The afrikaners biography of a people

From European to "Africaander”

The modern Afrikaner is descended mainly from Western Europeans who settled on the southern tip of Africa during the middle of the 17th century.

The Afrikaners: Biography of a People - Goodreads

Portuguese mariners discovered the sea passage to the East round Cape Point in 1488 and in the course of their visits, came into contact with the Khoi. Initially cultural differences caused conflict and the Portuguese conveyed a biased image of a ‘hostile’ Africa to the Western world.

Nevertheless, for the commercially active Dutch the Cape was the ideal halfway station on the sea route to the East, and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a refreshment post in Table Bay (present day Cape Town).  In 1657 officials (mostly Dutch and Germans) could retire from the Company's service and become Free Burghers (independent farmers).

In 1688 a group of French Protestants, striving for religious freedom, fled from France and settled in the Cape. Together with the Free Burghers they are The Afrikaners: Biography of a People - Semantic Scholar PANUF