Editing Boers (section)

=== Free Burghers ===
{{Main|Free Burghers}}

VOC favoured the idea of freemen at the Cape and many workers of VOC requested to be discharged in order to become free burghers (citizens). As a result, Jan van Riebeek approved the notion on favourable conditions and earmarked two areas near the [[Liesbeek River]] for farming purposes in 1657. The two areas which were allocated to the freemen, for agricultural purposes, were named Greenfield and Dutch Garden. These areas were separated by the Amstel River (Liesbeek River). Nine of the best applicants were selected to use the land for agricultural purposes. The freemen or free burghers as they were afterwards termed, thus became subjects of VOC and were no longer its servants.<ref>Precis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope, January 1652 – December 1658, Riebeeck's Journal, H.C.V. Leibrandt, pp. 47–48</ref>

In 1671, the Dutch first purchased land from the indigenous [[Khoikhoi]] beyond the limits of the fort built by Van Riebeek; this marked the development of the [[Dutch Cape Colony|Colony proper]]. As the result of the investigations of a 1685 commissioner, the government worked to recruit a greater variety of immigrants to develop a stable community. They formed part of the class of {{lang|nl|vrijlieden}}, also known as {{lang|nl|vrijburgers}} ('free citizens'), former VOC employees who remained at the Cape after serving their contracts.<ref name=Hunt1>{{cite book|last=Hunt|first=John|editor-last=Campbell|editor-first=Heather-Ann|title=Dutch South Africa: Early Settlers at the Cape, 1652–1708|date=2005|pages=13–35|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-1904744955}}</ref> A large number of {{lang|nl|vrijburgers}} became independent farmers and applied for grants of land, as well as loans of seed and tools, from VOC administration.<ref name=Hunt1/>