trek in history definition

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Definition of trek

 (Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

Definition of trek  (Entry 2 of 2)

• peregrinate
• peregrination

Examples of trek in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'trek.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Afrikaans, from Dutch trecken to pull, haul, migrate; akin to Old High German trechan to pull

Afrikaans, from Dutch treck pull, haul, from trecken

1835, in the meaning defined at sense 2

1849, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Dictionary Entries Near trek

Treitz's muscle

Cite this Entry

“Trek.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trek. Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of trek.

Kids Definition of trek  (Entry 2 of 2)

from Afrikaans trek, "to travel by ox wagon," from Dutch trecken "to haul, pull"

More from Merriam-Webster on trek

Nglish: Translation of trek for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of trek for Arabic Speakers

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to travel or migrate slowly or with difficulty, often through rough or unsettled territory: He managed to escape from a Siberian labor camp and trekked to Iran, a three-year journey.

to hike long distances as a recreational activity, especially over rough terrain: He's trekked through the Himalayas and summited Mt. Kilimanjaro.

to make a short but difficult trip on foot: We trekked back to our hotel in the pouring rain.

South Africa . to travel by ox wagon.

South Africa . (of a draft animal) to draw (a vehicle or load).

a slow or difficult journey, hike, or trip.

South Africa .

a migration or expedition, especially by ox wagon.

a stage of such a journey, between one stopping place and the next.

Origin of trek

Other words from trek.

• un·trekked, adjective

Words Nearby trek

• Treinta y Tres
• trelliswork

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use trek in a sentence

Writer Leath Tonino devised a 200-mile solo desert trek , following the path of the legendary cartographer who literally put these contentious canyons on the map.

So, we just made the decision to continue on with the trek , but to do it as conscientiously and as low-impact as possible.

He says that the team was able to show microbes would be able to survive the trek from Mars to Earth without shielding from the dangers of space if they clump together.

During their latest trek they checked these survey stakes and determined the speed with which the ice masses creep.

Until now, measuring these effects has required arduous treks through trackless swamps.

During his trek , Brinsley twice passed within a block of a police stationhouse and he almost certainly saw cops along the way.

The audience--tout Hollywood--stands to cheer his slow and painful trek from the wings to the table.

Overall, few travelers have made the trek into the desert of Sudan to see these architectural wonders.

In fact, some feminist critics have pointed to a long history of objectification in Star trek .

Horst Ulrich, a 72-year-old German on a trek with a group of friends, watched four Nepali guides swept away by an avalanche.

If his partner's impedimentia was not too bulky, the ancient model was ready for another trek to the hills.

The mountaineers, indeed, suffered less than the townsfolk as being more accustomed than they to conditions of trek and battle.

The cool morning air made it bearable for man and beast to trek .

By the third day of their trek southward along the Great River, the soles of Redbird's moccasins had worn through.

Once more was there a cracking of whips, and the oxen, straightening out along the trek -touw (Note 3), moved reluctantly on.

British Dictionary definitions for trek

/ ( trɛk ) /

a long and often difficult journey

Southern African a journey or stage of a journey, esp a migration by ox wagon

(intr) to make a trek

(tr) Southern African (of an ox, etc) to draw (a load)

Derived forms of trek

• trekker , noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

• Corrections

What was the Great Trek?

The Great Trek was a perilous exodus of pioneers into the heart of South Africa, looking for a place to call home.

When the British took control of Cape Town and the Cape Colony in the early 1800s, tensions grew between the new colonizers of British stock, and the old colonizers, the Boers, descendants of the original Dutch settlers. From 1835, the Boers would lead numerous expeditions out of the Cape Colony, traversing towards the interior of South Africa. Escaping British rule would come with a host of deadly challenges, and the Boers, seeking their own lands, would find themselves in direct conflict with the people who resided in the interior, most notably the Ndebele and the Zulu.

The “Great Trek” is a story of resentment, displacement, murder, war, and hope, and it forms one of the bloodiest chapters of South Africa’s notoriously violent history.

Origins of the Great Trek

The Cape was first colonized by the Dutch , when they landed there in 1652, and Cape Town quickly grew into a vital refueling station between Europe and the East Indies. The colony prospered and grew, with Dutch settlers taking up both urban and rural posts. In 1795, Britain invaded and took control of the Cape Colony, as it was Dutch possession, and Holland was under the control of the French Revolutionary government . After the war, the colony was handed back to Holland (the Batavian Republic) which in 1806, fell under French rule again. The British responded by annexing the Cape completely.

Under British rule, the colony underwent major administrative changes. The language of administration became English, and liberal changes were made which designated non-white servants as citizens. Britain, at the time, was adamantly anti-slavery, and was enacting laws to end it.

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Tensions grew between the British and the Boers (farmers). In 1815, a Boer was arrested for assaulting one of his servants. Many other Boers rose up in rebellion in solidarity, culminating in five being hanged for insurrection. In 1834, legislation passed that all slaves were to be freed. The vast majority of Boer farmers owned slaves, and although they were offered compensation, travel to Britain was required to receive it which was impossible for many. Eventually, the Boers had had enough of British rule and decided to leave the Cape Colony in search of self-governance and new lands to farm. The Great Trek was about to begin.

The Trek Begins

Not all Afrikaners endorsed the Great Trek. In fact, only a fifth of the Cape’s Dutch-speaking people decided to take part. Most of the urbanized Dutch were actually content with British rule. Nevertheless, many Boers decided to leave. Thousands of Boers loaded up their wagons and proceeded to venture into the interior and towards peril.

The first wave of voortrekkers (pioneers) met with disaster. After setting out in September 1835, they crossed the Vaal River in January, 1836, and decided to split up, following differences between their leaders. Hans van Rensburg led a party of 49 settlers who trekked north into what is now Mozambique. His party was slain by an impi (force of warriors) of Soshangane. For van Rensburg and his party, the Great Trek was over. Only two children survived who were saved by a Zulu warrior. The other party of settlers, led by Louis Tregardt, settled near Delagoa Bay in southern Mozambique, where most of them perished from fever.

A third group led by Hendrik Potgieter, consisting of about 200 people, also ran into serious trouble. In August 1836, a Matabele patrol attacked Potgieter’s group, killing six men, two women, and six children. King Mzilikazi of the Matabele in what is now Zimbabwe decided to attack the Voortrekkers again, this time sending out an impi of 5,000 men. Local bushmen warned the Voortrekkers of the impi , and Potgieter had two days to prepare. He decided to prepare for battle, although doing so would leave all the Voortrekker’s cattle vulnerable.

The Voortrekkers arranged the wagons into a laager (defensive circle) and placed thorn branches underneath the wagons and in the gaps. Another defensive square of four wagons was placed inside the laager and covered with animal skins. Here, the women and children would be safe from spears thrown into the camp. The defenders numbered just 33 men and seven boys, each armed with two muzzle-loader rifles. They were outnumbered 150 to one.

As the battle commenced, the Voortrekkers rode out on horseback to harry the impi . This proved largely ineffective, and they withdrew to the laager. The attack on the laager only lasted for about half an hour, in which time, two Voortrekkers lost their lives, and about 400 Matabele warriors were killed or wounded. The Matabele were far more interested in taking the cattle and eventually made off with 50,000 sheep and goats and 5,000 cattle. Despite surviving through the day, the Battle of Vegkop was not a happy victory for the Voortrekkers. Three months later, with the help of the Tswana people, a Voortrekker-led raid managed to take back 6,500 cattle, which included some of the cattle plundered at Vegkop.

