The following lists events that happened during 1837 in South Africa.

• Potgieter & Uys attack Mzilikazi, driving him & the AmaNdebele beyond the Limpopo into present-day Zimbabwe.
• Voortrekker leader Piet Retief publishes his Manifesto which sets out the reasons the Voortrekkers are leaving the Cape Colony.
• Piet Retief and his followers leave the Cape Colony.
• Piet Retief orders Erasmus Smit to be ordained as a minister of the Voortrekkers, but meets with opposition because they consider him as being too old and sickly at 59.
• The voortrekkers under the leadership of Piet Retief arrived in Natal over the Drakensberg mountains after trekking overland from the Cape Colony during the Great Trek.
• Retief negotiates land with Zulu chief Dingane, offering cattle & rifles. The cattle is delivered, and the rifles withheld, causing Dingane to order Retief's execution.
• The Voortrekker Republic of Natalia begins to be established.

See Years in South Africa for list of References