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New Transvaal Colony

BASCH Nuwe ZAR Media 2021 05 16 FotoSam J Basch 2021-05-16 - Rapport Weekliks
On the other side of the world - in Chile - was once the ‘Colonia Nueva Transvaal’ where a number of ‘Boers’ were resettled more than a century ago. How did it come about?
During my tenure as a diplomat in Chile in the 1980s, I met descendants of Dutch people who had previously been employed by the Nederlandsch-Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorwegmaatschappij (NZASM) in President Paul Kruger’s Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). With the fall of Pretoria in June 1900, these employees and officials were immediately repatriated to Europe.
In an attempt to populate the south of Chile, the Chilean government in 1903 enticed Europeans to settle there. This is how the former NZASM Dutch found a new home, initially as so-called 'Boers' or 'farmers' who they were not. Although they each received a piece of land near the village of Gorbea, as well as implements, livestock and a monetary supplement, many of them soon began a new life in other industries.
My article in Rapport-Weekliks tells more about their life in a strange land; families with well-known family names, such as De Groot, Dommisse, Keuter, Van Dijk, and others.