An Afrikaner is a member of a South African ethnic group primarily descended from Dutch, German, and French Huguenot settlers who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries, beginning with the Dutch East India Company’s establishment of a settlement in 1652. The term “Afrikaner” originally meant “African” in Dutch but came to specifically refer to these White, Afrikaans-speaking settlers and their descendants. Afrikaans, their language, evolved from Dutch and incorporates influences from other European languages, as well as local African and Malay languages.
Culturally, Afrikaners are known for their Calvinist religious traditions, a strong sense of identity tied to the land (often as farmers or “Boers,” meaning farmers in Dutch), and historical events like the Great Trek, a northward migration in the 1830s and 1840s to escape British rule.
Today, Afrikaners make up about 5-6% of South Africa’s population, roughly 2.7 to 3 million people.
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