As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure.

Home / People / Piet Retief

Historical person

Piet Retief

Piet Retief was a Voortrekker leader during the Great Trek from the Cape Colony into the southern African interior. He became a prominent spokesman for emigrant Boer grievances and led a party into the Zulu kingdom to negotiate for land. Retief and members of his delegation were killed on Dingane’s orders in February 1838, an event that became central to later Afrikaner historical memory.

Retief led a large Voortrekker party into Natal and negotiated with the Zulu king Dingane for land. In February 1838 Dingane ordered Retief and his delegation killed at uMgungundlovu, followed by attacks on nearby settler camps. The killings became central to Afrikaner memory of the Great Trek and were later connected to the Boer victory over Zulu forces at Blood River.

In H. Rider Haggard’s Marie, the story carries Allan through the Great Trek and into direct contact with Dingane’s court and the violence surrounding Piet Retief’s mission. Piet Retief is treated fictionally in H. Rider Haggard’s Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Piet Retief (1 series)

Allan Quatermain in Order

by H. Rider Haggard 14 books 3.8(63,115)

The Allan Quatermain series follows H. Rider Haggard’s hunter, trader and expedition leader across southern, eastern and central Africa. King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quatermain describe the end of his career, while the later books fill in his youth, marriage, involvement in Zulu and Boer history, journeys to…

All books in this series

Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Piet Retief (1 book)