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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Great Trek

Trek \Trek\, n. [Written also treck.] [D. Cf. Track, n.] The act of trekking; a drawing or a traveling; a journey; a migration. [Chiefly South Africa]

To the north a trek was projected, and some years later was nearly carried out, for the occupation of the Mashonaland.
--James Bryce.

Great Trek, the great emigration of Boers from Cape Colony which began in 1836, and resulted in the founding of the South African Republic and Orange Free State.

Wikipedia
Great Trek

The Great Trek (; ) was an eastward and north-eastward emigration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boere ( Dutch/ Afrikaans for "farmers"). The migrants were descended from settlers from western mainland Europe, most notably from the Netherlands, north-west Germany and French Huguenots. The Great Trek itself led to the founding of numerous Boer republics, the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal being the most notable. The trek also resulted in the defeat of Mzilikazi and the subsequent expulsion of the Northern Ndebele people to present day Zimbabwe and the defeat of the Zulu king, Dingane.