iep_kruger
Race Dog
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2007
- Messages
- 2,566
- Reaction score
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- Location
- PRETORIA/HARTEBEESPOORT
- Bike
- Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin
Silkaatsnek
What’s in a name?
People traveling from the vicinity of Hartbeespoort towards the bushveld in Northwest, have to cross the Magaliesberg either over Kommandonek or Silkaatsnek if they don’t go over the Dam wall. Both these passes are steeped in history and especially Silkaatsnek has been the site of several bloody battles over the past two hundred years.
The name of pass seems to have confuse writers of the years. Variously known as (Mo)zilikatsnek, Tulikat’s Neck, Nitral’s Neck, Uitvalsnek or the presently accepted Silkaatsnek, it derived its name initially from the battles in 1837 in which the impis of the Matabele tyrant were defeated by combined onslaught of Voortrekkers, Griekwas and Barolong and forced out of the area. In 1864 it was the site of skirmishes between supporters of Paul Kruger and Servaas Schoeman in the civil war which marked the early days of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek.
Most of the variations on the name are probably the result of people unfamiliar to the area and its history trying to pronounce what to them must have been completely foreign sounds, corrupting the original name. At least on name, Uitvalsnek, was probably derived from the farm on which the pass is located - the piece of ‘uitvalgrond’ adjoining Rietfontein.
An expert on local military and general history of the area, Jack Seale, is sure the name Nitralsnek is due to a misunderstanding created by someone’s poor handwriting. Written carelessly in longhand the U of Uitval could easily be mistaken for an N and the v for an r. This is the name used by some British historians when they refer to the Battle of Silkaatsnek of 11 July 1900, exactly 109 years ago this Saturday.
This was also the name Queen Victoria used when she addressed her subjects on the conduct of the South African War, which at that stage the British thought was all but over.
Sources: Vincent Carruthers, The Magaliesberg; Louis Creswicke, The South African and Transvaal War, Vol 5, Jack Seale
What’s in a name?
People traveling from the vicinity of Hartbeespoort towards the bushveld in Northwest, have to cross the Magaliesberg either over Kommandonek or Silkaatsnek if they don’t go over the Dam wall. Both these passes are steeped in history and especially Silkaatsnek has been the site of several bloody battles over the past two hundred years.
The name of pass seems to have confuse writers of the years. Variously known as (Mo)zilikatsnek, Tulikat’s Neck, Nitral’s Neck, Uitvalsnek or the presently accepted Silkaatsnek, it derived its name initially from the battles in 1837 in which the impis of the Matabele tyrant were defeated by combined onslaught of Voortrekkers, Griekwas and Barolong and forced out of the area. In 1864 it was the site of skirmishes between supporters of Paul Kruger and Servaas Schoeman in the civil war which marked the early days of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek.
Most of the variations on the name are probably the result of people unfamiliar to the area and its history trying to pronounce what to them must have been completely foreign sounds, corrupting the original name. At least on name, Uitvalsnek, was probably derived from the farm on which the pass is located - the piece of ‘uitvalgrond’ adjoining Rietfontein.
An expert on local military and general history of the area, Jack Seale, is sure the name Nitralsnek is due to a misunderstanding created by someone’s poor handwriting. Written carelessly in longhand the U of Uitval could easily be mistaken for an N and the v for an r. This is the name used by some British historians when they refer to the Battle of Silkaatsnek of 11 July 1900, exactly 109 years ago this Saturday.
This was also the name Queen Victoria used when she addressed her subjects on the conduct of the South African War, which at that stage the British thought was all but over.
Sources: Vincent Carruthers, The Magaliesberg; Louis Creswicke, The South African and Transvaal War, Vol 5, Jack Seale
