Dutch Cape Colony
South Africa, 1652–1795. Draft, not yet reviewed
The colony was founded in 1652 by a VOC expedition under Jan van Riebeeck to serve as a re-supply and layover port for VOC vessels trading with Asia. The Cape was under VOC rule from 1652 to 1795 and Batavian rule from 1803 to 1806. In 1795 the British occupied the Cape, and the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Britain.
Seat of power: Cape Town
No rulers documented for this era yet.
Culture
- After several years of service in the company, an employee could lease a piece of land in the Cape Colony as a Free Burgher. Free Burghers imported slaves from Madagascar, Mozambique and Asia, which rapidly increased the number of inhabitants.
- The Cape society in this period was thus a diverse one. The emergence of Afrikaans reflects this diversity, from its roots as a Dutch pidgin, to its subsequent creolisation.
- At the time of first European settlement in the Cape, the southwest of Africa was inhabited by Khoikhoi pastoralists and hunters. Conflicts with the settlers and the effects of smallpox decimated their numbers in 1713 and 1755.
Picture
The Castle, built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, is the oldest existing building in South Africa.
Image: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.