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## Expanding frontiers: From the late 1600s onwards the Cape settlers moved further north and eastwards from Cape Town. This movement was led by the trekboers who were looking for fresh grazing for their cattle. The trekboers were people who preferred the freedom of living in their ox wagons and te...

## Expanding frontiers: From the late 1600s onwards the Cape settlers moved further north and eastwards from Cape Town. This movement was led by the trekboers who were looking for fresh grazing for their cattle. The trekboers were people who preferred the freedom of living in their ox wagons and tents to living under the rules of the DEIC. The DEIC had given them large stretches of land on which to graze their cattle. They did not plant crops but moved when they wanted more land or better grazing. As their numbers increased they moved further away and so the colony became larger. By 1750 they had reached the Orange River (Gariep River) in the north and by 1770 they had reached the Fish River in the east. Most of these trekboers were poor and they lived simple, nomadic lifestyles. Travelling salesmen visited them once or twice a year and they traded cattle and sheep for things they needed such as gunpowder, guns, tea, sugar, coffee etc. They also hunted wild animals for meat and skins. ## Movement of the trekboers inland: As the trekboers moved inland, they met up with the Khoikhoi and Xhosa people. Both of these groups fought against their loss of land. Some of the trekboers owned slaves and brought them with them. They also employed some Khoikhoi people as servants and they moved together further into the interior of South Africa. As these trekboers moved and the colony grew larger the Khoikhoi and the Xhosa lost their grazing land and their hunting grounds and their whole way of life was forced to change. ### Map - Orange River - Great Karoo - Cape Town - Stellenbosch - Swellendam - Graaff-Reinet - Little Karoo