The following months saw revenge attacks led by the Voortrekkers. About 15 Matabele settlements were destroyed, and 1,000 warriors lost their lives. The Matabele abandoned the region. The Great Trek would continue with several other parties pioneering the way into the South African hinterland.

The Battle of Blood River

In February 1838, the Voortrekkers led by Piet Retief met with absolute disaster. Retief and his delegation were invited to the Zulu King Dingane ’s kraal (village) to negotiate a land treaty; however, Dingane betrayed the Voortrekkers. He had them all taken out to a hill outside the village and clubbed to death. Piet Retief was killed last so that he could watch his delegation being killed. In total, about 100 were murdered, and their bodies were left for the vultures and other scavengers.

Following this betrayal, King Dingane directed further attacks on unsuspecting Voortrekker settlements. This included the Weenen Massacre, in which 534 men, women, and children were slaughtered. This number includes KhoiKhoi and Basuto tribe members who accompanied them. Against a hostile Zulu nation, the Great Trek was doomed to fail.

The Voortrekkers decided to lead a punitive expedition, and under the guidance of Andries Pretorius, 464 men, along with 200 servants and two small cannons, prepared to engage the Zulu. After several weeks of trekking, Pretorius set up his laager along the Ncome River, purposefully avoiding geographic traps that would have led to a disaster in battle. His site offered protection on two sides by the Ncome River to the rear and a deep ditch on the left flank. The approach was treeless and offered no protection from any advancing attackers. On the morning of December 16, the Voortrekkers were greeted by the sight of six regiments of Zulu impis , numbering approximately 20,000 men.

For two hours, the Zulus attacked the laager in four waves, and each time they were repulsed with great casualties. The Voortrekkers used grapeshot in their muskets and their two cannons in order to maximize damage to the Zulus. After two hours, Pretorius ordered his men to ride out and attempt to break up the Zulu formations. The Zulus held for a while, but high casualties eventually forced them to scatter. With their army breaking, the Voortrekkers chased down and killed the fleeing Zulus for three hours. By the end of the battle, 3,000 Zulu lay dead (although historians dispute this number). By contrast, the Voortrekkers suffered only three injuries, including Andries Pretorius taking an assegai (Zulu spear) to the hand.

December 16 has been observed as a public holiday in the Boer Republics and South Africa ever since. It was known as The Day of the Covenant, The Day of the Vow, or Dingane’s Day. In 1995, after the fall of apartheid , the day was rebranded as “Day of Reconciliation.” Today the site on the west side of the Ncome River is home to the Blood River Monument and Museum Complex, while on the east side of the river stands the Ncome River Monument and Museum Complex dedicated to the Zulu people. The former has gone through many variations, with the latest version of the monument being 64 wagons cast in bronze. When it was unveiled in 1998, The then Minister of Home Affairs and Zulu tribal leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi , apologized on behalf of the Zulu people for the murder of Piet Retief and his party during the Great Trek, while he also stressed the suffering of Zulus during apartheid.

The Zulu defeat added to further divisions in the Zulu Kingdom, which was plunged into a civil war between Dingane and his brother Mpande. Mpande, supported by the Voortrekkers, won the civil war in January 1840. This led to a significant decrease in threats to the Voortrekkers. Andries Pretorius and his Voortrekkers were able to recover Piet Retief’s body, along with his retinue, and give them burials. On Retief’s body was found the original treaty offering the trekkers land, and Pretorius was able to successfully negotiate with the Zulu over the establishment of a territory for the Voortrekkers. The Republic of Natalia was established in 1839, south of the Zulu Kingdom. However, the new republic was short-lived and was annexed by the British in 1843.

Nevertheless, the Great Trek could continue, and thus the waves of Voortrekkers continued. In the 1850s, two substantial Boer republics were established: The Republic of the Transvaal and the Republic of the Orange Free State . These republics would later come into conflict with the expanding British Empire.

The Great Trek as a Cultural Symbol

In the 1940s, Afrikaner nationalists used the Great Trek as a symbol to unite the Afrikaans people and promote cultural unity among them. This move was primarily responsible for the National Party winning the 1948 election and, later on, imposing apartheid on the country.

South Africa is a highly diverse country, and while the Great Trek remains a symbol of Afrikaner culture and history, it is also seen as an important part of South African history with lessons to learn from for all South Africans.

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1849 (n.) "a stage of a journey by ox wagon;" 1850 (v.), "to travel or migrate by ox wagon," from Afrikaans trek , from Dutch trekken "to march, journey," originally "to draw, pull," from Middle Dutch trecken (cognate with Middle Low German trecken , Old High German trechan "to draw"). Especially in reference to the Groot Trek (1835 and after) of more than 10,000 Boers, who, discontented with the English colonial authorities, left Cape Colony and went north and north-east. In general use as a noun by 1941. Related: Trekked ; trekking .

Entries linking to trek

late 15c., "footprint, mark left by anything," from Old French trac "track of horses, trace" (mid-15c.), possibly from a Germanic source (compare Middle Low German treck , Dutch trek "drawing, pulling;" see trek ). Meaning "lines of rails for drawing trains" is from 1805. Meaning "branch of athletics involving a running track" is recorded from 1905. Meaning "single recorded item" is from 1904, originally in reference to phonograph records. Meaning "mark on skin from repeated drug injection" is first attested 1964.

Track record (1955) is a figurative use from racing, "performance history" of an individual car, runner, horse, etc. (1907, but the phrase was more common in sense "fastest speed recorded at a particular track"). To make tracks "move quickly" is American English colloquial first recorded 1835; to cover (one's) tracks in the figurative sense first attested 1898; to keep track of something is attested from 1883. American English wrong side of the tracks "bad part of town" is by 1901. Track lighting attested from 1970.

"one who treks," 1851, agent noun from trek (v.).

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Related links, tydskrif vir geesteswetenskappe, on-line version  issn 2224-7912 print version  issn 0041-4751, tydskr. geesteswet. vol.49 n.4 pretoria  2009.

Was die Groot Trek werklik groot? 'n Historiografiese ondersoek na die gevolge en betekenis van die Groot Trek

Was the Great Trek really great? A historiographical inquiry into the consequences and significance of the Great Trek

Pieter de Klerk

Vakgroep Geskiedenis, Noordwes-Universiteit (Vaaldriehoekkampus), E-pos: [email protected]

Sedert die laat negentiende eeu het historici die gevolge en betekenis van die Groot Trek bespreek. Daar kan verskillende hooftendense in die interpretasies onderskei word. Daar is eerstens die vroeë beskouing dat die Trek die beskawing in suidelike Afrika uitgedra het. Tweedens is daar die siening van Afrikaanse historici dat die Groot Trek die totstandkoming van die Afrikanervolk moontlik gemaak het. Derdens het lede van die liberale skool van historici die Trek beskou as 'n ontvlugting van progressiewe Britse beleidsmaatreëls in die Kaapkolonie; dit was 'n ramp vir die ontwikkeling van Suid-Afrika. Vierdens is daar die siening van die radikale skool dat die Groot Trek 'n fase was in die uitbreiding van kapitalisme en kolonialisme in Suid-Afrika. Vyfdens is daar die resente opvatting dat die Groot Trek net een van verskeie migrasies in Suid-Afrika was en nie uitgesonder kan word as van besondere betekenis nie. Sesdens beskou latere Afrikaanse geskiedskrywers die Trek as 'n gebeurtenis met uiteenlopende gevolge. Dit blyk dat historici steeds beïnvloed is deur tydsomstandighede in hul beklemtoning van bepaalde gevolge van die Trek. Sommige van hul stellings oor die langtermyngevolge van die Trek is spekulatief en kan moeilik gestubstansieer word. Gesien binne die perspektief van die huidige tydsgewrig was die Groot Trek primer deel van 'n omvattende proses van verwestering en modernisasie in suidelike Afrika. Alhoewel dit nie as dié sentrale gebeurtenis in die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika gesien kan word, soos vroeër dikwels beweer is nie, is dit tog een van 'n klein aantal sleutelgebeurtenisse in die geskiedenis van die land.

