SAHIS3: EUROPEAN INTEREST IN SOUTH AFRICA

EUROPEAN INTEREST IN SOUTH AFRICA

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

The first Europeans to open up settlement in South Africa were Portuguese in the 15th century. They established themselves in modern parts of Angola and Mozambique.

The Dutch first appeared in South Africa in the 17th century and they had no intention of establishing a white colony and in time they developed into a settled society due to unforeseen circumstances.

They

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gained strength after gaining independence from the Spanish in the 16th century and this provided room for them to take part in the Indian and Atlantic trade which had been earlier dominated by the Spanish and Portuguese.

In order to effectively control the trade especially trade in spices several Dutch merchants combined to form a United Dutch East Indian Co and with this kind of organisation, the Dutch were able to expand their trade.

By the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch had even begun to settle at the cape.

The 1st Dutch settlers reached the cape in April 1652 under the leadership of Jan Van Riebeck. They arrived at the cape with 3 ships.

They had been instructed by the director of the company to erect a fort of 70 men to build a wooden building for the sick soldiers and sailors and establish a favourable environment for trade.

REASONS FOR THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT AT THE CAPE

• The Portuguese had been controlling the Indian ocean trade by themselves and the success attracted competition especially from the Dutch and the English.
• The kind of Spain and Portugal at the time was fighting the Dutch (Netherlands) so he refused the Dutch to buy spices from the Portuguese.
• They decided to find a sea route to India to take control of the spice trade in Europe.
• By the end of 16th century the Dutch were trading and building an empire in the East Indies.
• The Dutch wanted the cape as a resting place since the journey from Europe through the cape to the West Indies was so long and tiresome.
• The cape was located in the midway between Europe and Asia and would help to facilitate their trade.
• Shortage of fresh food and water which caused ill health was another reason for their settling at the cape.
• They normally ran short of food , medical supplies and usually many of them died on the way.
• The Dutch wanted the cape as a place where they would repair and refuel their ships. By the time they reached at the cape, their ships and boats would be damaged by the storms at the sea.
• The Dutch were interested in the cape because they wanted to establish a medical centre for helping in the treatment of the sick Dutch sailors.
• It became an urgent case because a quarter of the Dutch sailors died on the way due to diseases.
• The cape had Mediterranean climate and fertile soils favorable for growing fruits, vegetables and European settlement. With such climatic conditions, the dutch hoped to solve the problem of food shortage.

HOW THE DUTCH ESTABLISHED THEIR COLONY AT THE CAPE

The Dutch Cape colony started as a temporary calling station consisting of a few houses at the table bay. The settlement was started by a few Dutchmen who arrived at the cape in April 1652 led by Jan Van Riebeck.

Soon after settling at the cape he began to work as instructed by his bosses. He was joined by more settlers and by 1662 the settlement contained about 120 settlers.

In 1676, the idea of establishing a good Dutch colony in and around the cape was approved. Following this decision new settlements were established beyond the Cape.

The Dutch expansion northwards and eastwards from the original Cape boundary was achieved mainly by individual whites. This expansion was due to need for more land.

By the 1685, there was about 150 families in the major settlements like Stellenbosconond only 30 white families were in the Cape.

The Dutch colony grew stronger and self-sufficient by the end of the 17th century the whites got seriously involved in producing wheat and wine.
From 1705 the co-exercised firm control over the original Cape colony and taxed farmers heavily.

A number of affected farmers decided to move further inland. They led a semi-nomadic life that provided a reasonable living. They were able to provide things like meat, butter etc. to the Cape settlers.

The pastoral settlers found it necessary to own large farms. Many pastoral farmers in the interior were happy because they own large pieces of land without apply a license from the company and paying rent to it.

The expansion of the Cape colony was extremely disorderly because there wasn’t any coordination or restriction. The expansion of the Cape colony went on throughout the 18th century and by 1780 the fish river had become the Eastern boundary and the Northeastern boundary was near Calesbury.

THIS VIDEO SHOWS DUTCH SETTLEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

FACTORS THAT LED TO THE EXPANSION OF THE CAPE.

