Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz

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Statue of Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz in Pietermaritzburg (2011)

Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz (born March 1, 1797 in Graaff-Reinet , Cape Colony ; † September 23, 1838 in the Natal area) was a carpenter , entrepreneur and Voortrekker leader. His nicknames were Gert Maritz, Gerrit Maritz, Gert Voortrekker and Kdt Gert . He belonged to the Boers .

Career

Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz was born in 1797 as the second son of Salomon Maritz (c. 1769–1828) and his wife Maria Elizabeth Oosthuijsen (1777–1846) in the Graaff-Reinet district and grew up there, which at that time still belonged to the Netherlands , but as a result the Napoleonic Wars was occupied by Great Britain . During his childhood he experienced attacks by the Xhosa and Khoikhoi . His father worked as a road builder and carpenter in Graaff-Reinet in 1811. Maritz later became a carpenter himself. He started his own company and made ox wagons. In the course of time, this made him prosper. Maritz was known to the missionaries and supported their missionary work among the Khoi and San . He also acted as veldcornet and district champion.

Map of the major platoons during the first wave of the Great Trek (1835–1840) with the most important events and battles. The trains are shown under:
  • Louis Tregardt
  • Johannes Janse van Rensburg
  • Andries Hendrik Potgieter
  • Gerrit Maritz
  • Pieter Retief
  • Piet Uys

    • At the age of 23 he married Angenitha Maria Olivier on May 14, 1820, then fifteen. The couple had four sons, Salomon Stephanus, Cornelis Johannes Francois, Gerhardus Jacobus and Johannes Stephanus, and two daughters, Debora Susanna Sophia and Maria Magdalena, in Graaff-Reinet. In his second marriage he was married to Anna Carolina Agatha van Rooyen.

    When his youngest daughter was seven, Maritz decided to leave the Cape Colony. The Boers had a variety of reasons for this (see Big Trek ); what it was at Maritz is not known. In his Voortrekker trek there were 100 ox wagons and 700 people. His brother moved in a second group. He himself traveled with seven cars. He took a variety of goods with him on the trip, including two pistols and many books. These were theological books, dictionaries and legal books. The trek left Graaff-Reinet in September 1836 and reached Sanddrif on the banks of the Oranje in November 1836 . In the following years he met Andries Hendrik Potgieter and learned of the Battle of Vegkop in October 1836.

    In December 1836, a large group of Voortrekkers gathered at Thaba Nchu and elected their first government. Maritz was elected President and Head of Government, while Potgieter was elected Commander in Chief. They went against the Matabele and won a victory at Mount Thaba Mosega in January 1837. Piet Retief joined them in March 1837 and a new government was elected in April 1837. Retief was elected governor and Maritz magistrate. Five months later, Retief moved to the Natal area while the rest of the Voortrekkers made a second successful expedition against the Matabele. Maritz accompanied Retief with his people to the Natal area. In the northern Natal area, Maritz and Retief planned to send a delegation to the Zulu king Dingane in his kraal uMgungundlovu to negotiate the transfer of an uninhabited area. They had big differences of opinion about it: Retief wanted to go with a lot of soldiers, whereas Maritz only wanted to send a small group because he didn't trust Dingane. Maritz was right. Retief and his men were killed on February 6, 1838. On February 17, 1838, the Zulu attacked the Boer farms along the Bloukrans and Moordspruit rivers and murdered all residents. Maritz and his people were also attacked, but were able to repel the attack. In May 1838, Maritz went to Port Natal with the new Commander in Chief Karel Landman and 150 men to help the British settlers living there against Dingane.

    In June 1838, Maritz and his family settled on the Little Thukela River in the Natal area. He named his farm Maritz Dam. The place is also known as Sooilaer or Saailaer . There was famine over the next several months. Malnutrition was followed by illness. Maritz died on September 23, 1838 on his farm. He was originally buried on his farm, but was reburied on the day of the vow (Afrikaans: Geloftedag ) in 1895 at the Bloukrans Memorial on the Bloukrans River. The later Republic of Natalia was not proclaimed until November 11, 1839, about a year after the Battle of the Blood River .

    Honors (selection)

    The town of Pietermaritzburg was founded by Voortrekkern in early 1839 and named after Pieter Retief and Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz.