Trefwoorde: Groot Trek, Voortrekkers, Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis, historiografie, Afrikanernasionalisme, Afrikanasionalisme, liberale historici, radikale historici, kolonisasie, kapitalisme, rassebeleid.

Since the late nineteenth century historians have discussed the consequences and significance of the Great Trek. G M Theal, who wrote an authoritative multi-volume history of South Africa, described the Trek as a unique event in the history of modern colonisation. He, together with scholars such as G E Cory and M Nathan, saw the importance of the Great Trek especially in terms of the expansion of Western civilisation and Christianity into the eastern parts of South Africa. During the period between approximately 1900 and 1980 many Afrikaans- speaking historians were strongly influenced by Afrikaner nationalism. They linked the Great Trek to the birth of the Afrikaner nation. Some historians, such as G S Preller and C Beyers, saw the Voortrekkers as people who were already conscious of their identity as a nation and wanted to become free of British dominance. Later historians, such as G D Scholtz, C F J Muller and F A van Jaarsveld, believed that Afrikaner nationalism only developed after the Great Trek, but that the Trek prevented the anglicization of the Boers in the Cape Colony and therefore made possible the development of an Afrikaner nation. W M Macmillan, E A Walker and C W de Kiewiet, three prominent members of the liberal school of historians, also regarded the Great Trek as a very important event in the development of South Africa, but thought that it had mainly negative consequences. In their opinion, the Voortrekkers had escaped from the economic and political changes in the Cape Colony with the aim of preserving an antiquated way of life. In the Boer republics, and later in the Union of South Africa, the racial policies of the Dutch colonial period were continued, instead of the liberal racial policies practised in the Cape Colony under British rule. Some contemporary historians still accept major elements of the early liberal interpretations. Authors with a Marxist viewpoint, such as D Taylor and W M Tsotsi, also regarded the Voortrekkers as representatives of a pre-capitalist economic system, but at the same time saw them as the vanguard of the imperialist advance in Africa; the Voortrekkers were conquerers and the oppressors of the indigenous population. P Delius, T Keegan and others, however, viewed the Voortrekkers as being part of the expanding capitalist system in Southern Africa. Since the 1960s a number of historians argued that the Great Trek should not be seen as a central event in the development of South Africa. A R Willcox and N Parsons emphasized the similarities between the Great Trek and the Mfecane. N Etherington, who is critical of traditional views of the Mfecane as a dispersal of peoples in Southern Africa caused by the rise of the Zulu kingdom under Shaka, viewed the Great Trek as one of a number of "treks" by various groups during the period 1815-1854. According to him the Great Trek was not larger or more significant than the other migrations and therefore does not deserve to be called "great". During the last four decades several Afrikaans historians pointed out that the Great Trek had a number of diverse consequences. From the perspective of the history of the Afrikaners there were various negative consequences. As a result of the Trek, the Afrikaners remained politically divided for many years. Furthermore, the Trek resulted in the cultural and economic isolation of the Boers. The Great Trek increased the conflicts between the Boers and indigenous tribes, but, on the other hand, stimulated trade between black and white groups. It would appear that in their various interpretations of the consequences of the Great Trek historians were influenced by the circumstances of their own time. Consequences which during a certain period seemed very important are now no longer regarded as particularly significant. De Kiewiet, for instance, pointed out in 1941 that the Great Trek connected the future development of the whole of South Africa with the Afrikaners, but today the Afrikaners are no longer the politically dominant group. Interpretations of the signifance of the Great Trek have also been strongly influenced by philosophical and ideological views. Afrikaner nationalists, African nationalists, Marxists and liberal historians have emphasized different consequences. While the view of the liberal school that the Great Trek caused the continuation of non-liberal racial policies had been influential for a long time, it was challenged by later scholars who regarded racism and apartheid as products of capitalism and colonialism. Some statements on the long term consequences of the Great Trek are speculative and cannot be proved or disproved. Among these are the proposition of several Afrikaner historians that the descendants of the Voortrekkers would have been completely anglicized if they had remained in the Cape Colony; and the statement by De Kiewiet that the Great Trek had prevented the development of separate white and black states in Southern Africa. The Great Trek was an important phase in the Western colonisation of South Africa. Early historians such as Theal saw the colonisation process as a positive development. For African nationalist writers, however, colonisation meant primarily the oppression of the indigenous peoples. Political decolonisation did not bring an end to the process of westernisation and modernisation in Africa, and the dominant political and economic system in South Africa today is mainly of Western origin. The Great Trek was a key event in the history of South Africa, comparable with events such as the British conquest of the Cape Colony in 1806 and the transfer of political power to the black majority in 1994.

Key concepts: Great Trek, Voortrekkers, South African history, historiography, Afrikaner nationalism, African nationalism, liberal historians, radical historians, colonisation, capitalism, racial policy

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Macmillan, W.M. 1963. Bantu, Boer and Briton; the making of the South African native problem. Oxford: Clarendon. (Revised edition; first edition 1928).         [  Links  ]

Magubane, B.M. 1979. The political economy of race and class in South Africa. New York: Monthly Review Press.         [  Links  ]

Majeke (pseudonym of D.Taylor). 1952. The rôle of the missionaries in conquest. Johannesburg: Society of Young Africa.         [  Links  ]

Malan, J.H. 1913. Boer en barbaar of die lotgevalle van die Voortrekkers, viral tussen die jare 1835 en 1840. Potchefstroom: Unie Lees- en Studiebibliotheek.         [  Links  ]

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Muller, C.F.J. 1963. Die Groot Trek. In F.A. van Jaarsveld et al. Die hervertolking van ons geskiedenis. Pretoria: Universiteit van Suid-Afrika.         [  Links  ]

Muller, C.F.J. 1974. Die oorsprong van die Groot Trek. Kaapstad: Tafelberg.         [  Links  ]

Muller, C.F.J. 1980. Die Groot Trek-tydperk, 1834-1854. In C.F.J. Muller (red.). Vyfhonderd jaar Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis. Pretoria: Academica. (Derde uitgawe).         [  Links  ]

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1  Vergelyk Etherington (2008:323-324, 332). 2  Vergelyk Saunders (1988:9); Smith (1988:31). 3  Vergelyk Theal (1887:357); Van Jaarsveld (1963:52). 4  Vergelyk Muller (1963:54-55); Van Jaarsveld (1974:55); Smith (1988:47-48). 5  Vergelyk Muller (1963:53-54); Thompson (1985:180); Van Jaarsveld (1992: 28). 6 Majeke, Introduction, ongenommerd; vgl. Van Jaarsveld (1974:101); Muller (1974:37); Saunders (1988:137). 7 Vergelyk Van Jaarsveld (1984:58-65); Saunders (1988:154-161); Smith (1988:139-144). 8 Vergelyk die kritiek van Saunders (2002:300-307). 9 Vergelyk ook Muller (1974:20-21; Visagie (2005:2).

