republic later joined the Lydenburg Republic & the Rustenberg Republic which formed the basis of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek or what is often called the Transvaal Republic. The Zoutpansberg Republic held out as an independent republic -stemming from differences between the Potgieter faction & the Pretorius faction [though Pretorius died in 1852 & Potgieter died in 1853] until 1863 or 1864 when it finally joined the ZAR. The Winburg Republic later became the northern part of the Orange Free State Republic. A young Paul Kruger attempted to join the Orange Free State with the ZAR [by force resulting in one of the brief Boer civil wars] but the OFS refused to join them probably stemming over their friendlier commercial relationship with the Cape Colony back then.
The only reason why it was "easier" to create republics back then was likely due entirely to the fact that large tracts of Africa were then still unclaimed & vacant with no one having permanent power over. I read an article once in which the Boer author was lamenting that today there are no vacant or unclaimed lands left in which one could trek into because it is clear that many Boers would jump at the chance if they could claim a vacant area. Remember: all of Africa is now under the jurisdiction of some State or other.
There is a minor example of folks moving to the low populated Northern Cape like Orania for example but even that area is of course under the jurisdiction of the South African macro State. Though Boer Patriots like Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio assert that the Boers do not have to go anywhere as they could theoretically reclaim the old ZAR & OVS Republics if enough of them petitioned for their restoration. Which would obviously be in a revamped / truncated form to take into consideration the shifted demographic realities which have since transpired after the Anglo-Boer War.
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