EUROPEAN OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE

THE DUTCH COLONISATION OF THE CAPE

The Dutch or Boers were the first Europeans to settle at the Cape in South Africa in 1652. They
came from Holland (Netherlands). The Dutch, just like other European countries, wanted to
control the sea route to India which would lead to taking over control of the profitable spice
trade. They also wanted to benefit from the Cape economically through the revenues and taxes
paid by sailors, soldiers, farmers and other Europeans using the Cape facilities.

To give themselves strength to compete, the Dutch put their resources together to form the
United Dutch East India Company (UDEIC) in the early 1600s and by 1652, the company grew
rapidly and owned a lot of ships and employees. The sea route from Holland to India and the
spice growing islands was long and dangerous and sailors faced a number of problems. They
lacked fresh water, fresh fruits and vegetables. Moreover they ran out of medicine and many of
them died of scurvy and malnutrition. Therefore, they recognized the need to have a refreshment
station somewhere and the Cape was strategically located for that that purpose.

In 1652 the UDEIC sent Jan Van Riebeck with 3 ships and 70 men to set up a refreshment station
at the Cape. Riebeck was given the following instructions;

 To build a sick bay or hospital for soldiers and sailors.

 To establish a vegetable and fruit garden at the Cape to combat scurvy.

 To treat the Khoikhoi with kindness. This was in order for the Dutch to gain access to the
Khoikhoi cattle.

Dutch activities at the Cape

 • The Boers led a semi-nomadic life, hence they found it necessary to have large land for
farming.

• The Dutch at the Cape had a strong faith in God. The most single important factor in
religious life of the Dutch settlers was the Dutch Reformed Church with the doctrine
centered on the teaching of the Old Testament.

• Slavery was also introduced throughout the Dutch empire and it was introduced at the
Cape in 1657 when Indian and later on West African slaves were shipped in to take up the
place of the Khoikhoi as servants. The early Dutch settlers believed that black people
were descendants of Ham while they were descendants of Shem (Genesis 9: 18-27).

• It is in the first hundred years of the Dutch settlement that racial segregation was
introduced at the Cape. At the beginning, the Dutch traded in cattle with the Khoikhoi
and intermarriages also started taking place with the local people. Children produced as a
result of intermarriages were called Cape coloureds. Even a common language called
Afrikaan was developed and the Dutch people were also referred to as Afrikaners.

• As the Dutch moved further into the interior of South Africa, the name was changed to
Boers meaning farmers.

Relationship between the Dutch and the other groups of people

The san

• The relationship between the Dutch and the San was disastrous for the San. The hunting
life of the San was made almost impossible due to competition for land from the Dutch
pastoralists and farmers.
 • As the land became more densely populated, Dutch farmers moved further into the
interior of South Africa. The San were driven to more isolated areas such as the Kalahari
and Namib deserts.

• The San resistance took the form of cattle raiding when wild animals became scarce.
These raids were met with ruthless Boer retaliation. Boers formed commando units and
put in place the policy of extermination. This policy was meant to completely wipe out
the San population.

• The Boers had no respect for the San and treated them like animals and hunted them
down as such. The San who were captured by the Boers especially the women and
children became slaves.

• However, the San also retaliated by killing many Boers and their cattle using bows and
poisoned arrows. Many of the San were also killed by the Boers and those who survived
the wars of extermination were driven into desert areas of the Kalahari and Namib.

The Khoikhoi

• The Khoikhoi were also affected in a number of ways by their contact with the Dutch in
that they lost their traditional grazing lands to the Boers.

• The Khoikhoi lost their cattle to the Boers. Initially, the Khoikhoi had welcomed the
opportunity to exchange their cattle for iron, tobacco and alcohol. This trade made the
Khoikhoi lose most of their cattle.

• Later on, the Boers started raiding the Khoikhoi for cattle. The Khoikhoi were also
forced into cattle raiding as a means of raiding for their lost cattle and grazing land.
 • Due to the loss of their economic way of life, the Khoikhoi were forced to become slaves
on Boer farms while some became labour migrants. Therefore, many Khoikhoi became
dependent on the Dutch.

• However, as time went on, many Khoikhoi people died from exotic (foreign) diseases
such as small pox and sexually transmitted diseases. After small pox epidemic of 1713,
the Khoikhoi population was reduced from 200,000 to only about 20,000 by 1805.

The Bantu

The conflict between the Dutch and the Bantu was mostly due to land ownership as both groups
needed land for agriculture and grazing. The land conflicts were mostly between the Xhosa and
the Boers. Land conflicts usually resulted into Wars of Dispossession or Kaffir Wars.

The first Kaffir War 1779-1781

The first Kaffir war involved the Xhosa chief, Rarabe who led a raid on Khoikhoi villages.
Unfortunately, he also took some cattle belonging to the Boers. The Boers responded by
attacking some Xhosa villages and getting away with cattle and land.

