Fransjohan Pretorius (born January 25, 1949, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

) is a South African

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and professor

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of History at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

. His main field is the history of the

Second Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

(1899–1902), to which he contributed many scholarly books and articles, both as an author and editor. His 1999 book, ''Life on Commando during the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902'', was runner-up for the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

Alan Paton Award The ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Awards are awarded annually to South African writers by the South African weekly newspaper the ''Sunday Times''. They comprise the ''Sunday Times'' CNA Literary Award for Non-fiction and the ''Sunday Times'' ...

. The

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

edition won three major awards. He received the Stals Prize from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Arts and Science) in 1998, and is a former editor of 'Historia', the journal of the South African Historical Association.

Education and career

Pretorius matriculated at the

Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (also known as Affies), is a Public school (government funded), public Afrikaans, Afrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Arcadia, Pretoria, Elandspoort in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of So ...

(Affies). He studied history at the University of Pretoria (UP) and so is a ''Tukkie'' (derived from Transvaalse Universiteitskollege, the original name of the University of Pretoria). He continued his studies at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and obtained a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in history at the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, UNISA has over 400,000 student ...

(UNISA) in 1989. He was lecturer in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies from 1989 until his retirement in 2014 at the University of Pretoria. Pretorius studied history at the University of Pretoria (UP) and so is a ''Tukkie'' (derived from Transvaalse Universiteitskollege, the original name of the University of Pretoria). He continued his studies at

and obtained a

in history at the

(UNISA) in 1989. He was lecturer in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies from 1989 until his retirement in 2014 at the University of Pretoria.

Awards

In 1998 Pretorius received the Stals Prize for Cultural History from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (SAAWK, South African Academy of Science and Art) and in 2001 the Prestige Prize from the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge (FAK, Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Associations). In 2019, he was awarded the annual Jan H. Marais Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Afrikaans as an academic language.

Personal life

Pretorius is married to Laurette Pretorius, a computer science professor emeritus at the University of South Africa.

Publications

Pretorius' publications include:

In English

* 1999 – 479 pages. * 1999 – * 2001 – * 2001 – * 2009 – * 2014 – 712 pages. * 2023 –

In Afrikaans

* 1991 – * 1999 – * 2001 – * 2007 – * 2012 – * 2020 –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretorius, Fransjohan 1949 births Academic staff of the University of Pretoria Afrikaans-language writers Afrikaner people Leiden University alumni Living people People from Johannesburg Second Boer War South African academics South African historians South African writer stubs University of Pretoria alumni University of South Africa alumni