The Boer Republics (sometimes also referred to as Boer states) were independent self-governed republics created by the Dutch-speaking (proto Afrikaans) inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope and their descendants (variously named Trekboers, Boers and Voortrekkers, but today collectively known as Afrikaners) in mainly the northern and eastern parts of what is now the country of South Africa.Although some of these republics were already founded from 1795 onwards during the period of Dutch colonial rule at the Cape, most of these states were established after Britain took over from the Netherlands as the colonial power at the Cape of Good Hope. Subsequently a number of its Dutch-speaking (proto-Afrikaans often called "die taal") inhabitants trekked inland in 1835 in order to escape British administrative control in a movement that became known as the Great Trek. Several of these states were established after military defeats of the indigenous population by the Voortrekkers/Boers by...