Joachim Johannes Ferreira (8 August 1835 – 16 May 1917) was a Boer commandant of the First Boer War.

Life

Ferreira was born near

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port El ...

and was taken on the

Great Trek The Great Trek ( af, Die Groot Trek; nl, De Grote Trek) was a Northward migration of Dutch-speaking settlers who travelled by wagon trains from the Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa from 1836 onwards, seeking to live beyon ...

as an infant. He married Adriana Davel and had a daughter. He settled near

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

with other Voortrekker families in what they called the Commonwealth of the

Klein Vrystaat (Afrikaans for "Little Free State") was a short-lived Boer republic in what is now South Africa (around the town of Piet Retief). History From around 1876, a group of Boers lived on land bought from the Swazi king Mbandzeni. In 1886, a forma ...

in 1875. At the same time, Swazi King

Mbandzeni Mbandzeni (also known as Dlamini IV, Umbandine, Umbandeen) (1855–1889) was the King of Swaziland from 1872 until 1889. Ngwenyama, Ingwenyama Mbandzeni was the son of Mswati II and Nandzi Nkambule. His mother the wife of King Mswati had died wh ...

granted a 36,000-acre grazing concession to Ferreira and his brother-in-law, Franz Ignatius Maritz, the largest concession to Boer settlers at the time. Ferreira began the First Boer War as the commandant of the Utrecht commando, and went on to lead one of the two Boer divisions at the

Battle of Majuba Hill The Battle of Majuba Hill on 27 February 1881 was the final and decisive battle of the First Boer War that was a resounding victory for the Boers. The British Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley occupied the summit of the hill on the night ...

on 27 February 1881. He was responsible for negotiating the transfer of land east of the Lebombo Mountains to the

South African Republic The South African Republic ( nl, Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, abbreviated ZAR; af, Suid-Afrikaanse Republiek), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer Republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it ...

. His plans were frustrated by the actions of Sir Charles Saunders who annexed the territory which became known as British

Maputaland Maputaland is a natural region of Southern Africa. It is located in the northern part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between Eswatini and the coast. In a wider sense it may also include the southernmost region of Mozambique. The bi ...

. He died near

Piet Retief 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 ...

, on 16 May 1917.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * 1835 births 1917 deaths Afrikaner people Boer generals People from Uitenhage People of the First Boer War {{SouthAfrica-mil-bio-stub