Louis Tregardt se dagboek as 'n historiese bron Louis Tregardt's diary as an historical source

Louis Tregardt's diary as an historical source In this article it is argued that the diary of Louis Tregardt contains a wealth of historical information. Tregardt was the only Voortrekker leader of the Great Trek era who kept a diary. It covers the period from the end of July 1836, when Tregardt and his group of Voortrekkers had already reached the Soutpansberg region in what is today the Limpopo Province of South Africa, to 1 May 1838, when his wife died less than three weeks after they had reached the Portuguese Fort at what is now Maputo in Mozambique. The diary was written in the language spoken by Tregardt and his companions: an early form of Afrikaans which was evolving from Dutch. Two transcriptions of Tregardt's diary have been published to date. The author of this article is busy translating the diary into Afrikaans. Selections from the diary have been published in English. Furthermore, a variety of academic and popular historical studies on Tregardt and his