Pieter de Klerk is professor in Geskiedenis aan die Vaaldriehoekkampus van die Noordwes-Universiteit. Hy het aan die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir CHO (tans bekend as die Noordwes-Universiteit) en aan die Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam gestudeer, voordat hy in 1971 die graad D.Litt. in Geskiedenis aan eersgenoemde inrigting verwerf het. Hy is in 1968 as junior lektor in Geskiedenis op die Potchefstroomkampus van die PU vir CHO aangestel en is sedert 1983 aan die Vaaldriehoekkampus verbonde. Hy is die outeur van 'n aantal boeke en artikels op, hoofsaaklik, die volgende terreine: die teorie en filosofie van geskiedenis, historiografie en vergelykende geskiedenis. Hy het verskeie voordragte op internasionale en binnelandse vakkonferensies gelewer en was redaksielid van enkele akademiese tydskrifte.

Pieter de Klerk is professor of History at the Vaal Triangle Campus of North-West University. He studied at the Potchefstroom University for CHE (presently called Northwest-University) and at the Free University of Amsterdam, before he obtained the degree D.Litt. in History in 1971 at Potchefstroom University. In 1968 he was appointed as junior lecturer in History at the Potchefstroom Campus of the PU for CHE, and since 1983 he has been a staff-member at the Vaal Triangle Campus. He is the author of a number of books and articles focusing largely on the following fields of expertise: the theory and philosophy of history, historiography and comparative history. He has presented several papers at international and national academic conferences and has served on the editorial boards of a number of scholarly journals.

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Great Trek 1835-1846

The Great Trek was a movement of Dutch-speaking colonists up into the interior of southern Africa in search of land where they could establish their own homeland, independent of British rule. The determination and courage of these pioneers has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner Nationalism. However, far from being the peaceful and God-fearing process which many would like to believe it was, the Great Trek caused a tremendous upheaval in the interior for at least half a century.

The Voortrekkers

The Great Trek was a landmark in an era of expansionism and bloodshed, of land seizure and labour coercion. Taking the form of a mass migration into the interior of southern Africa, this was a search by dissatisfied Dutch-speaking colonists for a promised land where they would be 'free and independent people' in a 'free and independent state'.

The men, women and children who set out from the eastern frontier towns of Grahamstown, Uitenhage and Graaff-Reinet represented only a fraction of the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the colony, and yet their determination and courage has become the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner nationalism. However, far from being the peaceful and God-fearing process which many would like to believe it was, the Great Trek caused a tremendous social upheaval in the interior of southern Africa, rupturing the lives of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people. But this time the reports that reached the chiefs of the Sotho clans on the northern bank were more alarming: the white men were coming in their hundreds.

Threatened by the 'liberalism' of the new colonial administration, insecure about conflict on the eastern frontier and 'squeezed out' by their own burgeoning population, the Voortrekkers hoped to restore economic, cultural and political unity independent of British power. The only way they saw open to them was to leave the colony. In the decade following 1835, thousands migrated into the interior, organised in a number of trek parties under various leaders. Many of the Voortrekkers were trekboers (semi-nomadic pastoral farmers) and their mode of life made it relatively easy for them to pack their worldly possessions in ox-wagons and leave the colony forever.

After crossing the Orange River the trekkers were still not totally out of reach of the Cape judiciary - in terms of the Cape of Good Hope Punishment Act (1836), they were liable for all crimes committed south of 25 deg latitude (which falls just below the present-day Warmbaths in northern Transvaal).

The trekkers had a strong Calvinist faith. But when the time came for them to leave they found that no Dutch Reformed Church minister from the Cape was prepared to accompany the expedition, for the church synod opposed the emigration, saying it would lead to 'godlessness and a decline of civilisation'. So the trekkers were forced to rely on the ministrations of the American Daniel Lindley, the Wesleyan missionary James Archbell, and a non-ordained minister, Erasmus Smit.

The trekkers, dressed in traditional dopper coats (short coats buttoned from top to bottom), kappies (bonnets) and hand-made riempieskoene (leather thong shoes), set out in wagons which they called kakebeenwoens (literally, jawbone wagons, because the shape and sides of a typical trek wagon resembled the jawbone of an animal).

These wagons could carry a startling weight of household goods, clothes, bedding, furniture, agricultural implements, fruit trees and weapons. They were ingeniously designed and surprisingly light, so as not to strain the oxen, and to make it easier to negotiate the veld, narrow ravines and steep precipices which lay ahead. Travelling down the 3500 metre slope of the Drakensberg, no brake shoe or changing of wheels could have saved a wagon from hurtling down the mountain were it not for a simple and creative solution: the hindwheels of wagons were removed and heavy branches were tied securely underneath. So the axles were protected, and a new form of brake was invented.

The interior represented for the trekkers a foreboding enigma. The barren Kalahari Desert to the west of the highveld, and the tsetse fly belt which stretched from the Limpopo River south-eastwards, could not have been a very inviting prospect. Little did they realise that neither man nor animal would escape the fatal malarial mosquito. Yet the Voortrekkers ploughed on through treacherous terrain, eliminating all obstacles in their path, and intent on gaining access to ports beyond the sphere of British control, such as Delagoa Bay, Inhambane and Sofala. In order for their new settlement to be viable, it was crucial that they make independent links with the economies of Europe.

Trek and the 'empty lands'

The Empty Land Myth The Empty or Vacant Land Theory is a theory was propagated by European settlers in nineteenth century South Africa to support their claims to land. Today this theory is described as a myth, the Empty Land Myth, because there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support this theory. Despite evidence to the contrary a number of parties in South Africa, particularly right-wing nationalists of European descent, maintain that the theory still holds true in order to support their claims to land-ownership in the country.  Read article

Reconnaissance expeditions in 1834 and 1835 reported that Natal south of the Thukela and the central highveld on either side of the Vaal River, were fertile and largely uninhabited, much of the interior having been unsettled by the ravages of the Mfecane (or Difaqane as it is called in Sotho). The truth of these reports - many of them from missionaries - has long been a source of argument among historians, and recent research indicates that the so-called 'depopulation theory' is unreliable - the devastation and carnage by African warriors is exaggerated with every account, the number of Mfecane casualties ranging between half a million and 5-million.

This kind of historical inaccuracy strengthens the trekkers' claim that the land which they occupied was 'uninhabited and belonged to no-one', that the survivors of the Mfecane were conveniently spread out in a horseshoe shape around empty land. Probably in an attempt to justify their land seizure, the trekkers also claimed to have actually saved the smaller clans in the interior from annihilation, and defeated the 'barbarous' Ndebele and Zulu warriors.

Africans did indeed move temporarily into other areas, but were soon to reoccupy their land, only to find themselves ousted by Boer intruders. For example, in Natal the African population, estimated at 11000 in 1838, was increased by 'several thousand refugees' after Dingane's defeat at the hands of his half-brother Mpande two years later. In 1843, when the Republic of Natalia was annexed by the British, the official African population was put at 'between 80 000 and 10 0000 people'. But even this may have been an underestimation.

Trekker communities and technology

Military prowess was of paramount importance to the trekker expedition. It had to be, for they were invading and conquering lands to which African societies themselves lay claim. Bound by a common purpose, the trekkers were a people's army in the true sense of the word, with the whole family being drawn into military defence and attack. For instance, the loading of the sanna (the name they gave to the muzzle-loading rifles they used) was a complicated procedure and so the Boers used more than one gun at a time - while aiming and firing at the enemy with one, their wives and children would be loading another.

