Weenen massacre
| Weenen massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Great Trek | |
Depiction of a Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838. The Weenen Massacre was the massacre of Voortrekkers by the Zulu impis. | |
| Location | Doringkop, Bloukrans River, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit and other sites around present the day town of Weenen in South Africa |
| Date | 17 February 1838 |
| Deaths | ~532 Voortrekkers |
| Injured | Unknown |
| Perpetrators | Impis of Dingane kaSenzangakhona King of the Zulu |
The Weenen Massacre, also known as the Bloukrans Massacre, was a series of coordinated attacks by Zulu forces under King Dingane on Voortrekker encampments in Natal, present-day South Africa, on 17–18 February 1838. Following the killing of Voortrekker leader Piet Retief and his delegation at Dingane’s royal kraal, uMgungundlovu, on 6 February 1838, approximately 500 Voortrekkers and their servants, including 185 children and 56 women, were killed across sites at Doringkop, Bloukrans, Moordspruit, Rensburgspruit, and Weenen. A pivotal event in the Great Trek, the massacre escalated conflict between the Voortrekkers and the Zulu, leading to the Battle of Blood River in December 1838.
Voortrekker accounts allege a calculated betrayal, claiming Dingane used deceptive negotiations to lure and eliminate Retief’s party, while Zulu oral traditions depict the attacks as a defensive response to Voortrekker encroachment.