History of Cape Town

30 May 2009

55 pilot whales beach themselves at Kommetjie. Whilst some 20 of them are returned to deeper waters, the remaining whales die on the beach.

17 Dec 2006

Taliep Petersen is shot dead at his Athlone home.

16 Jun 2006

Striking security guards threw objects at the stage during a Youth Day celebration at the Langa Stadium, resulting in bodyguards rushing Finance Minister Trevor Manuel and Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool to safety.

Jun 2006

Two dragon flies, the mahogany presba and marbled malachite, thought to be extinct were found on Table Mountain. The mahogany presba had last been spotted in 1934, while the marbled malachite had never been recorded on Table Mountain before.

15 Jun 2006

The world's tallest man (Ijaz Ahmed, 2.5m) and the second shortest (Khurram Ali, 0.69m) arrive at Cape Town International airport.

7 June 2006

Robert Sithole, a musician immortalised in the Tretchikoff painting "Penny Whistlers" dies.

31 May 2006

Achmat Ebrahim is appointed as new city manager for the City of Cape Town, in place of the ousted Wallace Mgoqi.

19 May 2006

A full Cape High Court bench ruled that former mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo had exceeded her authority in purporting to amend the terms of her delegated power, and granting former Cape Town municipal manager Wallace Mgoqi a contract extension prior to an election. Mgoqi was ordered to vacate his office at the civic centre (After a change in the governing party Mgoqi was axed from his job on April 10 by Democratic Alliance Mayor Helen Zille, but had refused to vacate his office).

4 Dec 2001

Marike de Klerk, ex-wife of former South African State President FW de Klerk, is found dead in her apartment at Dolphin Beach, Cape Town. A security guard at the complex is eventually found guilty of murder.

1999

Robben Island is named a World Heritage Site.

25 Aug 1998

At 1920 a bomb detonates at Planet Hollywood restaurant at the V&A Waterfront, resulting in 25 people being injured and a lady dying.

1996

PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs) is formed.

March 1995

Queen Elizabeth visits Cape Town.

1994

After the first democratic elections, Nelson Mandela opens parliament in Cape Town

25 Aug 1993

A young American, Amy Biehl, is stoned and stabbed to death in Gugulethu after dropping off some friends.

31 Dec 1993

The Heidelberg Tavern in Observatory is attacked and four people are killed.

25 Jul 1993

Members of APLA massacre the St James Church congregation in Kenilworth with AK47's and grenades, killing 11 members of the congregation (including 4 Russian seamen). Charl van Wyk returns fire with a .38 Special and wounds one of the attackers, resulting in them fleeing.

11 Feb 1990

Nelson Mandela is released from prison. Mandela makes his first public speech in decades from the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall.

3 Mar 1986

The Gugulethu Seven are murdered.

21 Mar 1985

1980

Empilisweni Clinic in Crossroads is founded by Ivan Toms.

1976

The students' uprising begins with a march from Langa High School to Sobukwe Square, returning to Mendi Square.

1974

The Rosenkowitz sextuplets are born in Cape Town

1973

It is announced by the SPCA in Cape Town that it is allowed to accept only the pets of white owners at its boarding facilities!

8 Oct 1972

The Space Theatre in Long Street is born.

1972

The Black Mamba Youth movement is established in Langa.

1971

The Stellenbosch Wine Route was established.

1967

On the 24th December 1967 a medical team headed by Chris Barnard (a 42 year-old Professor) performs the world's first heart transplant at Groote Schuur hospital. The patient is Louis Washkansky - Washkansky died 18 days after the operation.

1966

District Six is declared a white area, existing dwellings are bulldozed.

1963

Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment.

1962

Robben Island opens its doors to political prisoners.

1960

Britain's MacMillan visits parliament and delivers the 'Winds of Change' address.

1956

The coloured people lose their parliamentary vote.

1948

The National Party wins the election on its policy of racial segregation (later to become known by the afrikaans word Apartheid) and comes to power.

1947

British Royal family visit Cape Town. Princess Elizabeth celebrates her 21st birthday in Cape Town's City Hall.

1936

Groot Constantia was proclaimed a national monument in 1936.

1936

The Castle of Good Hope is declared a national monument.

1930s

The foreshore area of land was reclaimed from the sea.

31 May 1928

Die Stem was sung publicly for the first time, at the official hoisting of the national flag in Cape Town.

1927

A museum was established at Groot Constantia. Groot Constantia was proclaimed a national monument in 1936.

1927

Langa is established.

1926

The first motor-powered mailship arrives in Cape Town.

1913

The Land Act is introduced, which prevent blacks (except those living in the Cape Province) from buying land outside reserves.

1923

The Green Point common is ceded to the Cape Town City Council by King George V to be used, according to the title deeds, as public open space for recreation and sport.

1918

An influenza epidemic kills thousands.

1911

The Lusitania is wrecked in foggy weather on the rocks at Cape Point, prompting the building of the lower Cape Point lighthouse.