Armed with rifles on their backs and a kruithoring (powder horn) and bandolier (a bullet container made of hartebeest, kudu or ox-hide) strapped to their belts, formidable groups of trekkers would ride into battle. Bullets were often sawn nearly through to make them split and fly in different directions, and buckshot was prepared by casting lead into reeds and then chopping it up. Part of every man's gear was his knife, with a blade about 20 centimetres in length. When approaching the battlefield, the wagons would be drawn into a circle and the openings between the wheels filled with branches to fire through and hide behind. When they eventually settled down, the structure of many of the houses they built - square, with thick walls and tiny windows - resembled small fortresses.

The distinction between hunting and raiding parties was often blurred in trekker society. Killing and looting were their business, land and labour their spoils. When the trekkers arrived in the Transvaal they experienced an acute labour shortage. They did not work their own fields themselves and instead used Pedi who sold their labour mainly to buy arms and ammunition.

During commando onslaughts, particularly in the eastern Transvaal, thousands of young children were captured to become inboekselings ('indentured people'). These children were indentured to their masters until adulthood (the age of 21 in the case of women and 25 in the case of men), but many remained bound to their masters for much longer. This system was akin to child slavery, and a more vicious application of the apprenticeship laws promulgated at the Cape in 1775 and 1812.

Child slavery was even more prevalent in the northern Soutpansberg area of the Transvaal. It has been suggested that when these northern Boers could no longer secure white ivory for trade at Delagoa Bay, 'black ivory' (a euphemism widely used for African children) began to replace it as a lucrative item of trade. Children were more amenable to new ways of life, and it was hoped that the inboekselings would assimilate Boer cultural patterns and create a 'buffer class' against increasing African resistance.

Dispossession and land seizure

The trekkers' first major confrontation was with Mzilikazi, founder and king of the Ndebele. After leaving the Cape, the trekkers made their first base near Thaba Nchu, the great place of Moroka, the Rolong chief. In 1836 the Ndebele were in the path of a trekker expedition heading northwards and led by Andries Hendrik Potgieter. The Ndebele were attacked by a Boer commando led by Potgieter, but Mzilikazi retaliated and the Boers retreated to their main laager at Vegkop. There in October, in a short and fierce battle which lasted half an hour, 40 trekkers succeeded in beating off an attack by 6000 Ndebele warriors. Both sides suffered heavy losses - 430 Ndebele were killed, and the trekkers lost thousands of sheep and cattle as well as their trek oxen. But a few days later, Moroka and the missionary Archbell rescued them with food and oxen.

Gert Maritz and his party joined these trekkers in Transorangia (later the Orange Free State) and in January 1837, with the help of a small force of Griqua, Kora, Rolong and Tlokwa, they captured Mzilikazi 's stronghold at Mosega and drove the Ndebele further north. The trekkers then concluded treaties of friendship with Moroka and Sekonyela (chief of the Tlokwa).

When Piet Retief and his followers split away and moved eastwards to Natal, both Potgieter and Piet Uys remained determined to break the Ndebele. At the end of 1837, 135 trekkers besieged Mzilikazi 's forces in the Marico valley, and Mzilikazi fled across the Limpopo River to present-day Zimbabwe. He died there, to be succeeded by Lobengula, who led a rather precarious life in the area until he was eventually defeated by the forces of the British South Africa Company in the 1890s.

Meanwhile, Retief and his followers continued marching towards Port Natal (later Durban). After Retief's fateful encounter with Dingane, chief of the Zulu, and the ensuing Battle of Blood River, the trekkers declared the short-lived Republic of Natalia (1838). They formed a simple system of goveming, with Pretorius as President, assisted by a volksraad (people's assembly) of 24 members, and local government officials based on the traditional landdrost and heemraden system. In 1841, an adjunct council was established at Potchefstroom, with Potgieter as Chief-Commandant. The trekkers believed that at last they had found a place in the sun....

But the British would not recognise their independence. In December 1838, the Governor, Sir George Napier, a determined military man who had not allowed the loss of his right arm in battle to ruin his career, sent his military secretary, Major Samuel Charters, to occupy Port Natal, which effectively controlled Voortrekker use of the harbour. Three years later, when the Natal Volksraad resolved to drive all Africans not working for the whites southwards beyond the Mtamvuna River (later the border between Natal and the Transkei), Napier again intervened. He was concerned that this would threaten the eastern frontier of the Cape, and so instructed Captain Thomas Charlton Smith to march to Port Natal with 250 men. Smith, who had joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine and was a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo, tried to negotiate with Pretorius, but to no avail.

On the moonlit night of 23 May 1842, Smith attacked the Boer camp at Congella but Pretorius, who had been alerted, fought back. The trekkers proceeded to besiege the British camp. One of their number, Dick King. who became known as the 'saviour of Natal', evaded the siege and rode some 1000 kilometres on horseback to seek reinforcements in Grahamstown. In June a British relief force under Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham Cloete arrived on the scene and Boer resistance was crushed. On 15 July the volksraad at Pietermaritzburg signed the conditions of submission.

Although most trekkers had travelled into Natal or into the far north with the main expeditions, some had remained on the fertile land above the junction of the Caledon and Orange rivers, and gradually began to move north-eastward.

The trekkers' pioneer in this area was Jan de Winnaar, who settled in the Matlakeng area in May-June 1838. As more farmers were moving into the area they tried to colonise the land between the two rivers, even north of the Caledon, claiming that it had been abandoned by the Sotho people. But although some of the independent communities who had lived there had been scattered, others remained in the kloofs and on the hillsides. Moshoeshoe, paramount chief of the Sotho, when hearing of the trekker settlement above the junction, stated that '... the ground on which they were belonged to me, but I had no objections to their flocks grazing there until such time as they were able to proceed further; on condition, however, that they remained in peace with my people and recognised my authority'.

The trekkers proceeded to build huts of clay (instead of reed), and began planting their own food crops (no longer trading with the Sotho). This indicated their resolve to settle down permanently. A French missionary, Eugene Casalis, later remarked that the trekkers had humbly asked for temporary rights while they were still few in number, but that when they felt 'strong enough to throw off the mask' they went back on their initial intention.

In October 1842 Jan Mocke, a fiery republican, and his followers erected a beacon at Alleman's drift on the banks of the Orange River and proclaimed a republic. Officials were appointed to preside over the whole area between the Caledon and Vaal rivers. Riding back from the drift, they informed Chief Lephoi, an independent chief at Bethulie, that the land was now Boer property and that he and his people were subject to Boer laws. They further decided that the crops which had been sown for the season would be reaped by the Boers, and they even uprooted one of the peach trees in the garden of a mission station as indication of their ownership. In the north-east, they began to drive Moshoeshoe's people away from the springs, their only source of water. Moshoeshoe appealed for protection to the Queen of England, but he soon discovered that he would have to organise his own resistance.

Land seizure and dispossession were also prevalent in the eastern Transvaal where Potgieter had founded the towns of Andries-Ohrigstad in 1845 and Soutpansberg (which was later renamed Schoemansdal) in 1848. A power struggle erupted between Potgieter and Pretorius, who had arrived with a new trekker party from Natal and seemed to have a better understanding of the political dynamics of southern Africa. Potgieter, still anxious to legitimise his settlement, concluded a vredenstraktaat (peace treaty) in 1845 with Sekwati, chief of the Pedi, who he claimed had ceded all rights to an undefined stretch of land. The precise terms of the treaty are unknown, but it seems certain that Sekwati never actually sold land to the Boers.

