The study focuses on the influence of Christian based education on the building of the Afrikaner nation. The children settling with their parents in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) after the Great Trek all received Christian based education. The unique way in which both the country and the nation developed was the result of Christian based education. It had a direct influence on the development and functioning of the ZAR resulting in the forming of a Christian country with a Christian based constitution and Christian based laws. Christianity and Christian based education also influenced the social lives, culture and worldview of the people living in the ZAR, leaving a permanent mark on the Afrikaner nation. The stern Calvinistic religion, together with the influences of early Pietism and the worldview of the Romanticism as well as the traditional Christian based education brought from the Netherlands, all worked together to mould the Afrikaners into a unique nation. Religion was the one outstanding factor that determined all aspects of the lives of the Afrikaners, from their character and worldview to their way of speech and the standard of education given to the children. The goal of all education was to enable children to study the Bible - the Handbook to Life - and to become members of the Church. Their faith in and commitment to the Lord, was the force that kept the Afrikaners a unique nation with a strong character despite the extreme living conditions and changing circumstances through which they lived in the short years of the existence of the ZAR. The people living in the ZAR were the carriers of the influence of the Christian based education and the stories of their lives bear witness to the impact their education had on the development of the country and the nation. The legacy of Christian based education, as it was used in the ZAR, is still alive in the hearts and minds of Afrikaners today. The focus of the thesis made it necessary to use material from several different academic fields. Aspects of South African Church history, the general and political history of South Africa and the ZAR, the history regarding the development of education, as well as the social and cultural history of the Afrikaner nation were brought together to give a picture of the impact that Christian based education had on the ZAR. The historical-critical method is used, in order to establish what really happened and to show its significance, both in the historical context and in the present situation. The theoretical framework being used is didactical theological. / Chr Spirit, ChurchHist, Miss / DTH (CHURCH HISTORY)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Op 3 Mei 1848 het 'n aantll blanke nedersetters van Ohrigstad in Soutpansberg aangekom; 'n pioniersdorp, onder Ieiding van Hendrik Potgieter, is gestig en primitiewe huise is opgerig. In 1855 het Stephanus Schoeman die Ieiding oorgeneem en die dorp na homself vemoem. Die plaaslike owerheid het bestaan uit die kommandant-generaal, 'n landdros met heemrade en ander regeringsamptenare sowel as dorpsbeamptes. Tropiese koorssiektes het soms epidemiese afmetings aangcneem en talle mense het gesterf soos die kerkhof met sy rye grafte getuig. Die nedersetters, gehard deur hul swerwersbestaan, het die siektes en ontberings verduur. Vir 16 van die 19 jaar was daar nie 'n vaste predikant nie tot ds N J van Wannelo in 1864 hom in Schoemansdal gevestig het Hy het hom beywer vir die ophefftng van die inwoners op geestelike en onderwysgebied. Die mense was konserwatief en meestal ongeletterd. Hulle was bedagsaam, maar daar was ook ongure en opstandige persone. Hulle klere was eenvoudig en meestal tuisgemaak, en hulle het graag sosiaal verkeer. V erskeie beroepe is beoefen: houtsaery was betalend en hout was oorvloedig; jag was die winsgewendste, want wild en olifante was volop en jagprodukte, veral ivoor waarvan tonne verhandel is, het goeie markpryse behaal. Die swartes wat reeds in die gebied gewoon het, het die blankes met wanttoue bejeen. Blankes het hulle gevestig, grond toegeeien en onbeperk gejag, terwyl die swartes vir hulle moes werk en belasting betaal. Ongehoorsame swart hoofmanne is aangeval, vee is gebuit en vrouens en veral kinders is weggevoer as inboekelinge. Dit het tot openlike vyandelikhede gelei. Veldtogte is gevoer, maar die blankes kon die swartes, weens hulle oninneembare vestings, nie onderwerp nie. Die swartes het gewere op onwettige wyse bekom. Die handel het begin kwyn, smouse en handelaars het weggebly en die inwoners het verann en onder mekaar getwis. Die blankes het in die skans in Schoemansdal saamgetrek en Paul Kruger is met 400 man deur die Transvaalse regering gestuur om die Venda te onderwerp. Die poging het misluk en op 15 Julie 1867 is Schoemansdal ontruim. Enkele maande later is 'n poging deur Schoeman aangewend om die dorp te herwin, maar ook dit was onsuksesvol. Schoemansdal sou nooit weer herbou word nie en was die eerste vesting wat die blankes aan die swart meerdetheid sou oorgee. / May 1848 a number of white settlers from Ohrigstad arrived in the Soutpansberg. Under the leadership of Hendrik Potgieter, a pioneer town was developed. In 1855 Stephan us Schoeman replanned and renamed the town. The local government consisted of the commandantgeneral, a landdrost, heemrade, government officials and town officers. The region was unhealthy and fever stricken. Numerous graves in the graveyard are the tragic signs of many deaths. However, hardy Trekkers, endured the sickness and hardships. For 16 years there was no minister until, in 1864, the Rev Van Warmelo settled in Schoemansdal and worked zealously for the spiritual and educational upliftment of the inhabitants. Most people were conservative and illiterate. Their clothes were plain and usually home-made, and they were very sociable. There were different occupations. Woodcutters were