31 May 1910

The Cape became one of the 4 provinces of the Union of South Africa. Cape Town was designated the legislative capital of the Union.

1899-1902

The Second Boer War (also known as the South African War or the Anglo-Boer War). Unlike the First Boer War, the British did not wear bright red uniforms this time round, and they came in greater numbers. Although there was fierce resistance from the Boers, the British eventually overwhelmed them. The Treaty of Vereeniging stipulated full British sovereignty over the South African republics. A significant provision of the treaty ending the war was that blacks would not be allowed to vote, except in the Cape Colony.

1896

The introduction of the electric tram

1895

The first motor car in Cape Town

1890

Cecil John Rhodes becomes Cape premier.

25 Mar 1889

The first cricket test match is played at Newlands, Cape Colony v England.

1885

After being subdivided, Groot Constantia's vineyard had fallen on hard times. In 1885 the Cape Government rescued it, and and a museum was established there in 1927. Groot Constantia was proclaimed a national monument in 1936.

1881

Electric lighting is installed for the first time in Cape Town.

1879

A cable links London to Cape Town.

27 Mar 1876

The Cape Times publishes its first newspaper.

1875

Sir Henry Barkley lays the first foundation stone of the present Houses of Parliament.

28 Nov 1872

A complete self-government for the Cape Colony was promulgated by a proclamation of Sir Henry Barkley. The Cape had a full government, with the vote being based on income and property rather than race.

1870

Prince Alfred inaugurates the Alfred Dock.

1869

Diamonds discovered in Kimberley.

1863

Horse-drawn trams were introduced, operating between the city and Sea Point.

1862

The first synagogue in South Africa is built in Cape Town in the Gardens area.

1859

Work began on the Cape's first railway line (to Wellington).

1857

The old upper Cape Point lighthouse was erected.

30 Jun 1854

The first elected Parliament of the Cape Colony met.

1853

A liberal constitution was granted to the Cape Colony.

25 Feb 1852

The Birkenhead leaves Simon's Bay near Cape Town. At 2am on the morning of the 26th Feb 1852, the Birkenhead hits an uncharted rock near Danger Point (near what is today known as Gansbaai in the Western Cape).

25 Jun 1847

St George's Church is made a cathedral, in anticipation of Gray's appointment.

1840

The Cape Town Municipality was formed. At this time the population stood at 20 016 (of whom 10 560 were white).

1836

The Great Trek begins. About 10 000 Dutch families left for the north in search of new land.

1834

An Act of Parliament abolished slavery. There were estimated to be 39 000 slaves in Cape Town. A Muslim community, after being freed, established theBoKaap by a Muslim community.

21 Dec 1834

St George's Church opened for divine service.

1 Oct 1829

The South African College (later to be seperated into the University of Cape Town and South African College Schools) is founded.

Oct 1827

On a fleeting visit to this outpost of his See, the Bishop of Calcutta consecrated land at the bottom of Government Avenue (where St George's Church would later be built).

1822

The Fame ran aground off Seapoint.

1815

Joshua Penny said he "never enjoyed life better than when I lived among the ferocious animals of Table Mountain, because I had secured myself against the more savage English". Penny was a runaway American sailor who hid on the slopes of Table Mountain for 14 months.

Lord Charles Somerset inaugurated the first mail-packet service between Cape Town and England, beginning of the Union-Castle Company's connection with South Africa. In 1900 the Union and Castle lines amalgamated.

1814

Lord Charles Somerset became Governor of the Cape.

13 Aug 1814

The Cape became a Crown Colony

1813

The Hurling "swaai" pump is built in what is today known as Prince Street in Oranjezicht. In 1937 the pump was declared a national monument. Up to 1800, water for Cape Town had to be obtained from public fountains which ran continuously. To avoid this waste, pumps with long wooden handles were substituted. The water was drawn from wells which were supplied from a wooden pipeline."

1811

"I have just recollected that I have some of the finest old Constantia wine in the house that ever was tasted," says Mrs Jennings. "My poor husband! how fond he was of it!" Jane Austen in Sense and Sensibility.

1806

The British reclaimed the Cape.

A tradition of firing a cannon to signal the time begins - initially the cannon is fired at sunrise an sunset but later it is fired at noon.

8 Jan 1806

Dutch warship Bato went down off Simonstown.

1803

The Cape was returned to the Dutch in 1802, as agreed in a peace agreement between France and England.

1795

With the threat of Napoleon seizing the settlement, the British take control of the Cape for the first time.

1789

Hermann Schutte, a young architect and builder from Bremen arrived in the Cape.

1781

Louis Michel Thibault, a Parisian architect, arrived as an officer in the French garrison.

1777

Anton Anreith, a young sculptor and woodcarver from Freiburg, arrived as a soldier in the Company's service.

1767

Third smallpox epidemic.

1755

Second smallpox epidemic.

1754

The population of the Cape settlement numbers 5 510 Europeans and 6 729 slaves.

1753

July 1748

One of the wealthiest women of her time, Debora de Koning, dies. De Koning was the widow of a Dutch East India Company official, who left her with a farm (Boshoff on the Liesbeeck River) and 6 houses in Cape Town.

