page_title: Schoemansdal, Limpopo
section_title: First settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Schoemansdal, Limpopo / First settlement
caption_attribution_description: Bron: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&amp;strucID=210085&amp;imageID=1247192&amp;parent_id=209726&amp;word=&amp;snum=&amp;s=&amp;notword=&amp;d=&amp;c=&amp;f=&amp;sScope=&amp;sLevel=&amp;sLabel=&amp;total=14&amp;num=0&amp;imgs=12&amp;pNum=&amp;pos=4# In: A narrative of a visit to the Mauritius and South Africa. (published 1844) Library Division: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division Item/Page/Plate Number: pg. 358 Specific Material Type: Printed text Digital Image ID: 1247192 Digital Record ID: 210085 NYPL Call Number: Sc Rare 916.8-B
context_page_description: Schoemansdal was a settlement situated 16 km west of Louis Trichardt, which had its origins during the Great Trek. It existed from 1848 to 1867, and functioned as the capital of an autonomous region until the S.A.R. Volksraad was established, when the outpost came under the supervision and regulations of the central government. The settlement was evacuated after only thirty years when attacked by Venda militants. The government rendered indecisive support and the town as torched by Katze-Katze on the night of 15 July 1867.
  After the S.A.R. reestablished control over the area in 1898, the former settlement was ignored and a new one started, at the present Louis Trichardt. Consequently Schoemansdal was the only Voortrekker settlement not to evolve into a modern town. The archaeological site with traces of the former settlement is currently state property and access is controlled. It is situated on the north bank of the Dorps River at 552 m.a.s.l., near present-day Hamantsha and Tshiozwi townships and the Schoemansdal railway siding.
context_section_description: Families in the first settlement, Zoutpansbergdorp, lived exclusively in "hartbeeshuise" (etymology perhaps "hard-reed house"), which were elongate, pitched-roof shelters built directly on the ground, with or without internal partitions. These were constructed of wooden poles and laths, with the spaces between the laths plastered over or filled in with reeds, which were obtained from a large reed marsh in the Dorps River. Pastor Joaquim de S. R. Montanha who visited the settlement in 1855 on behalf of the governor in Inhambane reported that some small houses were occupied by more than one, or even several families. Windows were merely holes above the reed door, which according to Montanha were closed off with hessian fabric.
caption: A hartbeeshuis dwelling, made from poles, laths and reeds.
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