The extension of the Cape colony boundaries up to 1795 was caused by geographical, social, economic and administrative factors;

• In the early years of the Dutch settlement, there was plenty of unoccupied land in Southern Africa. It became easy and possible for settlers to acquire large pieces of land.
• Local inhabitants (Khoi-san) were politically disunited and weak compared to the Dutch who had better weapons and were determined to displace the Khoikhoi and San on their expensive campaigns.
• The loose social structure of the Khoikhoi had been undermined by the smallpox epidemics of 1713 which lowered their resistance and number so could easily be subdued and defeated.
• There were no natural barriers to their expansion northwards as the mountain ranges ran East and West. There were no river valleys to stop them.
• The land was semi-arid with the scarcity of rainfall and the Dutch farmers had to get large pieces of land to avoid overgrazing.
• The Dutch farmers were semi-normads i.e. moved in search of good land with adequate rainfall, water and pasture for animals and themselves.
• The pioneer farmers had large families and so the settlers were encouraged to get more land to settle surplus population.
• The company had no power and will or even manpower to punish farmers who got farms beyond the colony boundaries.
• Besides the company had imposed to high and unfair taxes to settlers. This forced many to move away from the colony (Cape) and establish themselves in the interior in order to be free.
• The company had rigid regulations that restricted economic activities for the colonialist’s example settlers were not supposed to sell their products to any other trade except the company even when the prices were kept very low.
• Tobacco was the company`s monopoly contracts for meat and wine were given to officers and the friends then the settlers hated this and decided to move away.

PROBLEMS FACED BY THE SETTLERS

On arrival, the settlers had many problems as a result of little knowledge about the geographical conditions and economic potentials of the area.

These were their problems;

• They were far away from their homeland therefore many suffered from homesickness.
• The settlers didn’t have dependable geographical knowledge and economic potentials of the area.
• They applied guesswork as most of them didn’t know what to grow on the land apart from vegetables.
• They suffered from malnutrition and generally poor health caused by unexpected and prolonged drought therefore the living conditions were very harsh yet good permanent housing.
• During winter they suffered a lot because of the cold and wet weather. In most cases their houses were leaking.
• Since they were few in numbers and weak, they lacked enough food for there was no one to grow it for them and so they had to buy.
• As they moved to the interior, they faced some natural and human obstacles example in the North West they found the land was arid and in the North East they were raided by the San.
• On some occasions, the inhabitants weren’t ready to give the settlers as many cows as they wanted. Hence cattle and sheep were not always available at the right time they needed it.
• Labour was a problem since the inhabitants were unwilling to supply the needed labour example the Khoikhoi who were normadic and weren’t used to manual labour.
• They also paid high annual rent to the D.E.I co and this left them with less or no money for survival.
• Crops grown i.e. wheat, barley needed much care and a lot of money hence production was costly and no profits in the early years.
• They dint have enough women for wives. This led to homosexuality and mixed marriages with the Africans.
• The company failed to provide settlers with enough land for cultivation.
• They lacked education facilities for their children. Therefore this affected their own civilization.

ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS MET BY THE SETTLERS.

Van Riebeck tried to solve the problems and improve the situation in a number of ways;

• He expanded the settlement by bringing more land under cultivation. This increased the agricultural production and solved the problem of lack of food.
• He increased the number of workers to provide labour to the settlers and these were mostly Africans.
• More men were also recruited for defence and this was done to protect the settlers and discourage workers from running away.
• Slave labour was also introduced to meet the labour demands. The first slaves came in 1657 from Magadascar and in 1658, 105 slaves were imported from West Africa. By 1708 there were 1058 slaves.
• A large castle was built for defence. In order to make the colony self-sufficient in food supply and defence, Simon Derstel, commander of the colony increased the number of settlers by making it easier for immigrants to come to South Africa as colonialists in 1679-1699.
• The new workers had to be free men and employees of the company. The men were also given land free of charge. This encouraged them to grow more food.
• In 1658, the Dutch colonialists protested against the company regulations and threatened to strike demanding that the price for crops should be fixed before they would cultivate more ground. As a result, prices of grains and other locally produced crops were slightly increased.
• The farmers were allowed to sell grain and other commodities to the crew of visiting ships.
• In 1707, a large hospital was built to cater for the health of the settlers especially protecting them from such diseases as dysentery and malaria.
  The immigrants were given free passage and free land the company employees were encouraged to resign and became farmers.
• About the government, Willan Adrian Vanderstel and other corrupt officials were dismissed. All their land and property in the colony were confiscated by the company.
• Large water reservoirs were built to use in drought this was both human and cattle consumption.
• Elementary schools were built and the church expanded. The parish clerks were in charge of the schools. These schools were for the sons of the settlers and were meant to promote their civilization.
• Orphan girls were imported from Howland to marry the settlers. This increased the population and even helped with defence as every man between 16-60years had to help in defence.