1724

Found guilty of murder and arson, a slave is sentenced to have his right hand cut off and then "half-strangled and then killed on a slow fire" (the punishment for arson)

1721

Franciscus Xaverus van Tranqeubar is ordered to be crucified upside down and the coup de grace to be withheld. After death, his corpse is to be dragged "backwards and forwards" though the streets of Cape Town, and then taken to Gallows Hill at Greenpoint to be hanged "until the birds of the heavens and the air itself consume the body".

1 Sept 1714

Maria Joosten van der Lubstadt and 2 of her slaves (Fortuijn from Angola and Titus from Bengal) are executed on the parade in Cape Town for the murder of Maria's husband, Frantz Joosten van der Lubstadt. Condemned of being a witch, Maria was slowly scorched (becoming the first woman to be executed in the Cape) whilst Fortuijn and Titus were torn apart on the rack, impaled and their bodies left to the birds of prey on Gallows Hill.

Why did they kill Frantz? On the 4th January 1714 there was a domestic dispute between Maria and Frantz (he ill-treated her, was stingy and never bought her new clothes she later testified before the Governor of the Cape), Fortuijn and Titus came to Maria's rescue and beat Frantz to death with a plough-scraper. Have killed Frantz, they stuffed his body down a porcupine hole to hide the evidence. A few months later, Jacques Mouton (a prominent French Huguenot) paid a visit to the farm and found Maria with her 2 slaves (who had become her paramour).

1713

The first smallpox epidemic devastates the Khoikhoi community.

1712

Simon van der Stel dies.

1712

Hans Heinrich Hattingh bought land from German settler Arnout Janz, naming it after Speyer on the Rhine (Spier Wine Farm).

15 Feb 1710

From Letter: Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (Jan's granddaughter) to her Parents:

"[I am sending you] another little sack of seeds that I received from a black woman,
named Black Maria, who says she is the daughter of a woman or maid who was earlier in
the house of my blessed [late] Grandfather, and who begged me to send the sack to you,
Father. It appears that these people still cherish a great affection for our family: besides
this woman, I’ve met two or three others, as well as a very old, blind Hottentot woman,
named Cornelia, and two Hottentot men, one called Dobbeltje [a type of coin] and the
other Vogelstruys [Ostrich], who were able to tell me much about that time."

Source: Briewe van Johanna Maria van Riebeeck en ander Riebeeckiana. Edited by D.B.
Bosman and translated by Anne Good. Amsterdam, 1952.

30 Jan 1710

From Letter: Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (Jan's granddaughter) to her Parents:

"Now to tell something about this place. . . . After we came to anchor, a number of shots were fired for us from the castle, which our ship answered. Shortly afterwards the
Governor Van Assenberg arrived on board, with his second in command, the Fiscal and a
few others, Missus D’Abling and two captains’ wives. An hour later, we departed together toward land, and got a shower along the way, from which we became nicely wet, and it was a really cold day. In that weather we reached the pier, which looks very bad and has no steps, just planks nailed to poles, about two feet apart, going steeply up, so that we had to allow ourselves to be pulled up, and we were close to the sea which was not still at all. A little farther off stood a dirty-looking coach with six horses (like everything here it was
quite hottentottish) with which we drove to the interior of the castle, and stopped in front
of the house of the governor. We entered the house, which is a very ugly building, and
dirty and greasy, as though it belonged to Pater Smeerlant of Ceylon [a joke character].
The castle looks miserably unkempt, with a number of buildings of an ugly style within
its walls. The city is quite large for this place, but the roads everywhere are very slovenly,
full of holes high and low, so that when you ride out, you feel as though you will surely
fall—the roads to Boejong Gede [presumably near Batavia] are much better and prettier,
and lordly in comparison. Outside the city it isn’t any less rugged. It is a pity that the
governor here doesn’t take better care of the place, and doesn’t live better himself. This
whole place might then change, and also the people, who are now very jealous of one
another. The governor is a man who likes to take his pleasure daily with young misses of bad reputation, and he is very familiar with Mrs. Munckerius’s daughter, who looks like a
flirt to me. The governor would certainly have been in my company daily if I had not told
him that I do not enjoy the conversation of young people, and would rather keep other
company. Mrs. D’Abling is a very sweet and modest little woman, as well as two or three other women here, but they are not in the governor’s favor, because they don’t want to mix
with his other company. For people like them, this is a very dreary place."

Source: Briewe van Johanna Maria van Riebeeck en ander Riebeeckiana. Edited by D.B.
Bosman and translated by Anne Good. Amsterdam, 1952.

