Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus
Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus
(prĭtôr`ēəs, Du. än`drēs vĭlhĕl`məs yäkō`bəs prātôr`ēəs), 1799–1853, Boer (Afrikaner) leader. He was elected (1838) commandant general of the Boers of Natal and in that year defeated a large force of Zulus at Blood River. This victory made possible the organization of a Boer Republic of Natal (see KwaZulu-NatalKwaZulu-Natal, province (2011 pop. 10,267,300), 36,433 sq mi (94,361 sq km), E South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. Formerly Natal province, in the post-apartheid constitution of 1994 it was renamed KwaZulu-Natal.
..... Click the link for more information. ). In 1848, Pretorius led a party of Boers across the Drakensberg Range and created there the nucleus of the South African Republic (the TransvaalTransvaal
, former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Veereeniging (now Gauteng), and part of North West prov.
..... Click the link for more information. ). The city of PretoriaPretoria
, city, Gauteng prov., administrative capital of South Africa and formerly capital of Transvaal. Pretoria is now part and seatof the City of Tshwane metropolitan municipality, and in 2005 the metropolitan council voted to rename Pretoria Tshwane, an action not yet
..... Click the link for more information. was named in his honor.
Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus
Born Nov. 27, 1798, near Graaff-Reinet, Cape Province; died July 23, 1853, in Magaliesberg. Boer politician.
Pretorius led the troops of the Boer settlers, who from 1830 to 1850 seized lands north of the Vaal River that belonged to the Bantu and other African peoples. In 1838 he commanded Boer troops in a battle with Dingaan’s Zulu army on the Inkom River. Pretorius fought for a Boer state that would be independent from the English. In January 1852, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the territory conquered by the Boers (the Transvaal), which in 1856 was proclaimed the South African Republic.