White colonization at the Cape and its Consequences; History of South Africa part iii

WHITE COLONIZATION OF THE CAPE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES


The history of South African colonization goes back to the journeys of discoveries organized by the Portuguese. The climax of these dangerous and tiresome sea journeys came in 1497 when the famous Portuguese Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope as far as the present day Natal.

Since then, the route around the Cape of Good Hope became very important in European commercial relation with Asia. These commercial relation between Europe and Asia were dominated by British Dutch, and Portuguese through their chartered companies. For example:

• Continuation….

– In 1600 the English East India company was founded ( British company)

– Two yeas later, that is in 1602, various Dutch companies amalgamated to form the Dutch East Indian Company, what was financially powerful than the English one.

• However, for the traders, the journey from Europe to the far East was too long and tiresome. By the end of the journey for example:

– The traders and crew (all the people who work on the ship) were extremely tired.

– Quite frequently they run out off fresh water (note that ocean water are too saline to drink)

– They also run out of fresh vegetable and fruits

– Many died on the way as a result of diseases

– Many more suffered scurvy as a result of lack fresh supply of vegetable and fruits.

– Their ship were greatly wrecked by storms.

• Continuation……
• As a result of all these problem, it was quiet clear that there was a need for a calling station/ refreshment station/ half way life, where:

– The long journey could be broken down

– Fresh supplies of food and water could be obtained

– The wrecked ship could be repaired

– The sick could be treated

– The ship could be refueled.

– The crew could get refreshments

• Thus, between 1619 and 1647 several attempts to identify and establish a calling station were made by traders and sailors without success.

– In 1647, the Haarlem, a Dutch East Indian Company’s ship was wrecked at the Table bay, the region around modern Cape Town. The traders and the crew remained there for six months.

• Continuation….

– To sustain their lives, they had to grow vegetables and bartered /exchanged them with the local people for meat.

– Throughout that period of their stay, they realized the area had favorable climate and fertile soils, and thus was suitable for settlement.

– On their return home after repairing their wrecked ship (Haarlem), these traders and the crew who stacked at the Cape for six months, gave a good report about the area (Table bay)

– Such good news triggered the Dutch East Indian Company to establish a calling station at the Table Bay.

– The responsibility of establishing a calling station was given to Jan Van Riebeck who officially arrived at the Cape on 4th June, 1652.

• Continuation…..

– Jan Van Riebeck was instructed by the company that the station would serve four important functions:

• A fort called Good Hope was to be built at the Cape to accommodate a garrison for defensive purposes (to defend and foster Dutch commercial interests)

• The station was to supply sailors with vegetables, fruits, and meat, and therefore vegetable gardens had to be established . Meat had to be obtained by exchanging European goods for cattle and sheep from Hottentots.

• The station was to act as a place of refreshment for the sailors following long journeys.

• A hospital was to be built to treat the sick, and here sailors could get treatment and rest.

• Continuation…..

However the practicality of establishing a refreshment station and running it in a distant and unfamiliar land was a great challenge to Jan Vaan Riebeck and other employees at the station.

Thus, the first ten (10) years were full of disappointments. The common problems that Jan Vaan Riebeck and other employees of the company encountered at the Cape included the following:


– They arrived during the dry season . Therefore, from the very beginning , the company’s servants at the Cape suffered from malnutrition, scurvy and generally poor health caused by unexpected and prolonged drought and therefore, they were unable to grow food. Thus, most of them were disappointed with the living conditions at the Cape.

• Continuation….

– When the rain season came, it brought a lot of discomfort/ embarrassment. The company’s men lived in old tents and poorly constructed wooden huts. Leaking roofs, wet floor and cold huts became additional problems.

– The rain also came with severe dysentery (severe diarrheas with loss of blood

– Cattle and sheep for barter / exchange were not always available at the right time as the Hottentots pastoralists were constantly moving with their cattle in search of pasture.

– Though the settlers were expected to grow some food, they were too few for the task, and they were not experienced farmers

– They were required to grow wheat and barley which needed much care and money, particularly during the first few years of experimentation.

• Continuation…

• Thus, if the refreshment station at the Cape was to serve the purpose for which it was built, a new policy for overcoming the obstacles had to be adapted. Thus, Jan Vaan Riebeck proposed several recommendations to improve the situation:


– It was decided to expand the settlement to bring more and more land under cultivation in order increase agricultural production.

– It was decided to increase the number of workers and more men were also needed

– The workers should be free men and not employees of the company and then, these workers would be given plots of land free of charge.

• Continuation….

• These recommendations were accepted by the company. Thus, in February 1657, the first group of settlers were discharged from company’s service and given plots around the Cape to begin implementing the recommendations.


• With the establishment of this settlement, the process of European colonization of South Africa began. Generally, progress was so low, however, by 1672, there were only 64 colonists / settlers at the Cape.

