Simon van der Stel Van der Stel initially wanted to settle the Drakenstein with black farmers from Angola or Indians from Bengal as he had little faith in the local Burghers farming abilities in the Cape and had plenty of experience of successful plantations in Mauritius and Batavia. The VOC changed his mind when they sent him a different kind of skilled and hard-working settler in the form of the French Huguenots. The combination of Hugenots, assisted by slave labour, made it possible for Simon van der Stel to develop the Drakenstein. The slaves were brought in from Africa and Madagascar, India and the Indonesian Archipelago. Over time thousands of slaves were locally born to lead lives of slavery and servitude. While initially the VOC had trouble subjugating the Khoi and coercing them into the labour force, after the 1713 smallpox epidemic this change dramatically. From a highly independent Khoi population of up to 200 000 prior to the European colony, the Khoi numbers had been reduced to about 15 000. From the latter half of the second decade of the 1700s, Khoi indentured labour became a vital component of the farming economy. History neither properly acknowledged nor rewarded the descendents of slaves and the Khoi for their contribution. By 1827 the Stellenbosch district, of which Franschhoek was a part, had a total population of 16 325 of which 8 445 were slaves. In 1692 there were seven registered slave owners in Franschhoek with 43 slaves between them. The back-breaking work that went into taming the land and creating the beautiful farms, vineyards and towns largely relied on slave labour, captured San and coerced Khoi serf labour. Another pioneer component in the Drakenstein were the Free black farmers and artisans. In 1712 there were 17 Free Blacks in the Stellenbosch district of which Franschhoek was a part. Amongst these were artisan craftsmen such as Isaac van Terenate, Rangton of Bali, Anthonie van Saloor, Jafta van der Caab and Johannes Adriaanse. Free Black farmers included Jan van Saloor, Marquart van Saloor, Anthonie van Angola, Manuel van Angola and his wife Elizabeth van der Caab, and Louis van Bengalen. Other Free Black and mixed families settled along the Eerste River. Amongst the Huguenot families there also were people of colour. The first owners of the farm Rust en Vrede were the French family Jacques and Marie-Madeleine De Savoyes. Their eldest daughter Margo married Christoffel Snyman the son of the Free Black burgers Anthonie from Bengal and Catharina of Palicatte. The Free Black farmer Christoffel Snyman and his French wife Margo, as Marie then called herself, became the second owners of the farm Zandvliet, today known as Solms-Delta. The first owner Silverbach had also been married to a Free Black woman. The story does not end here. One of the sons of leading French Hugenots Francois and Cornelia Villion (Viljoen), Henning Viljoen, married Margo Snyman, after Christoffel Snyman the Free Black died. Christoffel and Margo had a Coloured daughter Catharina who in one of those twists of circumstances, married her step-father`s brother, Johannes Viljoen. Other Huguenot settlers like the Cordiers had two of their sons marry free slave sisters. The early days at the Cape did not have entrenched segregation. All of these people were amongst the founders of the Coloured and African communities of today. They are also the black ancestors of many white families. Anna de Koningh a free slave who rose to ownership of Groot Constantia Amongst the French Hugenots was also one, Jacob Etienne Gauch the son of French parents, but born in Switzerland in 1684 (Celigny). He came to the Cape in 1691 and settled in Franschhoek under the name Steven Gous. In 1718 he married a 13 year old freed slave girl, Catharina Bok. They had 7 children. When the widow Catharina died in 1767 she was able to bequeath her youngest son the farms Berg en Dal and Klipheuwel, plus 12,000 guilders in cash. In the traditional white narratives of Franschhoek the threads of black history is carefully removed from the complex tapestry that should reflect the diverse heritage of Franschhoek one that should offer a pride to all regardless of colour. Into the Drakenstein mix, came a number of highly educated religious-political prisoners who were exiled by the Dutch from India and Indonesia. They were neither slaves nor free-burghers and were settled in distinct locations with restrictions on their movements. The largest settlement of Sheigh Yusaf of Macassar and his Muslim followers numbered 48 and was established at the other Zandvliet on the coast. Other Muslims, distinguishable from slaves, who were also brought to the Cape from Indonesia, were convicts sentenced to forced labour for a period. The Muslim influence was later to make itself felt amongst some of the slaves in the Drakenstein, a small number of whom adopted the faith. Most of the eastern slaves particularly in the early years of slavery were not Muslim on arrival in the Cape, but were received into the faith. In Islam this is called reversion as Islamic theology proceeds from a position that all human beings are born to serve Allah as Muslim. A number of eastern royals were also settled in the town of Stellenbosch. However the vast majority of slaves in the Drakenstein area, over time, had stronger Madagascan and African roots from the 1750s onwards. In the early 1700s under the leadership of the Dutch immigrant, Adam Tas, a clear fissure based on class and colour developed in the Drakenstein Valley and Groot Drakenstein including the area later to be known as Franschhoek. A petition was drafted by Tas and signed by 14 other white farmers (not all farmers were willing to sign) demanding codes that entrenched distinctions and privileges between white farmers and any person of colour; Free Black, slaves, indigene Khoi, and even people of colour who were intermarried with settlers. The petition by today`s standards, was a hate-speech diatribe of fear mixed with loathing of the Khoi, regarded to have murderous intent. Of likewise character, the petition identifies slaves, caffers, mulattos, mestizos and all that black brood amongst us, and related to European and Christians by marriage. This statement was particularly rooted in racist thinking. The document lashes out that these are allowed to advance in Cape society and warns that the blood of Ham is not to be trusted.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:47:56 +0000