Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus

Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus (prĭtôr`ēəs, Du. än`drēs vĭlhĕl`məs yäkō`bəs prātôr`ēəs), 1799–1853, Boer (Afrikaner) leader. He was elected (1838) commandant general of the Boers of Natal and in that year defeated a large force of Zulus at Blood River. This victory made possible the organization of a Boer Republic of Natal (see KwaZulu-Natal). In 1848, Pretorius led a party of Boers across the Drakensberg and created there the nucleus of the South African Republic (the Transvaal). The city of Pretoria was named in his honor.

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Pretorius, Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus 

Born Nov. 27, 1798, near Graaff-Reinet, Cape Province; died July 23, 1853, in Magaliesberg. Boer politician.

Pretorius led the troops of the Boer settlers, who from 1830 to 1850 seized lands north of the Vaal River that belonged to the Bantu and other African peoples. In 1838 he commanded Boer troops in a battle with Dingaan’s Zulu army on the Inkom River. Pretorius fought for a Boer state that would be independent from the English. In January 1852, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the territory conquered by the Boers (the Transvaal), which in 1856 was proclaimed the South African Republic.