Often in order to ensure their own safety, chiefs would sign arbitrary treaties giving away sections of land to which they in fact had no right. Such was the case with Mswati, chief of the Swazi, who, intent on seeking support against the Zulu, in July 1846 granted all the land bounded by the Oliphants, Crocodile and Elands rivers to the Boers. This angered the Pedi, who pointed out that the land had not even been his to hand over.

There was no uniform legal system or concept of ownership to which all parties interested in the land subscribed. Private land ownership did not exist in these African societies, and for the most part the land which chiefs ceded to the Boers was communally owned. Any document 'signed' by the chiefs, and its implications, could not have been fully understood by them. Misunderstandings worked in the favour of the Boers.

Large tracts of land were purchased for next to nothing. For example, the northern half of Transorangia went to Andries Potgieter in early 1836 for a few cattle and a promise to protect the Taung chief, Makwana, from the Ndebele. The area between the Vet and Vaal rivers extended about 60 000 square kilometres. This means that Potgieter got 2000 square kilometres per head of livestock! Also the 'right of conquest' was extended over areas much larger than those that chiefs actually had authority over. After Mzilikazi 's flight north in November 1837, the trekkers immediately took over all the land between the Vet and Limpopo rivers - although Mzilikazi's area of control covered only the western Transvaal.

But it was only after the Sand River Convention (1852) and the Bloemfontein Convention (1854) that independent Boer republics were formally established north of the Vaal and Orange rivers respectively.

Reader’s Digest. (1988). Illustrated History of South Africa: the real story, New York: Reader’s Digest Association. p. 114-120.

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Definition of trek noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• They reached the refugee camp after an arduous two-day trek across the mountains.
• on a/​the trek

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a toy in the shape of a small person that ventriloquists operate, so that it seems to be alive

Paying attention and listening intently: talking about concentration

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• 1.1 Alternative forms
• 1.2 Etymology
• 1.3 Pronunciation
• 1.5.1 Related terms
• 1.5.2 Translations
• 1.6 Anagrams
• 2.1 Pronunciation
• 2.2.1.1 Descendants
• 2.3.1.1 Derived terms
• 3.1 Pronunciation
• 3.2.1.1 Derived terms
• 3.4 Anagrams
• 5.1 Pronunciation
• 5.2.1 References

English [ edit ]

Alternative forms [ edit ].

• treck ( archaic )

Etymology [ edit ]

From Afrikaans trek , from Dutch trekken , from Middle Dutch trekken ( weak verb ) and trēken ( “ to trek, place, bring, move ” , strong verb ) , from Old Dutch *trekkan , *trekan , from Proto-West Germanic *trekan , from Proto-Germanic *trekaną , *trakjaną ( “ to drag, haul, scrape, pull ” ) , from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- ( “ to drag, scrape ” ) .

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• enPR : trĕk , IPA ( key ) : /tɹɛk/
• Rhymes: -ɛk

Noun [ edit ]

trek ( plural treks )

• ( South Africa ) A journey by ox wagon.
• ( South Africa ) The Boer migration of 1835-1837.
• 1943 November and December, G. T. Porter, “The Lines Behind the Lines in Burma”, in Railway Magazine , page 327 : Early the next morning I set off on the long and hazardous trek through jungles and hills into Assam, and regretfully said "good-bye" to the gallant little Burma Railways, which had functioned to the last and played a big part in evacuating many thousands of refugees and wounded soldiers in the path of the rapidly advancing Japanese.
• A long walk. Synonym: slog I would drive to the shops from here; you can walk, but it's quite a trek .

Verb [ edit ]

trek ( third-person singular simple present treks , present participle trekking , simple past and past participle trekked )

• 1892 , Robert Louis Stevenson , The Beach of Falesá : Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job.
• ( intransitive ) To journey on foot , especially to hike through mountainous areas .
• ( South Africa ) To travel by ox wagon .
• ( Nigeria ) To travel by walking .

Related terms [ edit ]

Translations [ edit ], anagrams [ edit ], afrikaans [ edit ].

• IPA ( key ) : /træk/

Etymology 1 [ edit ]

From Dutch trekken .

trek ( present trek , present participle trekkende , past participle getrek )

• to move (moving house)

Descendants [ edit ]

Etymology 2 [ edit ].

From Dutch trek .

trek ( plural trekke )

Derived terms [ edit ]

Dutch [ edit ].

• IPA ( key ) : /trɛk/
• Hyphenation: trek

From Middle Dutch trec , from trecken .

trek   m ( plural trekken , diminutive trekje   n )

• ( uncountable ) appetite Ik heb trek in een reep chocola — I could (now) have a chocolate bar Ik heb geen trek in deze klus — I have no mind to carry out this task
• ( countable ) journey , migration
• ( uncountable ) animal migration
• ( uncountable ) draught , air current through a chimney.
• ( countable ) feature , trait

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• first-person singular present indicative

French [ edit ]

trek   m ( plural treks )

Ternate [ edit ]

• IPA ( key ) : [ˈtɾek]

References [ edit ]

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia , University of Pittsburgh, page 30

• English terms borrowed from Afrikaans
• English terms derived from Afrikaans
• English terms derived from Dutch
• English terms derived from Middle Dutch
• English terms derived from Old Dutch
• English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
• English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
• English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• English 1-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• Rhymes:English/ɛk
• Rhymes:English/ɛk/1 syllable
• English terms with audio links
• Requests for audio pronunciation from South Africa in English entries
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• South African English
• English terms with usage examples
• English terms with quotations
• English verbs
• English intransitive verbs
• Nigerian English
• Afrikaans terms with IPA pronunciation
• Afrikaans terms inherited from Dutch
• Afrikaans terms derived from Dutch
• Afrikaans lemmas
• Afrikaans verbs
• Afrikaans nouns
• Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
• Dutch terms with audio links
• Rhymes:Dutch/ɛk
• Rhymes:Dutch/ɛk/1 syllable
• Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
• Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
• Dutch lemmas
• Dutch nouns
• Dutch nouns with plural in -en
• Dutch masculine nouns
• Dutch uncountable nouns
• Dutch countable nouns
• Dutch non-lemma forms
• Dutch verb forms
• French lemmas
• French nouns
• French countable nouns
• French terms spelled with K
• French masculine nouns
• Ternate terms with IPA pronunciation
• Ternate lemmas
• Ternate nouns
• Middle Dutch links with redundant target parameters
• Requests for audio pronunciation in English entries
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• Requests for translations into Mandarin

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Oregon Trail

By: History.com Editors

Updated: August 10, 2022 | Original: December 6, 2017

The Oregon Trail was a roughly 2,000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, that was used by hundreds of thousands of American pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west. The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon. Without the Oregon Trail and the passing of the Oregon Donation Land Act in 1850, which encouraged settlement in the Oregon Territory, American pioneers would have been slower to settle the American West in the 19th century.

Missionaries Blaze the Oregon Trail

By the 1840s, the Manifest Destiny had Americans in the East eager to expand their horizons. While Lewis and Clark had made their way west from 1804 to 1806, merchants, traders and trappers were also among the first people to forge a path across the Continental Divide.

But it was missionaries who really blazed the Oregon Trail. Merchant Nathaniel Wyeth in 1834 led the first religious group, in addition to traders and naturalists, west to present-day Idaho , where they built an outpost.

Marcus Whitman

Determined to spread Christianity to American Indians on the frontier, doctor and Protestant missionary Marcus Whitman set out on horseback from the Northeast in 1835 to prove that the westward trail to Oregon could be traversed safely and further than ever before.

Whitman’s first attempt took him as far the Green River Rendezvous, a meeting place for fur trappers and traders in the Rocky Mountains near present-day Daniel, Wyoming . Upon returning home, Whitman married and set out again, this time with his young wife Narcissa and another Protestant missionary couple.

