The quest for self-determination has been a common thread throughout Afrikaner history. From the Slachter's Nek Rebellion, to Voortrekkers abandoning their homes in the Cape Colony and undertaking the Great Trek in 1837 to live beyond the reach of the British colonial administration, then again refusing to live under British rule with the abandonment of the Natalia Republic, establishment of the various other free Boer Republics, the First and the Second Boer Wars, the guerilla campaigns of the "Bittereinder", the 1914 Maritz rebellion and the policy of Separate Development, all indicated a strong drive for Afrikaner self-determination.