Afrikaners
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 3.5 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 South Africa
|
2,710,461 (2011) |
 Namibia
|
92,400 (2003) |
 Zambia
|
~41,000 (2006) |
 Botswana
|
~20,000 (2010) |
 Swaziland
|
~13,000 (2006) |
 Australia
|
5,079 (2011) |
 New Zealand
|
1,197 (2013) |
 Angola
|
500 (1958) |
 Argentina
|
~400 (1985) |
| Languages | |
|
First language Afrikaans Second or third language |
|
| Religion | |
| Calvinism (Dutch Reformed • Dutch Reformed of Africa • Reformed • African Protestant • French Reformed) • Other Protestants • Roman Catholicism • Jewish • | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
Afrikaners are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They traditionally dominated South Africa's agriculture and politics prior to 1994.Afrikaans, South Africa's third most widely spoken home language, is the mother tongue of Afrikaners and most Cape Coloureds. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland, incorporating words brought from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Madagascar by slaves. Afrikaners make up approximately 5.2% of the total South African population based on the number of white South Africans who speak Afrikaans as a first language in the South African National Census of 2011.
The arrival of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama at Calicut in 1498 opened a gateway of free access to Asia from Western Europe around the Cape of Good Hope; however, it also necessitated the founding and safeguarding of trade stations in the East. Very rapidly one European power followed another, all eager to trade along this route. The Portuguese landed in Mossel Bay in 1500, explored Table Bay two years later, and by 1510 had started raiding inland. Shortly afterwards the Dutch Republic sent merchant vessels to India, and in 1602 founded the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company; VOC). As the volume of traffic rounding the Cape increased, the Company recognised its natural harbour as an ideal watering point for the long voyage around Africa to the Orient and established a victualling station there in 1652. VOC officials did not favour the permanent settlement of Europeans in their trading empire, although during the 140 years of Dutch rule many VOC servants retired or were discharged and remained as private citizens. Furthermore, the exigencies of supplying local garrisons and passing fleets compelled the administration to confer free status upon employees and oblige them to become independent farmers.
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