community
Dutch / VOC Cape
Cape and VOC settler world from the mid-seventeenth century.
Parent: Cape Settler / Boer / Afrikaner
Tier-1 family for the Dutch East India Company, free burghers, trekboers, and Cape Dutch institutions.
In this family
Events
Late sixteenth centuryThe Cape becomes a recurrent provisioning node on the route to Asia4 August 1595Cornelis de Houtman's fleet reaches São Brás6 August 1595Claimed agreement between Dutch sailors and local Khoekhoe near Mossel Bay1601Joris van Spilbergen anchors in Table Bay20 March 1602Dutch East India Company chartered1619Anglo-Dutch joint settlement at the Cape is proposed1647–1648Nieuwe Haerlem survivors maintain a temporary Cape campMarch 1647Nieuwe Haerlem wrecked in Table Bay1649Janssen and Proot recommend a VOC station at the Cape1651VOC directors authorise a permanent Cape refreshment station1652Company's Garden established1652Construction begins on Fort de Goede HoopFrom 1652VOC begins sustained livestock barter with Khoekhoe communities6 April 1652Jan van Riebeeck arrives at Table Bay1654VOC authorises the importation of enslaved labour to the Cape1655VOC begins systematic exploration beyond the Cape PeninsulaMarch 1655Three enslaved people recorded at the Cape1656First recorded manumission of an enslaved person at the Cape1657Doman sent to Batavia for interpreter training1657VOC officials formulate territorial separation measuresFebruary 1657First free burgher farms established along the Liesbeeck River22 October 1657Abraham Gabbema explores the Berg River region1658First school for enslaved children established28 March 1658Amersfoort brings enslaved Angolans to the Cape6 May 1658Hasselt brings a second large group of enslaved Africans29 May 1658Corenhoop slave lodge completed at the fort10 July 1658Autshumato banished to Robben Island1659–1664VOC expeditions search for Namaqua trade and mineral resources2 February 1659First wine pressed at the Cape1 May 1659First burgher militia establishedMay 1659–April 1660First Khoikhoi–Dutch War1660VOC constructs a fortified Liesbeeck frontierApril 1660Negotiated peace ends the First Khoikhoi–Dutch War31 January 1661Pieter Cruythoff reaches Namaqua territory1662Krotoa baptised into the Dutch Reformed Church7 May 1662Jan van Riebeeck leaves the Cape21 November 1662Sousoa encourages direct VOC trade with the Hessequa1664Krotoa marries Pieter van Meerhof2 January 1666Foundation stones laid for the Castle of Good Hope1668Hieronimus Cruse ordered to explore the south-east coast1669Krotoa banished to Robben Island4 January 1669Hieronimus Cruse departs on a Hessequa trade expedition1672VOC concludes disputed land-transfer agreements with Khoekhoe leadersAugust 1672VOC establishes an agricultural outpost at Hottentots Holland1673VOC records a land transaction with Chaitain Dhouw18 July 1673Second Khoikhoi–Dutch War begins1676VOC launches a renewed campaign against the Cochoqua10 December 1676–6 January 1677Cruse leads a livestock expedition toward Captain Claes and the Hessequa1677Cornelis Wobma surveys the west coast25 June 1677Cochoqua submission ends the seventeenth-century Khoikhoi–Dutch war1679Castle of Good Hope completed28 July 1679New Company Slave Lodge completed12 October 1679Simon van der Stel appointed Commander of the Cape1680Stellenbosch settlement foundedLate seventeenth centuryCape slave-import network expands across the Indian OceanLate seventeenth centuryWheat and wine farming expand in the south-western Cape1682Olof Bergh undertakes a west-coast expedition1683Olof Bergh conducts a second northern expedition1684VOC imposes tighter price controls on indigenous trade1685Slave Lodge school established on a more permanent basis16 July 1685Constantia granted to Simon van der StelAugust 1685–January 1686Simon van der Stel leads an expedition to Namaqualand1686Stavenisse wrecked on the south-eastern coast1687Upper Berg River Valley opened to free-burgher settlement1688–1689French Huguenot refugees arrive at the Cape4 January–10 April 1689Isaq Schrijver leads an expedition into the eastern interior1690Enslaved people in Stellenbosch attempt an uprisingc. 1690sTrekboer pastoral expansion emerges beyond the settled districtsLate seventeenth centuryA Cape Dutch creole speech community begins to develop14 December 1691Simon van der Stel becomes Governor of the Cape20 July–August 1693VOC backs rival captain Koopman in an attack on Dorha11 February 1699Willem Adriaan van der Stel succeeds his father1705–1707Burgher opposition to Willem Adriaan van der Stel intensifies28 February 1706Adam Tas is arrested1707Willem Adriaan van der Stel is recalled22 February 1707News arrives that the Lords Seventeen have ruled against Van der Stel1713Smallpox epidemic devastates Cape society3 July 1714VOC establishes the loan-place system1727–1729Extraordinary soldier desertions under Governor Noodt1730Riet Valleij cattle post is first recorded9 July 1737Georg Schmidt arrives at the Cape1738Mission station at Baviaanskloof is establishedc. 1742Schmidt baptises Khoekhoe converts1743Swellendam is founded5 March 1744Georg Schmidt departs the Cape1755Second major smallpox epidemic21 November 1757Swellendam Khoekhoe herders report armed cattle seizuresFebruary–March 1766Meermin slave revolt1767Third major smallpox epidemicLate 1770s–early 1780sCape burgher political turmoil and “Cape Patriot” mobilisation1778VOC extends eastern boundary to the Fish and Bushmans rivers1779–1781First Frontier War1780–1781Van Jaarsveld’s commandos claim to clear the Zuurveld1781–1783French-supported defence build-up transforms Cape fortifications1786Graaff-Reinet is foundedAugust 1788–29 April 1790Jan Paerl leads a Khoekhoe resistance movement1789–1793Second Frontier War1792Moravians return to the former Baviaanskloof missionMay 1793H. C. D. Maynier becomes landdrost of Graaff-Reinet27 December 1794São José slave ship wrecks at Camps Bay1795Graaff-Reinet burghers expel Maynier and revolt1795Swellendam declares itself independent of VOC authority11 June 1795British fleet arrives in False BayAugust 1795Early written Afrikaans appears in a Muizenberg poem7 August 1795Battle of Muizenberg16 September 1795Cape capitulates to Britain25 March 1802Treaty of Amiens21 February 1803–8 January 1806Batavian Republic assumes control of the Cape8 January 1806Battle of Blaauwberg and the second British occupation of the Cape13 August 1814Cape formally ceded to Britain13 October 1867First recorded colonial-period diamond discovery28 November 1885Cape railway reaches Kimberley1894Glen Grey Act11 October 1899–31 May 1902South African War