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Between 1902 and 1907 many Afrikaner families left South Africa and sailed to Argentina as self-imposed exiles. The Anglo-Boer War had just ended. Those Afrikaners who left had, like their kinsmen, lost friends and family to the war effort or to the British concentration camps and were moving because they refused to live under English rule.
The first group of exiles sailed from Table Bay aboard the old Highland Fling, travelling to Patagonia where Camillo Ricchiardi (the Italian husband of President Paul Kruger's granddaughter) had organised 2,000 hectares for them from the Argentine government. Patagonia is inhospitable territory, and as such had largely been left unpopulated, save for gauchos (cowboys) and bandits. But the Afrikaners were known to be tough and good at farming and it was hoped they would help develop the area.
When the first settlers arrived at Comodoro Rivadavia on the coast of Argentina (about 1,500 km north of Tierra del Feugo), there was nothing for them: no houses, no water supply, no jobs to be had, and no facilities other than one tiny lean-to store. They lived in tents until they could build huts. They insisted the government dig wells for them. In so doing, huge, profitable oil fields were discoverd in 1907.
Some of the 800 or so original families remained near the coast, and the men figured out how to be mechanics, horse-men and builders. Many ventured into the hinterland, which is windswept and barren, and which was still, essentially, pioneer land. Australian Merino sheep were bought from the Welsh communities to the north by those wanting to start farms. Today the area is famous for its Merino wool. The Boers gradually became prosperous: not wealthy, but self-sufficient and comfortable.
The Afrikaner community was tightly knit (as all settler communities tend to be when starting out) and kept to itself by and large. The famous travel writer, Bruce Chatwin, wrote in 1975: "They lived in fear of the Lord, celebrated Dingaan's Day, and took oaths on the Dutch Reformed Bible. They did not marry outsiders and their daughters had to go to the kitchen if a Latino entered the house."* (The Boers' isolation also meant that they did not develop the racist tendencies of South African Boers, being so far from the events and influence of apartheid South Africa.)
The Boers began their own schools so as to educate their children in Afrikaans. They built an NG Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church), sang Afrikaans songs and made their customary foods, such as biltong, milk tart and koeksisters. They would gather together once a year in February to play Boer sports, braai traditional meals and have a Saturday night sokkie (an Afrikaner dance).
But as so often happens, the distinctive nature of the settlers' culture is being eroded with time. Over the decades there has been mingling and intermarriage with other ethnicities. Children have been sent off to foreign schools. Towns have grown and become more cosmopolitan.
In its heyday the Boer community numbered in the thousands, but today that number has been reduced into the hundreds. A big dip in numbers came in 1938 when many repatriated to South Africa.
Afrikaans as a language is fading with each generation as the Boers are increasingly assimilated into Argentine culture. A Spanish cleric took over preaching at the Comodoro Rivadavia NG Kerk in 1953 and thus Afrikaans was no longer needed to understand the sermons. Today, many of the younger Boers speak Spanish as their first language and some know only a few words of Afrikaans.
Many Patagonian Boers have visited South Africa, or plan to visit, and naturally have relatives here. It is generally the first and second generation Argentine Boers who feel a strong connection with South Africa, having listened to the stories of parents or grandparents and developed a keen sense of their Afrikaner identity (something that has historically been felt very strongly by Afrikaners). Feelings of patriotism towards South Africa appear to be dying out with the older generations. Tellingly, Martin de Blackie, a first generation Boer descendant, relates:
"Ons skreeu vir die Springbokke," he says. "Ook wanneer hulle teen die Pumas speel. Die kleintjies kan dit nie verstaan nie. Hulle sê, 'Man, julle is Argentinos. Julle moet vir Argentina skreeu.'" (We shout for the Springboks. Also when they're playing against the Pumas. The little ones don't understand it. They say, "Man, you're Argentine. You must shout for Argentina."
http://meganabigail.blogspot.com/2010/02/boers-of-patagonia.html
Here is some of the surnames of people that "trek" to Argentina :
- Baumann
Behr
(J Behr)
(Francis Behr + Magaret Palmer)
Bernard
Bester
(Theuns Bester +Banie)
Bigs
(JJ Bigs)
Blackie
(John Blacky)
Blaquier
Booysen
Botha
(J Batha)
Bothma
Cave
Conradie
Contier
Cook
(William Cook + Johanna Malan)
Cotzee
Coulter
Crous
- * [ Maria Talitha Dickason ] (Wife of Wolseley Harold Crous Dickason)
Damboy/Dumboy
de Boer
de Bruyn
de Klerk
de Lange
de Wet
Delport
Dickanson
Dolten
Duvenhage
du Plessis
Edwards
Eloff
Errasmus
Filmore
(Harrington Fillmore)
- Greyling
(Piet Greyling )
(Aam of Faan Greling + (Hester Venter))
Grimbeeck/Greinbeck
(Eddy Grimbeek)
Grobelaar
Hammond
Hand
Hardy
(Martha Hand )
Harrington
Henning
Joubert
Jooste
(WJ Jooste and wife)
Kock
Kokot
Kokuelas/Kokolas
Koster
- * [ Beatrix Gertruida Duvenage ] (wife of Martinus Johannes Lodewikus Duvenhage)
Kruger
(HCE Kruger)
le Grange
(Lewies le Grange + Mirtha)
Lombard
Loubser
Louw
Lubbe
Malan
Manns
Marnevick
Myburgh
(CPH Myburgh)
Naude
Nielkema
Niemand
Niewenhuis
Noos
Norval
Oliveerd
Palmer
Pelser
Piech
(George J Peach)
Pienaar
Richards
Ricchiardi
[ Giuseppe Camillo Pietro Ricchiardi ]
Roux
(JG Roux)
Schlebushl
Schoeman
(JC Schoeman)
Small
Smint
Snyman
Spies
Stegman
(John Stegman)
Swanepoel
Thomas
Treurnight
Trichart
(Feins Luis Trugard went back to SA)
van Blerk
van der Linde
van der Merwe
van der Sand
van der Walt
van Heerden
van Nietruk
van Norden
van Vuuren
van Warren
van Wyk
(Willem van Wijk + Magdalena Viljoen)
van Zyl
(Gideon van Zyl + Marte Myburg)
- * [Anna Elizabeth Jacoba van Zyl (Wife of Coenraad Johannes Neethling Visser)
Venter
(M.M. Venter)
Verwey
(Charly Verwey + Johanna Grobler)
Viljoen
Visser
(H Visser and wife)
(PH Visster, wife and 4 children)
(MGG Visser)
(Martiens Visser + Tryna)
- * [Coenraad Visser (He returned to South Africa)
Viviers
Vorster
(PA Vorster)
(Tom Vorster + Baby Greling)
- * [Ds. Louis Petrus Vorster, 2 (Reverend L.P. Vorster)
Watson
Webber
Withehead
(Luis Whitehead)
Wright
Yeats
(Charlie Yeats)