• Continuation…

Dutch progress at the Cape

• As already noted, Dutch progress at the Cape in the early years was so slow. The slow development at the Cape was due to strict regulations imposed by the company, which rigidly controlled the activates of the colonists/settlers.


• These regulations made it impossible for individual colonists to prosper/flourish (do well) economically. For example:


– The colonists were required to remain in the country for 20 years without leaving the colony. This means that, their stay in South Africa was a 20 years contract.


– The colonists had to participate in the defense of the colony/country, apart from their normal farming function.
– The worst restriction was that prices of foodstuff they produced were kept very low by the company, while the facilities for marketing such commodities were severely limited. For example:


• Continuation……


All cattle had to be sold to the company at a fixed price, regardless of cattle health, size, weight or age.


The colonists were not allowed to pay more money to the Hottentots for their cattle than the price paid by the company ( they were supposed to offer the same price as the one offered by the company)


 In order to protect the company’s monopoly of trade in tobacco, the colonists were not allowed to grow tobacco, and instead, they had to grow sufficient vegetables to meet company’s needs. This aimed at minimizing competition in tobacco production.


 In return for the right of pasturage, the settlers had to pay 10% of their cattle to the company.

• Continuation….

• Thus, by the end of 1650s, the Cape settlement was still very small and temporary in nature. It consisted of small number of fruit growers, gardeners and keepers.

• In other respect however, the settlement had some improvements. For example:

– A temporary hospital was built to offer medical services to the traders and crew.

– Slave labor was introduced. This aimed at making labor abundant , cheap, and therefore, lower the cost of production. The first 12 slaves arrived in 1657 from Java (modern Indonesia) and Madagascar, the following year 185 slaves were imported from West Africa. By 1708 the number of slaves scored 1200.

• Continuation…

The use of slave labor had far reaching effects in the history of South Africa:
– The policy of racial superiority and racial discrimination originated from slave labor policy by the end of the 17th century.

– The Boers hated unskilled tasks and hard work. Hard work was considered to be the domain of Non-Europeans who were regarded as hewers of woods and drawers of water

– The use of slaves in South Africa was the birth of an entirely new community, the Cape colored people. These were people of a mixed race, being the result of the union between the Boers , and the slaves, Hottentots, Bushmen, and Xhosa. By 1820 the Cape coloreds had gradually abandoned their original languages and adapted Afrikaans, the language spoken by the Boers.

• Continuation….
Souring / unfriendly relations and wars between the Boers and the Africans

• As the number of the Boers grew at the Cape, they found it important to expand further in the interior. Thus, by 1770s the Boers had advanced some 500 miles east of Cape town. The possible explanation for their expansion further into the interior include the following:

– In the early years there was plenty of unoccupied land. This encouraged the settlers to move from one area to another

– The settlers used superior weapons especially firearms to crush down any attempt made by local population to limit their expansion. In this way, they were able to expand and spread further in to the interior.
• Continuation….

– The Hottentots had been greatly weakened by small pox epidemics of 1713, thus making unable to pose a stiff resistance against Boer expansion in the interior. Following this epidemic, the Hottentots population sharply declined, and they became highly disorganized. This provided a room for the Boers to expand.

– Apart from the Cape area, most of the land was a semi desert with scanty and unreliable rainfall. This encouraged the Boers to migrate from one are to another in search of good land with adequate rainfall and water supply.

– Company’s laws greatly restricted the economic activities of the settlers. Prices of local products were kept extremely low for the farmers to make high profit. This disappointment encouraged the settlers to move away from the Cape to establish new homes in the areas where they would be free from such restrictions and official control.

• Continuation…..

– Insecurity of land tenure (occupancy rights) had a negative effect of discouraging improvements.

» For example:

• On the death of the owner of the land (farm),the buildings within the farm and any other valuable properties, particularly permanent ones, were sold by auction (public sale).

• The money obtained from the sale were then divided equally among the heirs/inheritors of the deceased

Therefore, this company’s land policy made them to move away to areas where they would be free from such restrictions.

• Continuation…..

This expansion made the Boers to come into direct contact with the indigenous African population, especially the Hottentots. This territorial expansion of the Boers therefore, took place at the expanse of the indigenous Africans.

– For example:

• The khoi were dispossessed of their grazing land

• The Khoi were dispossessed of their cattle

• The Khoi were forced to offer their labor power as laborers and herdsmen.

• Trading relations and transactions among Africans were greatly interrupted by the Boers expansion.

• The Khoi lost their political sovereignty and dignity.

• Continuation…

• Following massive expansion of the Boers, the Khoi managed to unite in armed opposition several times. Despite their brave attacks, the Khoi, were defeated.

• Having accepted defeat, the Boers assumed that all Khoikhoi land, no matter where it be, was free and empty land and therefore ,theirs to take.

• Thus, by the end of the 18th century, the Cape colony had considerably expanded. It had started as a temporary calling station consisting of a few houses on shores of the Table bay. Gradually it developed into a beautiful small town with the necessary defense systems and basic social services.