Die Afrikaanse Patriot was the first Afrikaans-language newspaper.

Initially a monthly magazine, it became a weekly two years later.

[1] Even though the first edition had just 50 subscribers, it swiftly drew sharp condemnation for promoting Afrikaans as a literary language, as it was then considered nothing more than a "kitchen" variety of Dutch.

[2] By the third year, subscription rose to 3,000 thanks to the support from readers in the Transvaal Republic.

[2] The newspaper would however lose much of its readership in 1892, when it endorsed Cecil Rhodes in its conflict against the president of Transvaal, Paul Kruger.