The party made it to the Green River Rendezvous, then faced a grueling journey along Native American trails across the Rockies using Hudson Bay Company trappers as guides. They finally reached Fort Vancouver, Washington , and built missionary posts nearby—Whitman’s post was at Waiilatpu amid the Cayuse Indians.

Whitman’s small party had proved both men and women could travel west, although not easily. Narcissa’s accounts of the journey were published in the East and slowly more missionaries and settlers followed their path which became known as the Whitman Mission Route.

In 1842, the Whitman mission was closed by the American Missionary Board, and Whitman went back to the East on horseback where he lobbied for continued funding of his mission work. In the meantime, missionary Elijah White led over 100 pioneers across the Oregon Trail.

Great Emigration of 1843

When Whitman headed west yet again, he met up with a huge wagon train destined for Oregon. The group included 120 wagons, about 1,000 people and thousands of livestock. Their trek began on May 22 and lasted five months.

It effectively opened the floodgates of pioneer migration along the Oregon Trail and became known as the Great Emigration of 1843 .

Upon Whitman’s return to his mission, his main goal shifted from converting American Indians to assisting white settlers. As more settlers arrived, the Cayuse resisted their encroachment.

After a measles epidemic broke out in 1847, the Cayuse population was decimated, despite Whitman using his medical knowledge to help them.

In the ongoing conflict, Whitman, his wife and some of the mission staff were killed; many more were taken hostage for over a month. The incident sparked a seven-year war between the Cayuse and the federal government.

Life on the Oregon Trail

Planning a five- to six-month trip across rugged terrain was no easy task and could take up to a year. Emigrants had to sell their homes, businesses and any possessions they couldn’t take with them. They also had to purchase hundreds of pounds of supplies including flour, sugar, bacon, coffee, salt, rifles and ammunition.

By far, the most important item for successful life on the trail was the covered wagon. It had to be sturdy enough to withstand the elements yet small and light enough for a team of oxen or mules to pull day after day.

Most wagons were about six feet wide and twelve feet long. They were usually made of seasoned hardwood and covered with a large, oiled canvas stretched over wood frames. In addition to food supplies, the wagons were laden with water barrels, tar buckets and extra wheels and axles.

Contrary to popular belief, most of the wagons that journeyed the Oregon Trail were prairie schooners and not larger, heavier Conestoga wagons .

Oregon Trail Route

It was critical for travelers to leave in April or May if they hoped to reach Oregon before the winter snows began. Leaving in late spring also ensured there’d be ample grass along the way to feed livestock.

As the Oregon Trail gained popularity, it wasn’t unusual for thousands of pioneers to be on the path at the same time, especially during the California Gold Rush . Depending on the terrain, wagons traveled side by side or single file.

There were slightly different paths for reaching Oregon but, for the most part, settlers crossed the Great Plains until they reached their first trading post at Fort Kearny, Nebraska , averaging between ten and fifteen miles per day.

From Fort Kearney, they followed the Platte River over 600 miles to Fort Laramie, Wyoming , and then ascended the Rocky Mountains where they faced hot days and cold nights. Summer thunderstorms were common and made traveling slow and treacherous.

Independence Rock

The settlers gave a sigh of relief if they reached Independence Rock —a huge granite rock in Wyoming that marked the halfway point of their journey—by July 4 because it meant they were on schedule. So many people added their name to the rock it became known as the “Great Register of the Desert.”

After leaving Independence Rock, settlers climbed the Rocky Mountains to the South Pass. Then they crossed the desert to Fort Hall , the second trading post.

From there they navigated Snake River Canyon and a steep, dangerous climb over the Blue Mountains before moving along the Columbia River to the settlement of The Dalles and finally to Oregon City. Some people continued south into California , especially after the Gold Rush started in 1849.

Dangers on the Oregon Trail

Many settlers looked at the Oregon Trail with an idealistic eye, but it was anything but romantic. According to the Oregon California Trails Association , almost one in ten who embarked on the trail didn’t survive.

Most people died of diseases such as dysentery, cholera , smallpox or flu , or in accidents caused by inexperience, exhaustion and carelessness. It was not uncommon for people to be crushed beneath wagon wheels or accidentally shot to death, and many people drowned during perilous river crossings.

Travelers often left warning messages to those journeying behind them if there was an outbreak of disease, bad water or hostile Native American tribes nearby. As more and more settlers headed west, the Oregon Trail became a well-beaten path and an abandoned junkyard of surrendered possessions. It also became a graveyard for tens of thousands of pioneer men, women, children and countless livestock.

Over time, conditions along the Oregon Trail improved. Bridges and ferries were built to make water crossings safer. Settlements and additional supply posts appeared along the way which gave weary travelers a place to rest and regroup.

Trail guides wrote guidebooks, so settlers no longer had to bring an escort with them on their journey. Unfortunately, however, not all the books were accurate and left some settlers lost and in danger of running out of provisions.

The End of the Oregon Trail

With the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in Utah in 1869, westward wagon trains decreased significantly as settlers chose the faster and more reliable mode of transportation.

Still, as towns were established along the Oregon Trail, the route continued to serve thousands of emigrants with “gold fever” on their way to California. It was also a main thoroughfare for massive cattle drives between 1866 and 1888.

By 1890, the railroads had all but eliminated the need to journey thousands of miles in a covered wagon. Settlers from the east were more than happy to hop on a train and arrive in the West in one week instead of six months.

Although modern progress ended the need for the Oregon Trail, its historical significance could not be ignored. The National Park Service created the Oregon National Historic Trail in 1981 and continues to educate the public on its importance.

READ MORE:  Manifest Destiny

Life and Death on the Oregon Trail: Provisions for Births and Lethal Circumstances. Oregon California Trails Association. Marcus Whitman (1802-1847) Narcissa Whitman (1808-1847). PBS New Perspectives on the West. Oregon Donation Land Act. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Oregon or Bust. Arizona Geographic Alliance. Oregon Trail. The Oregon Encyclopedia. Trail Basics: The Starting Point. National Oregon California Trail Center. Trail Basics: The Wagon. National Oregon California Trail Center. Where did the Oregon Trail Go? Reaching Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Oregon California Trails Association. Washington: Whitman Mission National Historic Site. National Park Service.

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Screen Rant

Every soong character brent spiner plays in star trek.

Besides playing Data and all of his siblings in Star Trek, Brent Spiner portrayed the android's creator as well as various other Soongs in history.

• Brent Spiner's diverse acting career within the Star Trek universe allowed him to play every Soong character, showcasing his range.
• Dr. Noonien Soong, Data's creator, focused on creating androids, while Dr. Arik Soong's experiments led to genetic disasters.
• Dr. Adam Soong, a villainous figure, sought personal acclaim over the well-being of his cloned daughters and was willing to murder to achieve it.

Most remembered for his turn as Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation , Brent Spiner also went on to play every single Soong character that has been introduced in the Star Trek universe. Starting with Data's creator, Dr. Noonien Soong on TNG , the celebrated character actor has been tapped to play different Soongs throughout Trek 's extended timeline. Each new Soong gave Spiner a chance to show off his acting range , and they also fleshed out the dynasty of Data's mysterious cyberneticist father. The complicated Soong lineage stretches back to the 21st century as seen in Star Trek: Picard .

