First Afrikaans Newspaper Published

Date: January 15, 1876 • Location: Paarl, South Africa

The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and also in Argentina, where a group in Sarmiento speaks a Patagonian dialect, and among the South African diaspora. It emerged during the late 19th century as a fusion of Dutch dialects spoken by the Dutch settlers in South Africa since the 17th century and the Dutch-based creole languages spoken by the Khoisan, Nguni and Coloured peoples.