Evening star., 1960-04-03
Origin Of the Whites
In South Africa
By ALICK DE MONTMORENCY
Cnntrihiltinr Writer

By ALICK DE MONTMORENCY
Contributing Writer
Clashes in South Africa bring
into focus a primordial element
In the explosive situation which
now prevails over most of the
Dark Continent: The presence at
the southern tip of white popu-
lstions who call Africa home with
conviction that they are the real
Africans.
Fhe first white settlements in
South Africa were made in con-
nection with the spice trade with
the East Indies, which so en-
riched the great seafaring ma
tions of Europe in the 18th, 18th,
18th and 18th centuries.
The seafarers' great problem
was scurvy, which sometimes
killed so per cent of the crew
on long voyages, and sometimes,
1t is said, even 100 per cent. The
Flying Dutchman, the phantom
ship which mariners still some
times see off the Cape of Good
Hope, is supposed to be one of
those 100 per cent sinistrated
vessels.
The old-time sailors thus found
1t convenient to stop halfway in
one of the sheltered bays along
the. South African coast-Bahia
dos Vaouieros. or Cowboys Bay
now Flesh Bay: Rio Infanta
nov Rish River Bay and espe-
cially the Table Bay. There they
would take fresh water, rest, and
barter with the natives for fresh
food which helped prevent scurvy.
Left to Grow Vegetables
The Portuguese, who were first,
did not tarry, but the English, in
1915, settled 10 convicts. reprieved
from the hangman's moose, at
the. Cape of Storms, with instruc-
tionS to cultivate vegetables and
fruits for the passing ships.
Then in l647, after the English
settlement had died out. a great
storm wrecked the Dutch vessel
Noord Haarlem at the Table Bay.
and the survivors, who were
picked up a year later, reported
to the Dutch East India Co.. which
employed them, that a farming
settlement at the spot was possible.
Thus. on April Z, 1852, a party
Of 80 settlers led by Jan van Rie-
beck. q ships surgeon in the serv-
ice Of the company, landed at the
Table Bay.
Persecution Of Professionals
The Dutch built a timber-and-
sod fort and surrounded it with
farms. This was the nucleus of
Cape Town and of the Cape Colony.
Then, in 1885, Louis XIV, pressed
by his confessor, Father Lachaise,
Unbiased persecution against the
ProtestantS, and soon French
Huguenots, with their families
some 200 souls altogether-joined
the Dutch colonists at the Cape.
They brought with them their
bibles and books of anthems,
few raisin seeds from the vineyards
they had left in the Languedoc,
in Provence, in Burgundy, etc.
and little else in the way of
worldly goods. Soon, however,
beautiful vineyards grew at Stel-
lenbosh and at Drakenstein, where
those religious refugees settled.
and the passing ships were able
to stock up on good wine and on
some potent brandies produced
locally.
BY l707. when the first census
was carried out by Gov. Willem
van der Stel, there were 1,779
white people in the little colony.
With little or no immigration,
they had grown to 81 900 by Sep
tember, 1795, when, Holland hav-
ing been invaded by Napoleon,
British redcoats landed at the
Cape and occupied the colony in
the name of the Prince of Orange.
who had taken refuge in London.
The Britons quickly abolished
thestrade restrictions which had
been imposed by the Dutch East
1nxiiss Co.-Cape Town and its
hihterland had been a company
town in the strictest sense-and
anera OF great prosperity followed
byrthe Cape Colony, with good
retauons prevailing between the
Brush and their new Dutch sub
jeets.
Those good relations endured
even after 5000 English families
wefe brought in. in 1920. and
settled where Port Elizabeth now
stands. as a rival white commu-
nlty. and English language, to-
geener with English legal proce-
dires, including trial by Jury. were
stjpeTimposed on the Dutch order
offhings.
Slassry Abolished
nls Anglo Dutch honeymoon
enqed, however, when in 1888
theWestminster Parliament abol-
1speu slavery in all British posses
siops, and British missionaries
ficcked to South Africa. pressur-
lng the authorities to intervene
instavor Of the native servants of
the Dutch Beers. or farmers.
Iys 1885 the latter could stand.