Since Data was created in the image of his father, Dr. Noonien Soong, it only made sense to have the chameleon-like actor take a turn as the scientist in one of Data's best episodes , TNG season 4, episode 3, "Brothers." The trend continued when Data's ancestor, Dr. Arik Soong, was introduced in that Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 with Spiner returning for the prequel series. Star Trek: Picard not only allowed Spiner to reprise his role as Data, but it introduced Adam and Altan Inigo Soong , both of whom were from different time periods and offered conflicting views of the Soong family legacy.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

6 dr. adam soong, star trek: picard.

Dr. Adam Soong was the earliest known Soong, and his encounters with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in 2024 Los Angeles were the subject of Star Trek: Picard season 2 . Dr. Soong was an eccentric and dangerous billionaire whose scientific obsession led him to the fields of human genetic engineering and augmentation. Adam created a series of cloned "daughters" through the process, though they all suffered from a deadly genetic defect. In the end, Soong's only surviving daughter, Kore Soong (Isa Briones), discovered the truth about her so-called father and destroyed all of his research.

In Star Trek: Picard season 2's dark alternate reality, Adam Soong was considered a hero by the Confederation of Planets.

The villainous Adam Soong made Data's backstory more interesting , as there were parallels between the struggles of each generation of Soong to perfect their designs. Although Adam was determined to find a cure for Kore's genetic defect, he was driven not by love for his cloned daughter, but rather by a desire to make a name for himself. Soong was so obsessed with his own legacy that he was willing to murder Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell) to prevent her from making a discovery on the Europa Mission that would render Soong's research obsolete. Far from the mad genius of his successors, Dr. Adam Soong's murderous ways were just mad.

5 Dr. Arik Soong

Star trek: enterprise.

In the 22nd century, Dr. Arik Soong came across Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and the NX-01 Enterprise crew in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, and Arik had taken up the twisted mantel of his ancestor, Adam Soong. Star Trek: Picard season 2 revealed that Dr. Adam Soong possessed a file entitled Project Khan, the genetic engineering protocol that led to the creation of Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) and his reign of terror. Dr. Arik Soong took the genetic research used to create Khan even further. After stealing genetically altered embryos from Khan's Eugenics War , Dr. Arik Soong raised the enhanced children only to have them violently rebel just like Khan did in Star Trek: The Original Series .

Arik Soong's misguided efforts eventually led to a genetic disaster within the Klingon race, as they used leftover Augment DNA in an attempt to create Klingon Augments.

Dr. Arik Soong tried to convince his Augment "children" not to kill anyone, but when they disobeyed him, he helped Captain Archer stop them. After the failure of his Augments, Arik Soong was taken back to prison, where he decided to shift his focus to the study of artificial life. This marked an important shift in the Soong dynasty, as their focus on artificial intelligence would eventually lead to Data and his brothers. Later, Arik Soong's protégés used his work to create Dal R'El (Brett Gray), a Human Augment hybrid, who did not discover his true history until the end of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 .

4 Dr. Noonien Soong

Star trek: the next generation.

During the 24th century of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Dr. Noonien Soong's legacy was cemented when his creation, Lt. Commander Data, became a decorated Starfleet officer. A misunderstood genius, Noonien Soong created several androids while living on Omicron Theta, including Data, the prototype B-4, and Data's unstable precursor, Lore . While living among the colonists on Omicron Theta, Lore began to believe himself superior to humans and exhibited frightening behavior. Noonien Soong then deactivated Lore and designed better ethical subroutines for Data. Unbeknownst to Dr. Soong, Lore had communicated with the Crystalline Entity prior to his deactivation, and the Entity then attacked Omicron Theta.

Dr. Noonien Soong had none of the deadly intent of Dr. Adam Soong.

Dr. Noonien Soong was presumed dead in the attack, but he had managed to escape and continued his research elsewhere. In TNG's "Brothers," Soong activated a homing beacon in Data and revealed he had created an emotion chip for the android . Unfortunately, Lore also responded to the homing beacon and stole the chip meant for his brother, before fatally wounding his father. Dr. Soong was legitimately interested in creating artificial life and had ditched his family's previous obsession with genetic augmentation. Though his abandoning of his creations led to Frankenstein -like consequences when Lore murdered him, Dr. Noonien Soong had none of the deadly intent of Dr. Adam Soong.

3 Dr. Altan Inigo Soong

The 2385 attack on Mars was the inciting incident of Star Trek: Picard season 1, and the fallout from the attack led to the all-out ban of artificial lifeforms. Picard season 1 introduced Dr. Altan Inigo Soong, who was Dr. Noonien Soong's only biological child , and technically brother to Data, Lore, and B-4. Dr. Altan Soong's pursuits were closer to that of his father than his other ancestors, and he partnered with fellow cyberneticist Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) to illegally pursue artificial life despite the ban. Soong and Maddox went on to build a laboratory and a community of androids on the planet Coppelius.

Bruce Maddox became convinced that someone within the Federation had been behind the attack on Mars, so he created the androids Soji and Dahj Asha (Isa Briones) to uncover the truth.

Altan Soong remained on Coppelius, looking after his android "children," and working on a means to transfer a person's consciousness into a synthetic body he called a golem. Although Soong originally meant for this synthetic form for himself, he later gifted the golem body to Jean-Luc Picard after Picard died of a terminal brain disease. Soong had also created artificial animals like Spot II and synthetic butterflies, proving he had more diverse interests than the other Soongs. After the ban on synthetics was lifted, Soong redirected his efforts to create a newly upgraded version of Data , that also incorporated the memories of Lore, B-4, and Data's daughter, Lal (Hallie Todd).

Data’s Evil Relatives: Every Soong’s Biggest Crimes In Star Trek

2 the soongs abandoned eugenics in favor of androids, later in life, arik soong chose to focus on artificial life rather than genetic engineering..

The changes in Klingon appearance were the result of Dr. Arik Soong's botched genetic augmentation during Enterprise , and his spectacular failures led him to shift his focus from genetics to synthetics before the end of his life. Arik understood that research into artificial life still had a long way to go and that it would take generations before there would be tangible results. From this point on, the Soongs worked in the field of cybernetics, hoping to create artificial life that was indistinguishable from organic life.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is the latest Star Trek series to explore the time period between Arik and Noonien, and it could provide more clues about the Soongs and their obsession with artificial life.

By all appearances, Dr. Noonien Soong had stronger morals than his ancestors and genuinely cared for Data and the other androids he created. Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , Data became the Soong family's greatest accomplishment, as he saved the USS Enterprise-D on numerous occasions and achieved his own level of humanity. Tragically, Data sacrificed himself to save his friends in Star Trek: Nemesis , but this was not the end of Noonien Soong's best creation.

1 Data In Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Is Soong's Greatest Success

Picard season 3 brought closure to data and the soongs' star trek story..

After his deaths in both Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard season 1, Data was officially resurrected in Picard season 3. During their quest to uncover the Changeling/Borg plot to destroy the Federation, Admiral Picard and his crew found what remained of Data being used for security on Daystrom Station . They quickly rescued their old friend, whose consciousness had been combined with those of Lore, B-4, and Lal . Although Lore's personality briefly took over the upgraded android body, Data became the dominant personality in the end.

By the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3, Data had become as close to human as possible.

With this new human-like synthetic body, not only could Data experience physical sensations, but he could also feel organic human emotions for the first time. When piloting the rebuilt Enterprise-D, for example, Data experienced joy that even Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) could feel. Data reunited with his best friend, Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and the rest of his old crew, bringing his Star Trek story to a satisfying conclusion. By the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3 , Data had become as close to human as possible, finally achieving his life-long dream and cementing himself as the Soongs' greatest success.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Enterprise & Star Trek: Picard are streaming on Paramount+.