STRUCTURE OF THE GOVERNMENT AT THE CAPE

The Cape colony of the Dutch was under the rule of the Dutch East India Company. It was headed by a council of 17 which was responsible for the administration of its territories.

According to the charter of the company, the appointment of civil and military officers was one of its principle responsibilities.

From 1672-1794, the Cape colony was under officials with the tittle governor. He was the chairman of council of policy and this of company officials who were in charge of governing the people in the colony.

Members of the council of policy made laws for the colony. The settlers were not represented on this council but at times they protested against the injustices, for instance, they protested against governor Willen Adrian Vanderstel`s corrupt tendencies which led to his dismissal in 1707.

There was a council of justice that served as the main court of appeal. Its members sat in Cape Town and were appointed by a council of policy.
Unfortunately, the council of justice didn’t work as expected which was due to the fact that the judges were not qualified and in most cases served the interest of the colony.

For the purpose of defence, the council was established. This was due to the need to defend the colony from attacks from outside and from within Africa. On the council, there were important military officials and even the Burgher militaia were represented (these were between the age of 16-20).

Despite its weakness, the company extended its political control to various parts of the colony. However, its political control reduced as the distance from Cape Town increased.

The number of officials employed to the run affairs of the colony kept on increasing. In 1652, there were 120 officials, the number rose from 1016 in 1732, then 1645 in 1764 and 2093 in 1794.

HOW THE SETTLEMENT OF THE DUTCH AFFECTED THE KHOISAN

The Dutch settlement in South Africa affected the Khoisan in various ways;

• As the Dutch moved further inland, they immediately distracted the San`s life. They were driven to drier and upland areas where they made desperate attempts to survive.
• The San resorted to cattle raiding when game became scarce. The boar farms were raided at regular intervals during the first half of the 18th century nd this forced to the Boers to retaliate ruthless and the San were hunted dowm lile animals.
• The captured San usually women and children were enslaved by the Boers and the remaining San were forced to withdraw to the desert margins and Drakensburg Mountains in the North.

• The Khoikhoi lost their grazing lands to the Boers who were militarily stronger. In response, the Khoikhoi were forced to raid the Boer cattle as a way of revenge to the Loss of their grazing land.
• After losing their land, several Khoikhoi began working on Boer farms. Some of them became migrant labourers and became independent on the Dutch.
•  The Khoikhoi near the Cape were tempted to give away their cattle and land to the Dutch in exchange for tobacco and alcohol.
• Some Dutch settlers adopted some characteristics of the Khoisan example religion and economic way of life.
• Some of the Khoikhoi established settlements in the interior after acquiring some of the European characteristics. These included the Griqua who settled near the Orange River and the Nama who settled in Namibia.
• As a result of loss of land and cattle, the social, political and economic structure of the Khoikhoi was destroyed. They broke up into smaller groups and had no culture of their own.
• New diseases like small pox and venerial diseases to which the Khoikhoi were not immune were introduced and as a result many died especially in 17th century.
• Although the Dutch despised African women, they got married to them. The result of these intermarriages was anew race of half costs called coloureds.
• A new language was also developed as the result of the mixing. This was known as the Afrikaans and by 1820 the coloureds had adapted this language.