The Second Kaffir War 1789-1793

The Second Kaffir War was as a result of the expansion of the Xhosa across the Great Fish River
towards the area called Zuurvelds where the Boers had settled. The Boers reacted by organizing
commando raids against the Xhosa villages. In May 1792 the Xhosa attacked the Boers and got
away with 20,000 cattle. The Boers retaliated by attacking the Xhosa and captured 50,000 cattle.

The Third Kaffir War 1799-1803

The Third Kaffir War was started by the Boer uprising who wanted to get rid of the British out of
South Africa. The Xhosa took this opportunity to try and drive the Boers away from the
Zuurvelds. The British supported the Xhosa.

Therefore, the contact between the Boers and other groups ended in a disaster. By the end of the
1700s the UDEIC started facing problems because it was becoming bankrupt until the arrival of
the British at the Cape for the second time.

BRITISH OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE

• The British made their first occupation of the Cape from 1795 to 1802. The second
British colonization of the Cape was made in 1806 as a result of Napoleonic Wars in
Europe.

• The British occupied the Cape because it was a useful base from which they could protect
the sea route to India. They also discovered that in times of war, the Cape could be used
as a military base from which to attack enemy ships.

• At the end of the Napoleonic wars and at the Treaty of Paris in 1814, Holland handed
over the Cape to the British and in return, the Dutch were given 6 million pounds by the
British.

• Gradually, the British tried to change everything that was Dutch in nature by introducing
some reforms (changes) at the Cape. This greatly angered the Boers and made many of
them to move away from the Cape.

REFORMS MADE BY THE BRITISH AT THE CAPE

Black Circuit Courts-1811

These were mobile courts which gave the Khoikhoi rights to take their Boer masters to court if
they were being mistreated. The aim of these courts was to move around the area and hear
complaints of the Khoikhoi servants against their Boer masters.

These courts became unpopular with the Boers who named them Black Circuit Courts because
they were seen to be favouring black people. Some Boers refused to accept sermons from these
courts.

For example, in 1815 a Boer master refused to appear before the court for assaulting a servant.
He was shot while resisting arrest. The Boers were annoyed by this and decide to revolt against
the British. Those involved in the revolt were charged with treason and later hanged at a place
called Slachter’s Nek.

New currency-1825

In 1825 the British introduced new paper money called pounds to replace the Dutch currency
which had even lost value. This angered the Boers.

Lord Somerset’s proclaimation-1823

By this proclamation, the non-whites were given more rights before the law. The proclamation
gave the Khoikhoi servants limited working hours to give them time to attend to church service.
It also gave protection to blacks against their brutal masters.

New missionary society

The only missionary society that existed in South Africa before the arrival of the British was the
Dutch Reformed Church. However, the British allowed other missionary societies such as the
London Missionary Society (LMS). The new missionary societies and their leaders such as Dr.
John Philip opposed slavery and preached that all men were equal before God. This undermined
the teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church which encouraged racial prejudice. By this, the
Boers were angered because they encouraged slavery.

Anglicisation-1828

This meant the introduction of English language as the official language to be used at the Cape.
This proclamation was made in 1822 but it came into effect in 1828. English now became the
official language to be used in schools, churches, courts and in all public places. The Boers hated
this policy as they did not know how to speak English and they were not even willing to learn
how to speak it. As a result, the Dutch were forced to use black translators which was
humiliating to them.

The 50th Ordinance-1828

Because of the pressure mainly from the missionary, Dr. John Philip, the British passed the 50th
Ordinance in 1828. The ordinance;

• Gave equality before the law between Africans and whites at the Cape.

• Gave Africans rights to stop working for the Boers as slave labourers.

• Gave the Africans freedom of movement without carrying a pass.

• Gave the right of ownership to all the people of the Cape. The ordinance stated that both
blacks and whites would own cattle, land and other form of property.

• The servants were also allowed to work for wages.

The Press-1828

In 1828 laws governing the press were also reformed to give Africans freedom of expression.
This led to the creation of several newspapers in South Africa such as Grahamston Journal,
Commercial Advertiser and Zuid Afrikaan.

The judiciary

Positive changes were also made to the judiciary. The Supreme Court was set up and judges were
made independent of the state. Also English code of conduct was introduced to replace the
Roman Laws because they were very harsh.

Emancipation Act-1833

This act abolished slavery in South Africa and in all British colonies. This meant that slavery was
officially abolished at the Cape and slaves were to be released. By this act, the Boers were denied
cheap African labour on which the Boer economy depended. Though the Boers were promised
compensation for the loss of labour, it was difficult to claim it from London and many Boers
ended up giving up on the claim.

Land reforms

The British also introduced a new system of land ownership. The British insisted that;

• There should be legal documentation to ownership of land, meaning that the Boers were
required to provide title deeds for the land they owned.
 • A land owner should pay annual tax or rent.