    A bronze statue of Gerhardus Marthinus Maritz was unveiled on December 16, 1970 in the Voortrekker facility in Pietermaritzburg. It is the work of the South African sculptor and painter Jo Roos .

    Monument in Winburg (2012)

    The town of Winburg was founded in 1836 by Voortrekkern. In the 1960s a stone monument was erected there with the names of the Voortrekker leaders: Piet Uys , Andries Hendrik Potgieter , Andries Pretorius , Piet Retief and Gerrit Maritz. The size of each of the towering, beveled half-tubes made of reinforced concrete, which are arranged in a circle, corresponds to the distances covered by the respective Voortrekker groups. The architect Hans Hallen designed the abstract monument. Like its counterpart in Pretoria , the sun rises directly over the monument on December 16. In the years after completion, the sun lit a bronze plaque with biblical inscriptions. The monument has since been abandoned (as of March 2017), the entrance gates to the site are locked and the site is overgrown with weeds. A network of trenches runs through the site as the electrical cables have been dug up and the water pipes leading to the river have not been maintained. The bronze plaque in the center of the monument was stolen.

    Trivia

    After his marriage to Angenitha Maria Olivier in 1820, Maritz bought a house on Caledon Street in Graaff-Reinet for 2,700  Rijksdaalder . He paid for it in cash in two installments. By 1830 the house had become too small for him. As a result, he built a bigger house on neighboring Noord Street. He also bought the Welgevonde farm at the foot of the Ouberg Pass .

    literature

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Photo grave site
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Die Voortrekker met die baie boeke , minderheidsverslag.co.za , April 20, 2017
    3. ^ HB Thom: The Lewe van Gert Maritz. 1947, pp. 8-11.
    4. ↑ a b c d e A. J. Böeseken: Van oorloë en vrede: onder die suidersterre, 1795-1910 , Tafelberg, 1983, p. 45, ISBN 9780624018698
    5. ↑ in the original: Baaspadmaker - Argief-jaarboek vir Suid-afrikaanse Geskiedenis , Volume 1940, Issue 2, Government Printer, South Africa, 1938, p. 88
    6. ↑ a b J. C. Visagie: Voortrekkerstamouers, 1835-1845 . Universiteit von Suid-Africa, 2000, p. 140.
    7. ^ HB Thom: The Lewe van Gert Maritz. 1947, pp. 30 and 267.
    8. ↑ a b c Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Capetown , Volume 7, p. 209
    9. ^ J. Alton Templin: Ideology on a Frontier: The Theological Foundation of Afrikaner Nationalism, 1652-1910. 1984, p. 125.
    10. ↑ Bloukrans Massacre of February 17, 1838 , Bushmans River Tourism Association
    11. ↑ Maritz Dam , mapcarta.com
    12. ^ Heinrich von Lenk: The history of the Boers, 1652-1899 . Reclam, 1901, p. 57
    13. ↑ Thomas Victor Bulpin, Daniel Wilhelmus Kruger: The Great Trek - Round the world histories . 33 (2nd edition), Hulton, 1976, p. 52.
    14. ^ J. Alton Templin: Ideology on a Frontier: The Theological Foundation of Afrikaner Nationalism, 1652-1910. 1984.
    15. ↑ The Bloukrans Monument , sa-venues.com
    16. ↑ Pietermaritzburg - Statue of Gerrit Maritz , boerenbrit.com
    17. ↑ Walter Peters: South African Journal of Art History - The women at Winburg's Voortrekker Monument , South African Journal of Art History, Volume 27, Issue 2, January 2012, pp. 220-236, ISSN 0258-3542
    18. ^ Winburg - Voortrekker monument , boerenbrit.com

    Web links

    personal data
    SURNAME Maritz, Gerhardus Marthinus
    ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maritz, Gert (nickname); Maritz, Gerrit (nickname); Gert Voortrekker (nickname); Kdt Gert (nickname)
    BRIEF DESCRIPTION Carpenter, entrepreneur and Voortrekker leader
    DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1797
    PLACE OF BIRTH Graaff-Reinet , Cape Colony
    DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1838
    Place of death Natal area