Piet Retief
| Piet Retief | |
|---|---|
Statue at the Voortrekker Monument
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| Born |
Pieter Mauritz Retief 12 November 1780 Soetendal, Wagenmakersvallei |
| Died | 6 February 1838 (aged 57) KwaMatiwane, near Hlomo amabuto, uMgungundlovu |
| Cause of death | Clubbed to death by Zulus |
| Resting place | KwaMatiwane, uMgungundlovu 28°25′37″S 31°16′12″E / 28.42694°S 31.27000°E |
| Residence | House Retief, Mooimeisjesfontein (1814–36), Post Retief (–1837) |
| Nationality | Boer, South African |
| Spouse(s) | Magdalena Johanna Greyling (née De Wet) (1782–1855) |
| Children | Debora Jacoba (1815–1901) Jacobus Francois (1816– ) Magdalena Margaretha (1820–84) Pieter Cornelis (1823–38) |
| Parent(s) | Jacobus Retief (1754–1821) Debora Joubert (c.1749–1814) |
Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a Voortrekker leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent Xhosa territory. He became a spokesperson for the frontier farmers who voiced their discontent, and wrote the Voortrekkers' declaration at their departure from the colony.
He was a leading figure during their Great Trek, and at one stage their elected governor. He proposed Natal as the final destination of their migration and selected a location for its future capital, later named Pietermaritzburg in his honour. The massacre of Retief and his delegation by the Zulu King Dingane and the extermination of several Voortrekker laagercamps led to the Battle of Blood River on the Ncome River. The short-lived Boer republic Natalia suffered from ineffective government and succumbed to British annexation.
Retief was born to Jacobus and Debora Retief in the Wagenmakersvallei, Cape Colony, today the town of Wellington, South Africa. His family were Boers of French Huguenot ancestry: his great-grandfather was the 1689 Huguenot refugee François Retif, from Mer, Loir-et-Cher near Blois; the progenitor of the name in South Africa. Retief grew up on the ancestral vineyard Welvanpas, where he worked until the age of 27.
After moving to the vicinity of Grahamstown, Retief, like other Boers, acquired wealth through livestock, but suffered repeated losses from Xhosa raids in the period. These prompted the 6th Cape Frontier War. (Retief had a history of financial trouble. On more than one occasion, he lost money and other possessions, mainly through land speculation. He is reported to have gone bankrupt at least twice, while at the colony and on the frontier.) Such losses impelled many frontier farmers to become Voortrekkers (literally, "forward movers") and to migrate to new lands in the north.
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