well paid and wood was abundant. Hunting was lucrative because there were plenty of wild animals and elephant, and hunting products, especially ivory, had good market value. Black communities, which already inhabited the area, distrusted the whites. The whites settled, annexed the land and hunted wherever they wanted, while the blacks were compelled to work and pay taxes. Military campaigns were undertaken against headmen who were regarded as disobedient, livestock was seized, women, and children, were abducted under the indenture system. All this caused open hostility. Campaigns were launched against the blacks but they could not be subjected because of the mountainous terrain. The blacks obtained weapons illegally. Trade deteriorated and the whites became poorer and started to quarrel amongst themselves. The white inhabitants moved into the fort and Paul Kruger was sent by the Transvaal government with 400 men to force the Venda into submission. The attempt failed and on 15 July 1867 the town was evacuated. Schoeman, with a small army, also made an unsuccessful attempt. Schoemansdal would never be rebuilt and was the first white settlement to surrender to black majority. / History / D.Litt. et Phil. (Geskiedenis)

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The central problem in this dissertation entails how the concept volksmoeder (mother of the nation) gradually developed to secure a place in the Afrikaans drama. Chapter 1 determines the hypothesis of this dissertation. Chapter 2 focusses on the volksmoeder characteristics. The conclusion reached in Chapter 2 is that Maria in Langenhoven’s Die vrou van Suid-Afrika (1918) reveals similarities and contrasts with female characters in Dutch plays. Chapter 3 ascertains that characteristics of female personages as mothers of the nation determine their positions in patriarch/volksmoeder relationships in W.A. de Klerk’s Die jaar van die vuur-os (1952). Different types of volksmoeder appear in the above-mentioned farm play and in H.A. Fagan’s Ousus (1934). Chapters 4 and 5 identify how the present day volksmoeder in recent plaasdramas such as Deon Opperman’s Donkerland (1996), André P. Brink’s Die jogger (1997), Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) and Die koggelaar (1988) by Pieter Fourie, indicate a further development in the concepts patriarch and volksmoeder. In the latter’s Koggelmanderman (2003) the man and woman are removed from the idea of gender. / Die sentrale probleem in die verhandeling behels hoe die konsep volksmoeder met verloop van tyd in die Afrikaanse drama neerslag gevind het. Hoofstuk 1 bepaal die hipoteses van die verhandeling. Hoofstuk 2 fokus op die kenmerke van die volksmoeder. Die gevolgtrekking in hoofstuk 2 is dat Maria in Langenhoven se Die vrou van Suid-Afrika (1918) ooreenstem en kontrasteer met Nederlandse vrouefigure. Hoofstuk 3 stel vas dat vrouefigure se kenmerke as volksmoeders hul posisie binne die patriarg/volksmoederverhouding in W.A. de Klerk se Die jaar van die vuur-os (1952) bepaal. Verskillende soorte volksmoeder -verskyn in bogenoemde plaasdrama en in H.A. Fagan se Ousus (1934). Hoofstukke 4 en 5 identifiseer hoe hedendaagse volksmoeders in nuwe plaasdramas, soos Deon Opperman se Donkerland (1996), Andre P. Brink se Die jogger (1997), Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) en Die koggelaar (1988) van Pieter Fourie, verder binne die patriarg/volksmoederverhouding ontwikkel. In laasgenoemde se Koggelmanderman (2003) beweeg die man en vrou weg van die konsepte patriarg en volksmoeder. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)

The central problem in this dissertation entails how the concept volksmoeder (mother of the nation) gradually developed to secure a place in the Afrikaans drama. Chapter 1 determines the hypothesis of this dissertation. Chapter 2 focusses on the volksmoeder characteristics. The conclusion reached in Chapter 2 is that Maria in Langenhoven’s Die vrou van Suid-Afrika (1918) reveals similarities and contrasts with female characters in Dutch plays. Chapter 3 ascertains that characteristics of female personages as mothers of the nation determine their positions in patriarch/volksmoeder relationships in W.A. de Klerk’s Die jaar van die vuur-os (1952). Different types of volksmoeder appear in the above-mentioned farm play and in H.A. Fagan’s Ousus (1934). Chapters 4 and 5 identify how the present day volksmoeder in recent plaasdramas such as Deon Opperman’s Donkerland (1996), André P. Brink’s Die jogger (1997), Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) and Die koggelaar (1988) by Pieter Fourie, indicate a further development in the concepts patriarch and volksmoeder. In the latter’s Koggelmanderman (2003) the man and woman are removed from the idea of gender. / Die sentrale probleem in die verhandeling behels hoe die konsep volksmoeder met verloop van tyd in die Afrikaanse drama neerslag gevind het. Hoofstuk 1 bepaal die hipoteses van die verhandeling. Hoofstuk 2 fokus op die kenmerke van die volksmoeder. Die gevolgtrekking in hoofstuk 2 is dat Maria in Langenhoven se Die vrou van Suid-Afrika (1918) ooreenstem en kontrasteer met Nederlandse vrouefigure. Hoofstuk 3 stel vas dat vrouefigure se kenmerke as volksmoeders hul posisie binne die patriarg/volksmoederverhouding in W.A. de Klerk se Die jaar van die vuur-os (1952) bepaal. Verskillende soorte volksmoeder -verskyn in bogenoemde plaasdrama en in H.A. Fagan se Ousus (1934). Hoofstukke 4 en 5 identifiseer hoe hedendaagse volksmoeders in nuwe plaasdramas, soos Deon Opperman se Donkerland (1996), Andre P. Brink se Die jogger (1997), Ek, Anna van Wyk (1986) en Die koggelaar (1988) van Pieter Fourie, verder binne die patriarg/volksmoederverhouding ontwikkel. In laasgenoemde se Koggelmanderman (2003) beweeg die man en vrou weg van die konsepte patriarg en volksmoeder. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)