13 Jan 1710

From Letter: Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (Jan's granddaughter) to her Parents, 13 January 1710:

"I can’t withstand the cold very well yet, and am rather uncomfortable because of it, and
plagued with sinkings and a stiff neck, which I hope will get better with time. When you see this place from the sea, it is prettier and more pleasant than when you arrive on land. It is very miserable; you don’t see grass or clover, and the streets everywhere by the castle and in the town are full of holes, as though wild pigs had rooted through them—when you decide to ride into the city or to the Company’s gardens, you are always worried about falling! And the gardens are so fine that your heart closes right up. When you come into the garden, nothing looks finer than the laurel trees, which grow quite tall here, however, the paths are very narrow. The fruit trees are full of fruit, but little is ripe yet, and there are nice vegetables too, but not planted in nice order, and the ground is very rough, so that Ms. Moutmaker likened it well to a volgeesie—which the people from the Cape don’t enjoy hearing. In this place there is nothing nice to see along the seashore, and the castle is quite ugly and the governor’s house is like a labyrinth, so that you can easily get confused, and the other houses within the castle walls look like prisons. Outside are the Hottentots, who are very ugly and stinking people, and the Dutch people also keep very untidy households. You see many people with strange faces, and the way of life is strange here. The governor is a man who enjoys company, and it looks like he enjoys having women around all the time—so there is a really courtly bunch here, but even so, everything is hottentottish. I must admit that based on appearances, I have never seen a worse place. But as far as food is concerned, it is better here than in Batavia, and so is the climate."

Source: Briewe van Johanna Maria van Riebeeck en ander Riebeeckiana. Edited by D.B.
Bosman and translated by Anne Good. Amsterdam, 1952.

1710

Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (Jan's granddaughter) wrote a letter home, "Outside are the Hottentots, who are a very ugly and stinking people, and the Dutch people keep very untidy households. You see many people with strange faces and the way of life is strange here, everything is hottentottish. I must admit that based on appearances, I have never seen a worse place."

1706

Disputes with Willem Adriaan van der Stel's enemies led the Dutch East India Colony to dismiss him and he was exiled to the Netherlands.

1700

Vergelegen wine farm was founded by Willem Adriaan van der Stel. Within 6 years Van der Stel had 500,000 vine stocks and had planted camphor trees, orchards and orange groves.

1699

Muratie vineyard is established, when landowner Laurens Campher fell in love with Ansela van de Caab, whose mother had been a slave. Ansela inherited the land on Laurens Campher's death, becoming the first woman descended from a slave to own her own farm.

1699

By 1699 the Cape was exporting wine to Europe, on a small scale.

1694

Sheik Yusuf is exiled to the Cape. Sheik Yusuf is recognised as being the founder of the Cape's muslim community. His kramat is one of the six shrines which form a holy circle (one on Robben Island, five on or near the Peninsula).

1693

Cape Governor Simon van der Stel gives land to Henning Husing which he turns into the Meerlust Estate. Husing named the estate after the sea breezes that blows in from the bay. Meerlust's manor house is a fine example of Cape Dutch architecture. The Meerlust Estate is 40km east of Cape Town on the banks of the Eerste River.

1692

Willem Barend Lubbe is granted a site (by Simon van der Stel) on the Bottelary Hills overlooking False Bay. Lubbe names the farm De Wolwedans (meaning “The Dance of Wolves”, because he mistook for wolves the packs of jackals which roamed the countryside)....this farm would later become Neethlingshof Wine Estate.

1692

Cape Governor Simon van der Stel grants land to German settler Arnout Janz...which would later become Spier Wine Farm.

1688

The French Hugenots arrived. The Huguenots had fled to the Netherlands from the anti-Protestant persecution in Catholic France; where the Dutch East India Company offered them free passage to the Cape as well as farmland.

1685

Slaves were granted the right to buy their freedom.

Simon van der Stel builds Groot Constantia (named after his wife, Constance), he lives here till his death in 1712. The vineyard was subsequently divided and fell on hard times. In 1885 the Cape Government rescued it, and and a museum was established there in 1927. Groot Constantia was proclaimed a national monument in 1936.

1682

Rustenberg Wines is establishedup Roelof Pasman from Meurs (near the Rhine). By 1781 3,000 cases of wine were produced on the farm, but by 1850 it had fallen on hard times. Rustenberg was rescued in 1892 by John Merrima, later Prime Minister of the Cape.

26 April 1679

The 5 bastions were named after the main titles of Willem, the Prince of Orange. The western bastion was named Leerdam; followed in clockwise order by Buuren, Catzenellenbogen, Nassau and Oranje.

1679

Simon van der Stel, an experienced viticulturalist, arrives as governor of the Cape.

Stellenbosch was founded.

The Castle of Good Hope, a 5-sided castle, was completed. Today it is South Africa's oldest occupied building.

1674

Eva (Krotoa) died and was given a Christian burial.

1671

Second war between the Dutch colonists and the Khoikhoi

2 Jan 1666

The cornerstone of the Castle of Good Hope is laid.

