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The Afrikaners: An Historical Interpretation
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The Afrikaners: An Historical Interpretation Hardback - 1996 - 1st Edition

by G. H. Le May

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From the publisher

This is a history of the Afrikaner peoples from their arrival in southern Africa in 1652, up to the present day. The account covers the establishment of the Dutch East India trading post in the Cape, the Greak Trek of the 1830s, the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal in the late nineteenth century, the Anglo-Boer War, the effects of the two World Wars, and the democratic elections of 1994. At all these stages, G H L Le May assesses not only the development of the state institutions of Afrikaner society, but the evolution of the people's distinct mentality.

From the rear cover

This is a history of the Afrikaner peoples from their arrival in southern Africa in 1652, up to the present day. The account covers the establishment of the Dutch East India trading post in the Cape, the Greak Trek of the 1830s, the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal in the late nineteenth century, the Anglo-Boer War, the effects of the two World Wars, and the democratic elections of 1994. At all these stages, G. H. Le May assesses not only the development of the state institutions of Afrikaner society, but the evolution of the people's distinct mentality.

The book highlights the distinctions between the settled bourgeois Afrikaner of the urbanized western Cape and the traditional Boer farmer of the plateau and examines the tensions within the Afrikaner community as well as its historically troubled relations with others, including Africans, Cape Coloreds and European powers. 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.

Details

  • Title The Afrikaners: An Historical Interpretation
  • Author G. H. Le May
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 290
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Wiley-Blackwell
  • Publication date 1996-01
  • Features Maps
  • ISBN 9780631182047 / 0631182047
  • Weight 1.34 lbs (0.61 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.23 x 6.15 x 1.08 in (23.44 x 15.62 x 2.74 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Southern Africa
  • Category History - General History
  • Library of Congress subjects South Africa - History, South Africa - Politics and government
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 95011584
  • Dewey Decimal Code 968

About the author

The author was educated at Michaelhouse and Rhodes University, South Africa, and Worcester College, Oxford. From 1953 until 1967 he was Professor of Political Studies in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. From 1968 until 1990 he was Fellow and Tutor in Politics of Worcester College, Oxford, of which he is now and Emeritus Fellow. His previous writings include British Government, 1914-63: Select Documents, British Supremacy in South Africa, 1899-1907, Black and White in South Africa, and The Victorian Constitution.

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