The Covenant (novel)

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The Covenant is a historical novel by American author James A. Michener published in 1980. The primary setting of the novel is southern Africa, home to five distinct populations: Bantu (native Black tribes); Indian, Chinese and other imported workers; Coloured (the result of generations of miscegenation between white and Black populations); English; and Afrikaner. The novel traces the history, interaction and conflicts between these populations from prehistoric times up to the 1970s.

Michener writes largely from the point of view of the Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers, French Huguenot immigrants who traveled to South Africa to practice freedom of worship in the Calvinist tradition, and other European groups, all of whom were absorbed by the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch Reformed Church. The Afrikaners, whose Dutch ancestors established a trading and refueling stop at Cape Town in the 17th century to service ships moving between Holland and Java, considered themselves the "New Israelites" and found in the Old Testament verification for their belief that God favored their conquest of the new land. Their strict, fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible supported them through the Great Trek of the 19th century; battles against Zulu and other Bantu tribes who also laid claim to lands to the north; the Anglo-Boer War (when small guerrilla bands of a few hundred Afrikaner farmers were able to hold off tens of thousands of British regulars); and their institution of apartheid in the 20th century, when they insisted on complete racial purity, as per the moral expectations of the God of Israel and a determination to keep political power in the hands of Whites. Michener shows that the Afrikaner suppression of Blacks was also due in part to Dutch animosity against the English, who took over political and financial control of southern Africa in 1795. As one Bantu character observes: No matter whether the English or the Dutch win, the Blacks always lose.

Both historical and fictional characters appear throughout the novel. The members of the fictional Van Doorn family depict the Dutch heritage of South Africa. The fictional Saltwood family represents the English settlement of the area. The Nxumalo family illustrates the area's black heritage and culture. African Zulu leader Shaka appears in the novel, during the chapter on the Mfecane.