1664

Krotoa, called Eva by the Dutch, was the first Khoikhoi woman to appear in European records of the Cape as an individual personality. She was closely related to
Oedasoa, chief of the Cochoqua Khoikhoi. Eva joined Van Riebeeck’s household at the Dutch fort at around age 12, but it is unclear whether her family sent her to
the Dutch to work and learn the language or whether she made this decision on her own. She learned to speak fluent Dutch and Portuguese, and acted as an interpreter for the Dutch for most of her life. She converted to Christianity and in 1664 Eva married a Danish surgeon (who was rising in the VOC), Pieter van Meerhoff. Together they had 3 children. After his death on an expedition to Madagascar, Eva became an alcoholic and was eventually sent to the prison colony on Robben Island for disorderly conduct.

1664

There were renewed rumours of war between Britain and the Netherlands and they feared a British attack on the Cape. Commander Zacharius Wagenaer was instructed to build a 5-pointed stone castle.

26 Jan 1661

“The interpreter Eva has remained behind to live in the Commander’s house again, laying
aside her skins and adopting once more the Indian way of dressing. She will resume her
services as an interpreter. She seems to have grown tired of her own people again; in
these vacillations we let her follow her own will so that we may get the better service
from her. But she appears to have become already so accustomed to the Dutch diet and
way of life that she will never be able to give it up completely.”

Source: Journal of Jan van Riebeeck. Volume II, III, 1656-1662.
Edited by H.B. Thom and translated by J. Smuts. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1954.

8 May 1660

Van Riebeeck and his family left for Batavia, where he was to become commander of the Dutch East India Company's trading station in Malacca. During Van Riebeeck's stint as commander at Malacca, his wife died. Van Riebeeck was later appointed (by the Dutch East India Company) secretary of the Council of India. He died in 1677. There is no authenticated picture of Van Riebeeck or his wife. Two portraits were thought to be of them, but in 1984 were proved to be of Bartholomeus Vermuyder and Catharina Kettingh.

1660

The directors of the Dutch East India Company decided to transfer Van Riebeeck to India. Van Riebeeck's successor, Gerrit Harn, died on the way to the Cape from the Netherlands, and it took several months before Zacharias Wagenaar, the next successor, arrived.

12 Sep 1659

"...the clothing, skull and bones of the soldier given up for lost on the 30th of last month were found at the extremity of Lion Mountain, about 30 roods from the beach. The cranium was half bitten off, so it is presumed he was devoured by a lion".

2 Feb 1659

First wine produced, and the first battle between the Dutch colonists and the Khoikhoi. Van Riebeeck wrote in his journal: "Today, praise be to God, wine was made for the first time from Cape grapes."

23 Sep 1658

“The interpreters Doman, or Anthonij, and Eva wished to visit their friends and asked for
some copper, iron, beads, tobacco, bread, and brandy as a reward for their services as
interpreters, and presents for her mother and their friends and all the natives whom they,
especially Eva, would visit, to induce them to bring a larger number of cattle, as well as
young horses, tusks, civet, amber, seed pearls (of which they were shown and given
samples) and hides to the eland, hart, steenbuck, etc. They promised to do their best and
hoped that we would soon see the fruits of their efforts; toward evening they thanked us
politely and gratefully in good Dutch words for the presents they had received. They then
left. When Eva reached the matted hut of Doman, also known as Anthonij, outside the
fort, she at once dressed herself in the hides again and sent her clothes home. She
intended to put them on again when she returned to the Commander’s wife, promising,
however, that she would in the meantime not forget the Lord God, Whom she had learnt
to know in the Commander’s house; she would always think of Him and endeavour to
learn, etc.”

Source: Journal of Jan van Riebeeck. Volume II, III, 1656-1662.
Edited by H.B. Thom and translated by J. Smuts. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1954.

July 1658

Van Riebeeck made the following diary entry, "The ex-interpreter, or as the English call him, King Harry, was removed in a sheep boat out of his kingdom in this furthest corner of Africa to Robben Island with two of his companions."....Harry was later to escape from Robben Island.

21 June 1658

“Fine weather with N.W. breeze. The freeman Jan Reijnierssen came to complain early in
the morning that during the night all his male and female slaves had run away, taking
with them 3 or 4 blankets, clothing, rice, tobacco, etc. We thereupon called the new
interpreter Doman, now called Anthony, who had returned from Batavia with the Hon.
Cuneus, and asked him why the Hottentots would not search for the runaway slaves, to
which he coolly replied that he did not know. [Little is known about Doman, though he
was one of the important interpreters between the Dutch and the Khoikhoi in the early
years. He was taken to Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia) to learn Dutch, and there he
seems to have noticed the threat that the Dutch posed to indigenous ways of life. When
he returned to the Cape, he consistently advocated Khoikhoi interests, especially of the
Peninsular tribes, over those of the Dutch in trade negotiations.] The Commander, not
trusting him, then called the interpreter Eva alone into his office and privately asked her
whether our blacks were not being harboured by the Hottentots. On this she asked whether such was the Commander’s opinion, and being answered in the affirmative, she
(speaking good Dutch) said these words, namely: "I tell you straight out, Mijnheer Van
Riebeeck, Doman is no good. He told the Hottentots everything that was said in
Mijnheer’s room the day before yesterday. When I told him that it was wrong to do so, he
replied: ‘I am a Hottentot and not a Dutchman, but you, Eva, try to curry favour with the
Commander, etc.’” She added: “Mijnheer, I also believe that the Fat Captain of the
Kaapmans harbours the slaves.” On being asked what the chief would do with the slaves,
Eva replied: “He will present them to the Cochoquas to retain their friendship, and they in
turn will deliver the slaves to the Hancumquas living far from here and cultivating the
soil in which they grow daccha [also dagga, of the cannabis family], a dry herb which the
Hottentots chew, which makes them drunk and which they highly esteem.”

