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The Battle of Blood River (16 December 1838) was fought on the bank of the Ncome River, in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between 464 Voortrekkers ("Pioneers"), led by Andries Pretorius, and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000[2] Zulu. Casualties amounted to over 3,000 of King Dingane's soldiers dead, including two Zulu princes competing with Prince Mpande for the Zulu throne. Three Voortrekker commando members were lightly wounded, including Pretorius.

The year 1838 was the most difficult period for the Voortrekkers since they left the Cape Colony, till the end of the Great Trek. They faced many difficulties and much bloodshed before they found freedom and a safe homeland in their Republic of Natalia. This was only achieved after defeating the Zulu King, Dingane, at the greatest battle ever fought in South Africa, namely the Battle of Blood River, which took place on Sunday 16 December 1838. This battle would not have taken place if the Zulu King honored the agreement that he made with the Voortrekkers to live together peacefully. The Zulu king knew that they outnumbered the Voortrekkers and decided to overthrow them and that lead to the Battle of Blood River.

In January 1840 Prince Mpande finally defeated King Dingane in the Battle of Maqongqe and was subsequently crowned as the new king of the Zulu by his alliance partner Andries Pretorius. After these two battles, Dingane's prime minister and commander in both the Battle of Maqongqe and the Battle of Blood River, General Ndlela, was strangled to death by Dingane for high treason. General Ndlela had been the personal protector of Prince Mpande, who after the Battles of Blood River and Maqongqe, became king and founder of the Zulu.

Legacy:

Popular Afrikaner interpretations of the Battle of Blood River (bolstered by sympathetic historians such as George Theal) played a central role in fostering Afrikaner nationalism[citation needed]. They believe that the battle demonstrated God's intervention and hence their divine right to exist as an independent people. This is stated in the official guidebook of the Voortrekker Monument (unveiled during the centenary celebrations of the Great Trek on 16 December 1949) that Afrikaners were a nation of heroes exemplifies the conclusions drawn from such events. From the Day of the Vow, Afrikaners consider the site and the commemoration of the day as sacred.

Historian S.P. Mackenzie doubts the reported number of Zulu deaths. He compares Zulu casualties at Ncome to battles at Italeni, Isandlwana, and Rorke's Drift. Mackenzie acknowledges that the casualty count was not impossible. Yet, in a similar victory on 15 October 1836 by Trekkers under Hendrik Potgieter over some 9,000 Matabele, the latter suffered only 350 casualties. In 1879, 600 British soldiers with breech-loading rifles caused 2,000 Zulu casualties, perhaps 1,000 killed over three hours before being overrun.

Ncome/Blood River monument:

Laager at the Blood River Memorial
A church, called "the Church of the Vow", was built in the Natal town of Pietermaritzburg in 1841, where Pretorius settled on the farm "Welverdient" (English: "Well-earned"), a gift from the Trekkers.

A monument was erected on the site of the battle in 1947, consisting of an ox-wagon executed in granite by the sculptor Coert Steynberg. In 1971 a laager of 64 ox wagons cast in bronze (by Unifront Foundry in Edenvale – Fanie de Klerk and Jack Cowlard) was erected and unveiled on 16 December 1972.

A stone representation at the Voortrekker Monument of the Laager formed at the Battle of Blood River
The Ncome monument on the east side of the river commemorates the fallen Zulu warriors. While the Blood River Memorial is associated with Afrikaner nationalism, the Ncome monument was intended as a symbol of reconciliation—but has become connected with Zulu nationalism.

On 16 December 1998 inauguration of the most recent version of the monument, the Zulu politician and then Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, apologized to the Afrikaner nation for the death of Piet Retief and the subsequent suffering. At the same time, Buthelezi also noted the suffering of the Zulus during Apartheid. He stressed that South Africans needed to consider the day as "a new covenant which binds us to the shared commitment of building a new country."

President Cyril Ramaphosa's 2019 speech:
On the Day of Reconciliation 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa described the Voortrekkers as invaders and the Zulu army as "Freedom Fighters".[29][better source needed] Dirk Hermann, managing director of the trade union Solidarity, criticized this historical claim as inaccurate and "criminalization of Afrikaner history", and emphasized the reconciliatory message of Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

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