Afrikaners – Africa’s White Tribe:
The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State welcomed the first group of Afrikaner refugees to the United States.Afrikaners are a white ethnic group native to South Africa, shaped through ethnogenesis on African soil, and are often referred to as “Africa’s White Tribe” due to their deep-rooted historical presence since the 17th century. The Afrikaner community originated in 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck, under the Dutch East India Company (VOC), established a resupply station at the Cape of Good Hope, initially settled by Dutch Protestants. Over time, the settlers included French Huguenots fleeing persecution after the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685), along with Germans and enslaved people from India, Indonesia, Madagascar, and East Africa, contributing to the ethnic mix. A unique Afrikaner identity developed through interactions among Europeans, slaves, and the indigenous Khoikhoi, marked by paternalistic household systems, strict social hierarchies, and the development of Afrikaans as a distinct language.