Source: Journal of Jan van Riebeeck. Volume II, III, 1656-1662.
Edited by H.B. Thom and translated by J. Smuts. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1954.

April 1658

The Hasselt arrived in the Cape with 228 slaves.

28 Mar 1658

The Amersfoort arrived in the Cape with 170 black African slaves. The Amersfoort had captured a Portuguese ship on its way from Angola to Brazil with 500 slaves, taken 250 of the best slaves and left the decrepit Portuguese ship to continue to Brazil. 80 of the 250 slaves captured had died on the way to the Cape and the remaining 170 were in a poor state. Before they arrived there were only 12 slaves in the Cape, from Indonesia and Madagascar.

31 Oct 1657

“The Commander [Jan van Riebeeck] spent the day entertaining the Saldanhars [a
Khoikhoi tribe from the interior] and questioning them about various things through the
medium of a certain girl, aged 15 or 16, and by us called Eva, who has been in the service
of the Commander’s wife from the beginning and is now living here permanently and is
beginning to speak Dutch well.”

Source: Journal of Jan van Riebeeck. Volume II, III, 1656-1662.
Edited by H.B. Thom and translated by J. Smuts. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1954.

1657

The first slaves are imported from Batavia and Madagascar as the first white farmers get the land ready for agriculture.

February 1657

The VOC issued the first permits to free 9 company servants to farm along the Liesbeek River.

1656

The Dutch began appropriating the prime farm land lying along the Liesbeeck River, and the Khoikhoi retaliated with cattle raids.

A hospital was opened.

The Cape's first two Inns were opened. One Inn was opened by the wfie of the gardener Hendrik Boom, Annetje de Boerin. The other Inn was opened by Sergeant van Harwarden's wife.3ed

A wooden jetty was completed.

1655

Van Riebeeck planted the first vines in the Cape (thought to be French Muscat), to supply passing ships with wine (wine kept better than water on the long sea voyages, and it was believed that young red wine in particular, could stave off scurvy). Van Riebeeck had the vines sent to him, packed in wet earth and sewn up in sailcloth to keep them fresh.

The directors of the Dutch East India Company in Holland decided to allow employees, on completion of their contracts in the Cape and if they so wished, to remain as freemen in the Cape.

June, 1655

Harry reappeared. He had previously (together with his fellow beachcombers and his niece Eva) murdered the Dutch herdsman, stolen 42 of the 44 cattle in the possession of the Company, and sneaked away. Harry denied having anything to do with the stolen cattle and the murdered Dutch herdsman. With Harry were 50 strangers with 40 cattle to trade.

1654

The Dutch court of justice in Batavia sentenced four Indonesians to banishment and hard labour (for life), as a result of their resisting the Dutch's attempt to seize their homeland. One of the four was sent to the Cape, becoming the first of many Indonesians to be sent to live in the Cape (they became known in the Cape as Malays).

1653

The first slave in the Cape Colony, Abraham van Batavia, arrives.

15 Aug 1653

The yacht Vlieland brought the good news that there was now peace between the Netherlands and Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England.

18 Jan 1653

The galiot Zwarte Vos brought the news that war had broke out between the English and the Netherlands.

17 Dec 1652

Van Riebeeck reported the first comet discovered from South Africa, C/1652 Y1.

9 Oct 1652

2 of the Goringhaikwa (as Van Riebeeck's men named the Cape pastoralists) came to the fort, armed with spears and sticks. They had a skin hanging over their arms, but were otherwise naked. Over time the pastoralists became known as the "Kaapmans" (Cape people) by Van Riebeeck and his party.

Winter 1652

Van Riebeeck wrote that "the first winter of 1652 was exceptionally cold, with snow on Table Mountain".

April 1652

Van Riebeeck's party had built the first walls of a small fort of clay and timber. The fort lasted some 20 years before a 5-sided castle was built. The Dutch also established a vegetable farm (later expanded to include rare plants, fruit trees, oak trees) called the Company Gardens. Today the Company Gardens is a bit smaller but still there to be enjoyed.

24 Apr 1652

Jan van Riebeeck & his family moved from the Dromedaris to the shore.

23 Apr 1652

In the evening a hippopotamus was killed in the swamp.

8 April 1652

Work began on building the wooden house and store shed near the mouth of the Fresh River. 100 men from the vessels were housed on shore in tents and worked on constructing the fort, near where the fruit stalls are today in the Grand Parade.