• All land owned by the Boers had to be fenced to avoid encroachments.

• No land should be abandoned in search of virgin land.

All these new land policies angered the Boers who were used to own large tracks of land without
restrictions. In addition, the Boers could not produce legal documentation since most of these
lands were stolen from the Africans.

These reforms made the Boers feel unhappy and in reaction, they left the Cape into the interior of
Africa in what came to be known as the “Great Trek.”

THE GREAT TREK/AFRIKANER EXODUS

The word “Trek” is a Dutch name which means to journey from one place to another usually by
ox-wagons carrying all possessions. The Great Trek refers to the movement of the Boers from
the Cape region into the interior of Africa. The trek of the 1830s differed from other movements
of the Boers because it was well organized and it had disciplined leaders. The Boers had no
intentions of returning to the Cape colony after migrating.

CAUSES OF THE GREAT TREK

The causes of the Great Trek were the reforms introduced by the British at the Cape.

COURSE/STAGES OF THE GREAT TREK

Louis Trigardt

• Louis Trigardt was the first one to leave the Cape in 1835. The group comprised 10 ox-
wagons carrying 19 men and women, 60 children and a few San people as servants. Their
destination was Mozambique. For a year, the group settled at Zoutpansberg Mountain in
Transvaal.

• Whilst in the area, the group led a religious life in keeping their faith. The group held
family prayers and bible readings. Trigardt’s group was isolated and as time went on,
members of the group contracted fever. Animals (cattle) fell sick and they experienced
food shortages. Worst of all, they ran out of gun powder.

• Trigardt and many members of the group died of fever whilst others were attacked by a
local Bantu group called the Tsonga. Only 27 reached Mozambique eight months later.

Jan Van Rensberg and Erasmus

• This group did not travel very far before it was destroyed by the Ndebele under Mzilikazi
near the Vaal river in October, 1836 at the Battle of Vegkop.

Hendrik Portgieter and Sarel Cilliers

• The group started off from their base at Thaba Nchu in 1836. This was the largest group
of trekkers. The group entered Transvaal where the Ndebele of Mzilikazi had settled.

• The Ndebele and the Boers then started fighting. Though outnumbered, the Boers formed
a simple defence called a Laager and fought the Ndebele at the Battle of Vegkop in 1836.
The Ndebele managed to steal most of the Boer cattle.
 • Portgieter then organized a commando unit and launched a surprise attack on the
Ndebele. The Ndebele this time were defeated at the Battle of Mosega in 1837 and they
fled northwards into present day Zimbabwe. The Boers finally established themselves in
Transvaal while others crossed the Orange River and established the Orange Free State.

Piet Retief

• This group of almost 2000 people started off from the Cape in 1837 and was led by Piet
Retief. The group went up to the Tuguela valley where Piet Retief captured Sikonyela.
The capture of Sikonyela was assigned to him by the Zulu king, Dingane to test his
honesty before he could permit the Boers to enter Natal.

• Dingane then organized a feast in honour of the Boers. When the Boers were drunk, he
ordered the killing of Piet Retief and his men by shouting, “bulalani abathakati” which is
translated as kill the wizards.

• When the other Boers of Transvaal and Orange Free State heard about this, they
organized themselves under the command of Andries Pretorious. They attacked the Zulu
near Ncome River in December 1838 and the Zulu were defeated. The waters of river
Ncome were turned red with the blood of the dead. As such, the battle came to be called
Battle of Blood River.

• Dingane managed to escape to Swaziland and the Boers replaced him with Mpande who
was a puppet to them. The Boers were then allowed to settle in Natal by Mpande.

RESULTS OF THE GREAT TREK

 1. Emergence of Boer republics: One of the results of the Great Trek was the emergence of
Afrikaners or Boer republics where they exercised their own political powers as follows;

A) By the Sand River Convention of 1852, the British declared Transvaal as a Boer
republic.

b) The British withdrew from Orange Free State through the Bloemfontein Convention of
1854 making it a Boer republic.

c) After the defeat of Dingane, the Boers formed Natal Republic. However, the British took
it over in 1842 because of war between the Zulu people and the Boers and because the Boers
failed to establish a stable government.

2. It brought the Europeans into closer contact with the Africans. The Bantu now took the
position of the Khoikhoi and San as slaves. They became the source of labour for the
Boers.

3. It led to permanent separation between whites and blacks. This led to what came to be
called South African native problem. Colour bar was introduced where Europeans
considered themselves superior and Africans as inferior. This caused Apartheid in South
Africa.

4. It broke the unity of South Africa between the British and the Boers. This disunity made
the two to go to war in what came to be called the Anglo-Boer war.

5. For the Africans, the Great Trek was disastrous as it led to land dispossession and loss of
cattle. It also led to the breakdown of African culture and traditions.

6. The Great Trek also led to increased European interest into interior of Africa and
consequent discovery of minerals in South Africa.