Pretoria’s Voortrekker Monument

During a brief visit to Pretoria, we stopped by the Voortrekker Monument which honours the Dutch immigrants who moved from SA’s Cape Colony to the country’s interior in the mid-19th-century. Inside the monument are slabs of marble depicting images of this trek, reminding me of similar visuals of late-colonial migration in the States (wagons, bonnets, big dresses, overalls). Visiting the monument got me thinking about global migratory patterns, wondering how Europeans looking for religious freedom and opportunity decided whether to migrate to Canada, the States, South Africa, etc. – what inspired some families to venture to Africa versus North America?