Boers were predominately of what ethnic background?

Answer 1

Boers were the descendants of the Dutch and Flemish settlers to South Africa.

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Not quite as that is Propaganda - as a matter of fact the Boers ARE an ethic group unto themselves. No one asks: the Scots were predominately of what ethic background. Though one could answer Germanic & Celtic. The powers that be always erroneously asserted that the Boers were Dutch & Flemish origin in order to control them & the various Afrikaans speakers & to marginalize the smaller Boer ethic group under the dispossessing Afrikaner domination which tethers them to the larger Cape Dutch population.

The fact of the matter is that the Boers are descended from German / Frisian / Danish & French Huguenot refugees. There are very few actual Dutch roots to the Boers despite the fact that much of their names are spelled in a Dutch fashion. Their names were spelled that way because the Dutch East India Co. controlled the region & it was they who spelled & often respelled their names to conform to a Dutch spelling. There are more actual Dutch roots among the Cape Dutch population: the folks who coalesced in & around Cape Town after the Trekboers [ the ancestors of the Boer people ] emerged on the Cape frontier.

There are so many often deliberate misconceptions about the Boers that it is quite mindboggling. One big misconception - probably the biggest misconception is that the Boers "are from Europe". The Boers are from the northeastern Cape frontier. A lot of folks from Europe were taken to or settled at the Cape but only a small percentage became Trekboers - thus only a small percentage developed into the Boer Nation.