6 April 1652

Johan Anthoniszoon (Jan) van Riebeeck sailed into Table Bay with his fleet of 2 ships (the Drommedaris & the Reijger) and the yacht Goede Hoop.

Just before dawn the Drommedaris's Captain Coninck went ashore with 6 armed soldiers a some sailors. The group caught some fish and collected 3 letters which were left in a box on the 26th February.

During the afternoon, Van Riebeeck led a party ashore to select a site for the fort.

Until the end of apartheid, the 6th April was celebrated first as "Van Riebeeck's Day" and then later as "Founder's Day".

5 April 1652

On about the fifth glass of the Afternoon watch, the chief mate of the Drommedaris saw Table Mountain rise above the horizon.

24 Dec 1651

The 33 year old Johan Anthoniszoon (Jan) van Riebeeck, a commander in the Dutch East India Company (out of favour following allegations of fraud), was dispatched from Amsterdam with two ships (Drommedaris & Reijger), a yacht (Goede Hoop), 70 men, and a daunting task to establish a station at the Cape capable of supplying passing ships with fresh food and wine. The command had first been offered to Nicolaas Proot, but he had declined.

Van Riebeeck had previously been to the East as an under-surgeon and then as an assistant clerk. On Van Riebeeck's first return journey from the East, in 1648, he had lived on the shore of the Cape for 3 weeks while the wrecked Haarlem's cargo was being loaded on board the homeward bound ships. He had been recalled to the Netherlands in 1648, as a result of trouble with private trading at Tonkin. He subsequently left the Dutch East India Company, married Maria Quevellerius (who was also known as Maria de la Queillerie) and then rejoined the Dutch East India Company with the rank of merchant. Van Riebeeck shared Proot and Janssen's view that the Cape was suitable as a refreshment station.

On arrival erect a wooden building (the materials for which were loaded on the ships) at the vital watering place at the mouth of the Fresh River.

Select a site for a fort which could house about 80 people and build the fort as soon as possible. The fort should accommodate 4 small cannons (known as culverins).

Take possession of land suitable for vegetable and fruit cultivation.

Van Riebeeck was instructed not to harm local inahabitants or their cattle, but to try to win their friendship.

Welcome all nations (except Portugal) to trade and occupy land, beyond the Dutch East India Company's boundaries, for themselves.

20 Mar 1651

The Dutch East India Company decided to set up a refreshment station at the Cape (as a result of the report by Janssen and Proot).

25 Mar 1647

The Haarlem, a Dutch ship, was wrecked in Table Bay on the 25 March 1647 on its way back to Europe. Two Dutch ships harboured in Table Bay took on board most of the crew and passengers, and 40 others were taken to Europe aboard two English ships. The remaining 60 men stayed to salvage the valuable cargo which was on board the Haarlem. The 60 men were led by Leendert Janssen (a junior merchant). The men first encountered some beachcombers, and after 5 months some pastoralists came into the area and traded cattle and sheep for items from the shipwreck. In 1648 12 Europe-bound Dutch ships took 60 healthy men, the cargo they had salvaged and stocks of food on board to the Netherlands. Leendert Janssen and Nicolaas Proot (one of the 60 shipwrecked men) wrote a report speaking of the peaceful inhabitants at the Cape, and the possibilities of profiting from supplying food to passing ships, seals, whales and fishing. The good survival of the crew convinced the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) that it was safe enough, and the land sufficiently fertile, to justify building a permanent supply station at the Cape.

March 1632

23 of a crew of Dutch sailors were killed when (it is said) they attempted to steal cattle without paying the owners.

1631

On its way to the East An English ship took aboard a beachcomber who they called Harry. Harry was taught some english, well treated and taken back to Table Bay on the ship's return journey in 1632. Unfortuanately, beachcombers were regarded as inferior by the pastoralists and they didn't want him around. For safety, the English moved Harry and a number of beachcombers to Robben Island (they wanted him to continue as interpreter and negotiator).

3 July 1620

For a short period, the Cape was occupied by Humphrey Fitzherbert and Andrew Shillinge on behalf of the English East India Company. On 3 July 1620 they erected a cairn of stones on Signal Hill (they called it "King James his Mount"), hoisted the flag of St George and annexed the Cape to King James.

Augustin de Beaulieu, a Frenchman, accompanied them. De Beaulieu wrote the following of the slopes of Table Mountain, "forests of tall trees, as thick as apple trees with no fruit on them and of a very hard wood. All along the mountain there is an infinity of game such as roebucks, deer as large as harts, partridges and all sorts of game, and on the mountain are great numbers of monkeys, marmots, lions, lynxes, foxes, porcupines, ostritches, elephants and other beasts unknown to me."

