Emerging colonial frontiers
Contact and conflict with the KhoiKhoi
| GRADE LEVEL | THEME | TOPIC | DURATION |
| 7 | SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY | EMERGING COLONIAL FRONTIERS | x LESSONS |
Emerging colonial frontiers |
The Khoikhoi The Khoikhoi were living at the Cape of Good Hope when the Dutch arrived. Today this group of people are nearly extinct. The Khoikhoi race appeared very different from Jan van Riebeeck and his people. They were short, had a dark yellowish skin colour and wore clothes from animal skins. They didn’t have guns and used bows, arrows and spears to hunt and fight. They were a nomadic people and believed that the land belonged to everyone. This meant that they allowed their cattle to graze where there was food and didn’t own any camps or farms.
Picture
A: The Khoikhoi painted by Samuell Daniell (Africana-Museum) Free Burghers Establishing a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope required a lot of work. Jan van Riebeeck had to build a small fort, protect fresh water sources and plant a garden of fresh vegetables and fruits to supply the ships that stopped at the Cape. He needed help to do this and asked the VOC to send slaves. He was not allowed to enslave the local people, as the Cape was not a colony and only a halfway station to the Far East. It was also to maintain a good trading relationship with the local Khoikhoi. It took a long time before the slaves from the VOC arrived. Van Riebeeck’s orders not to capture local slaves was therefore disobeyed and some Khoikhoi were turned into slaves. Many ships stopped at the Cape and the employees of the VOC sent to work at the trading station struggled to supply them. Van Riebeeck suggested that they start their own small farms to grow more crops and keep some livestock. This way they could feed themselves and their families as well as sell their produce to the VOC and make some money. The men who took on these small farms had to join a local military group called a militia and were released from their contracts with the VOC. They were called free burghers or citizens. Contact and conflict In the years following their arrival at the Cape in 1652 the Dutch had a friendly relationship with the local Khoikhoi. This only lasted for about 4 years. At first the Khoikhoi saw the Dutch as trading partners and exchanged goods with them. When they realised that the Dutch wanted their land they stopped trading and refused further contact. In 1656 the two groups clashed for the first time. The conflict came about because the Dutch free burghers took over the land around the Cape to use as farms The Khoikhoi were nomadic and felt that the farmers were stealing the land they used to graze their cattle. The two groups were in competition for the same territory. The Khoikhoi also felt that their freedom of movement was being restricted while the Dutch farmers saw themselves as superior and felt the Khoikhoi were only useful as workers on their farms. The Khoikhoi attacked the Dutch again in 1659 and 1673, but lost both times. The Cape economy was largely driven by the labour of the slaves that had been imported by the VOC. The Dutch were the masters and they regarded the native local people as potential slaves and servants. By the end of the 1600s the Dutch controlled most of the area we call the Western Cape and the Khoikhoi were forced to move to the northern parts of the Cape Province. Most of their new home was dry and nobody else lived there except for the San.
Picture B: The San The Khoikhoi and San joined forces and started attacking the Dutch and other Khoi groups in the Cape. They stole cattle, robbed farms and attacked and killed farmers in the area. They did this to reject and drive away the farmers and the Khoikhoi who had decided to stay in the Cape. Most of the Khoikhoi who stayed on the farms were shepherds and some were used as temporarary workers. This meant that the farmers didn’t need to provide them with lodgings, clothes or medicine. The Khoikhoi had always been a nomadic group and could not adjust to farm work. Smallpox
Picture
C: The different stages of Smallpox On 8 April 1713 some of the slaves at the Cape got smallpox. Because it is so contagious it quickly spread to the Dutch settlers and the Khoikhoi, who had never been exposed to the disease and had no natural resistance. Nearly all the Khoikhoi who contracted the disease died and most of the survivors fled and became involved in conflict with Khoikhoi groups who had left the Cape earlier. The epidemic lasted for nearly 4 months, but was not the last time smallpox broke out at the Cape. In 1755 and 1767 two more epidemics nearly destroyed all the Khoikhoi people and their way of life and culture. Those who were left adopted the religion, traditions, language and clothes of the Dutch. Click
here for our Special Project on African Treks. Learning Outcome: The learner is able to compile and organise information from maps to obtain evidence about the Khoikhoi and the Dutch arrival at the Cape. He or she is then able to use information from sources to present answers to questions on the topic, and to describe and make links between reasons for and results of events and changes. The learner is also able to communicate knowledge and understanding by formulating arguments based on evidence from sources.
|
Exercise