History of Cape Colony Before 1806 - First Settlement

First Settlement

The Dutch East India Company settlement in the area began in March 1647, with the shipwreck of the Dutch ship Nieuwe Haarlem. The shipwreck victims built a small fort that they named the "Sand Fort of the Cape of Good Hope." They stayed for nearly one year, until they were rescued by a fleet of 12 ships under the command of W.G. de Jong.

After their return to Holland some of the shipwrecked crewmates tried to persuade the Dutch East India Company to open a trading center at the Cape.

A Dutch East India Company expedition of 90 Calvinist settlers, under the command of Jan van Riebeeck, founded the first permanent settlement near the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. Jan van Riebeeck was on one of the rescue ships that had come to rescue the shipwrecked sailors, and upon seeing the land, he decided to return. They arrived in the harbour of modern-day Cape Town on 6 April 1652 with five ships:

1. Reijer,
2. Oliphant,
3. Goede Hoop,
4. Walvisch,
5. Dromedaris.

The settlers initially built a clay and timber fort, which was replaced between 1666 and 1679 by the Castle of Good Hope, which is now the oldest building in South Africa. The Colony began properly in 1671 with the first purchase of land from the Khoikhoi (called "Hottentots" by the settlers) beyond the original limits of the fort built by van Riebeeck.

The earliest colonists were, for the most part, from the lower, working class and displayed an indifferent attitude towards developing the colony, but after a commissioner that was sent out in 1685 to attract more settlers, a more dedicated group of immigrants began to arrive. French refugees began to arrive in the Cape after leaving their country after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This small body of immigrants had a marked influence on the character of the Dutch settlers. Owing to the policy instituted in 1701 of the Dutch East India Company which dictated that schools should teach exclusively in Dutch and strict laws of assembly, the Huguenots ceased by the middle of the 18th century to maintain a distinct identity, and the knowledge of French disappeared. By the late 1700s the Cape Colony was one of the best developed European settlements out side Europe or the Americas.