5 Jun 1615

Nine felons (of a group of 20 felons), who had obtained a reprieve from King James I in return for settling and starting a plantation at the Cape, landed on the shores of Table Bay. They were led by Captain James Crosse, a highwayman and former yeoman of the Royal Guard. They were meant to make a base on Robben Island, stock it with livestock bartered from the pastoralists, and to provide passing ships with fresh meat. However, Captain Crosse had his throat slit on the mainland, over a quarrel about women. Unfortuanately, the whaleboat which they had been provided with was wrecked on the island's rocks and they were stuck on the island. On sighting a ship, the men made a raft from the wrecked whaleboat and 4 of them paddled out, didn't make it to the ship, and drowned. On the following day, the ship came into the bay and picked up the remaining men who were begging to be taken back to England. Three of the men were arrested, within a few hours of getting to London, for stealing a purse; the Lord Chief Justice revived their original condemnation and they were hanged.

1613

The English kidnap the chief of the indigineous Cape pastoralists (his name sounded like Cory), planning to teach him English and have him assist in trade. In London he lived in the home of Sir Thomas Smythe (founder of the English East India Company). Cory would lie on the floor in the home of Smythe crying and begging "Cory home go, Saldanha go, home go", over and over. Smythe eventually sent him home and on reaching the shore he ripped off his English clothing and got into traditional dress.

1601

Joris van Spilbergen (a Dutchman) named (what is today known as) Robben Island "Cornelia" after his mother.

1591

George Raymond (an English admiral) sailed to what is today known as Robben Island. He said "there can be no other island in all the world as full of fowl and seal as this. It is astounding".

1580

Admiral Drake rounds the Cape and calls it "the fairest Cape in all the circumference of the earth".

1510

Dom Francisco de Almeida (a Portuguese navigator) is killed in a conflict with the Khoikhoi, and the Portuguese subsequently lose interest in "Aguada de Antônio de Saldanha" (the Cape).

1503

Antônio de Saldanha (a Portuguese admiral) becomes the first European to climb Table Mountain. De Saldanha, on his way to the East with a fleet of 3 ships, inadvertently sailed into Table Bay. De Saldanha followed the freshwater stream to the foot of Table Mountain and then climbed up Plattekloof Gorge. The Portuguese attempted to bargain with the indigineous people, but because of the language barrier this turned into an argument, which ended in bloodshed (De Saldanha was slightly wounded). From this point onwards the Portuguese called the area "Aguada de Antônio de Saldanha", meaning 'Watering place of Antônio de Saldanha'.

De Saldanha named Table Mountain "Taboa da caba", or Table of the Cape.

1497

Vasco de Gama sights the Cape while searching for a route from Europe to the East.

1488

Dias's records are incomplete, and it is not clear whether he sighted Table Mountain. The Turks had closed off the land route to the East and Portugal desperately wanted to find a sea route.

From 29° south Dias lost sight of the coast and was driven by a 13-day storm far south. When the storm ended Dias sailed in an easterly direction and, when no land appeared, turned northward. Dias landed in the Bahia dos Vaqueiros (Mossel Bay) on the 3rd February 1488. Later Dias went ashore. When the local herdsmen threw stones at them, Dias shot a herdsman and the others left quickly.

Dias's crew threatened mutiny if he didn't return, so Dias reluctantly return to Portugal. On the way back they sailed close to shore to try locate the southern-most point, which Bartholomeu named Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). On Dias's return to Lisbon, King John II did not like the name "Cape of Storms" and renamed it the "Cape of Good Hope" (Cabo da Boa Esperança).

Before the Europeans

Legend has it that more than 2000 years ago Phoenician & Arab were the first to reach the Cape by sea.

Before the Phoenicians

The Cape was home to groups of the Khoikhoi (men of men) people, who were semi-nomadic cattle owners related to the San. The Khoikhoi had, over the years, competed with and largely displaced the San hunter-gatherers. The Khoikhoi probably numbered some 6000 when van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape. The Khoikhoi named the land around Cape Town, "Hoerikwaggo", Mountain of the Sea. Before the Dutch came to the Cape, the Khoikhoi conducted trade with their Bantu-speaking neighbours in cattle and marijuana and, to a lesser extent, iron and copper.

Before the Khoikhoi

Homo Erectus saw a Table Mountain similar to today's 750,000 years ago and left stone tools for our museums (found in a wind-scoured depression near the Cape of Good Hope). They survived by hunting, fishing and gathering edible plants and roots.

Before Homo Erectus

Long before the Rockies or the Himalayas formed, Table Mountain began to rise out of the sea (by isostacy). The emerging relief was checked and scarred by the erosion of sea, wind, rain, fire and ice. For instance, the cliff-face of Table Mountain was largely caused by the sea-waves lapping against it.

300 million BC

About 300 million years ago the mountain was still at sea level and during an ice-age ice sheets flattened the top of the sandstone creating Table Mountain's flat top.

630 million BC

About 630 million years ago the sandstone was strengthened by magma which rose into, stopped and hardened to form granite (granite rocks can be viewed today, especially on the coast). The contact zone where the Malmesbury Group was intruded by molten granite can be seen at Sea Point.

800 million BC

About 800 million years ago sandstone started to form underwater.

South Africa: A Vintage Tour

Interesting questions, facts and information

Castle of Good Hope

Diary: Jan van Riebeeck

The History of St George's Cathedral