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VAN RIEBEECK ARRIVES
Refreshment station established at the Cape, in April, by The Dutch East India Company, based in Amsterdam, to provide for its ships on their voyage to the East. -
Period: to
OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE - THE END OF SLAVERY
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Abraham van Batavia, the first slave, arrives.
Abraham van Batavia who arrived in March 1653 as a stowaway on the Ship, Malacca, was the first slave to arrive. (note: All slaves named van Batavia were not necessarily from Batavia. As Batavia was a centre of VOC power, slaves were brought there from elsewhere at this time generally from India). Abraham was returned to his owner in Batavia in 1656. Eva van Madagascar and her 3 year old son Jan Bruyn arrived in 1654, and Anthony van Madagascar in the same year. Maria van Bengal joined van Rieb -
FREE BURGHERS
Farms granted to Dutch free burghers (ex-Company soldiers).
The first free burghers were granted land along the banks of the Liesbeeck River and, with some financial help, were expected to grow wheat, which they would sell to the Company at a set price. From these few farms a colony eventually grew.
Those free burghers who did choose to lease grazing land, generally turned to stock farming as their economic mainstay. The land they occupied was usually too arid for crop production and too far fr -
CASTLE IS BUILT
Slaves helped build the Castle - Fort Good Hope.
Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest colonial building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed from clay and timber and built by Jan van Riebeeck upon his arrival at the Cape in 1652.
Its position indicates the original position of the shoreline, which has been extensively changed due to land reclamation, at high tide the waves would lap agains -
PETITION FOR SLAVES
Free burghers petition for slave trade to be opened to free enterprise.
The burghers wanted to be able to import slaves from any country they wished. This meant that the prices for the slaves would drop. -
THE TULBAGH SLAVE CODE
Governor Rijk Tulbagh codifies slave law. A census taken of the Cape colony at the time showed the two populations, both slaves and settlers to be roughly equal to about 6000 each. SLAVES
* are to be indoors after 10 p.m. or carry a lantern
* are not to ride horses or wagons in streets
* are not to sing, whistle or make any other sound at night
* who struck a slaveholder - put to death
* are not to stop in the street to talk to other slaves
* are not permitted to own or to carry guns -
SLAVE TRADE OPENED TO FREE ENTERPRISE
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FIRST OCCUPATION OF THE CAPE BY THE BRITISH
THE BRITISH ABOLISH TORTURE AND SOME OF THE MORE BRUTAL FORMS OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT THAT THE DUTCH HAD IMPLEMENTED.
ABOLISH = outlaw something: to put an end to something such as a law or slavery! -
Dutch temporarily re-occupy the Cape of Good Hope
THERE HAD BEEN A TRUCE CALLED IN EUROPE BETWEEN THE TWO NATIONS, SO THE DUTCH TEMPORARILY TOOK BACK CONTROL. THIS ONLY LASTED FOR THREE YEARS. -
BRITISH RE-TAKE THE CAPE
After a battle in January 1806 on the shores of Table Bay, the Dutch garrison of Cape Castle surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird. -
Abolition of Slave Trade Act
Britain passes Abolition of Slave Trade Act. outlawing the Trans-Indian Oceanic slave trade. It was now illegal to be a slave trader buying or selling slaves, but it was still legal to own slaves. -
Britain enforces the Abolition of Slave Trade Act
Britain enforces the Abolition of Slave Trade Act, ending the external slave trade. Slaves can now be traded only within the colony and not brought in from other countries. -
SLAVERY ABOLISHED
Slavery abolished on the 1 December. Slaves become "apprentices" for four years to make them 'fit for freedom'.They receive some payment for their work now, but cannot yet leave. -
THE GREAT TREK
VOORTREKKERSStart of the Great Trek by 12 000 frontier farmers, who demonstrated their unhappiness about the government's policy to release slaves from the control ofFree Burghers as slaveholders.
The Great Trek was an eastward and north-eastward migration away from British control in the Cape Colony during the 1830s and 1840s by Boers (Dutch/Afrikaans for "farmers"). -
EMANCIPATION DAY
End of slave "apprenticeship".About 39 000 slaves are freed on Emancipation Day, 1 December 1838. Only 1,2 million pounds is paid out against the original estimated compensation amount of 3 milion pounds which were initially set aside by the British government in compensation monies for theabout1 300 affected slaveholding farmers at the Cape Good Hope.
