British abolition of slavery directly triggered the Great Trek

Evidence

British settlement entailed intensifying ambiguities and ambivalence for the Dutch already living at the Cape: subsequent loss of power and self-determination, gestures of creeping equality, the arousal of insecurities, and ultimately abolition in late 1834, with its consequent effects on raising indigenous expectations and shattering boer reliance on a cheap source of farm labor supply. Combined and interactive, these factors prompted outright boer rebellion as the decade approached a mid-point. Formal abolition brought these factors to a boiling point, prompting strong selfdetermining secessionist sentiments among boers at the frontier. The result: waves of treks by groups of boer families across the border and into native land. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1420

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames the Great Trek as a secessionist backlash against abolition and creeping equality, not simply frontier wanderlust.