Manchester University Press
8 Colonising the Cape of Good Hope
Abstract
The British took control of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, after over a century of occupation by the agents and settlers of the Dutch VOC. Originally, the VOC never considered the Cape to be more than a refreshment station to service ships on their way to and from the VOC empire in the East, but even a limited number of settlers sufficed to transform the neglected area into a contested space of imperial competition. This chapter challenges established perceptions considering this place as a negligible site of early modern colonisation, to highlight the processes and conflicts that led to the development of the region by an array of European imperial agents, all part of the history and make-up of the region’s history, memory and culture. The chapter addresses the inconsistencies of VOC rule in the management of wave after wave of immigrant settlers of Dutch and French origin intent on residing permanently in the area and making the best of limited agricultural opportunities. It demonstrates the impact of various stakeholders to the land, including indigenous people, who actively resisted settler expansion. It points to the importance of settler demands and settler autonomy in the stabilisation and expansion of European domination in the region, in spite of inconsistent and sometimes contradictory imperial policies of Dutch and British trading interests and companies. The latter viewed the Cape as a strategic location in the global competition for access to and domination over trading routes connecting Europe to the riches of Asia.
Abstract
The British took control of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, after over a century of occupation by the agents and settlers of the Dutch VOC. Originally, the VOC never considered the Cape to be more than a refreshment station to service ships on their way to and from the VOC empire in the East, but even a limited number of settlers sufficed to transform the neglected area into a contested space of imperial competition. This chapter challenges established perceptions considering this place as a negligible site of early modern colonisation, to highlight the processes and conflicts that led to the development of the region by an array of European imperial agents, all part of the history and make-up of the region’s history, memory and culture. The chapter addresses the inconsistencies of VOC rule in the management of wave after wave of immigrant settlers of Dutch and French origin intent on residing permanently in the area and making the best of limited agricultural opportunities. It demonstrates the impact of various stakeholders to the land, including indigenous people, who actively resisted settler expansion. It points to the importance of settler demands and settler autonomy in the stabilisation and expansion of European domination in the region, in spite of inconsistent and sometimes contradictory imperial policies of Dutch and British trading interests and companies. The latter viewed the Cape as a strategic location in the global competition for access to and domination over trading routes connecting Europe to the riches of Asia.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
- I Tensions within imperial projects 21
- 1 Global trade and its benefits for ‘the nation’ 23
- 2 Comparing and criticising early modern imperial policies in the Age of Revolution 45
- 3 Global pursuits 66
- II The limits of imperial control 89
- 4 The limits of royal control over migration to Spanish America in the sixteenth century 91
- 5 Imperial struggles, colonisation and the Dutch slave trade in seventeenth- century New Netherland 108
- 6 The control of unfree labour across the Dutch Empire in the eighteenth century 129
- III Local adaptations and developments 151
- 7 Settler colonialism and early American history 153
- 8 Colonising the Cape of Good Hope 179
- 9 Shipping mules in the eighteenth century 200
- Epilogue 223
- Select bibliography 233
- Index 254
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Contributors vii
- Acknowledgements xii
- Abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
- I Tensions within imperial projects 21
- 1 Global trade and its benefits for ‘the nation’ 23
- 2 Comparing and criticising early modern imperial policies in the Age of Revolution 45
- 3 Global pursuits 66
- II The limits of imperial control 89
- 4 The limits of royal control over migration to Spanish America in the sixteenth century 91
- 5 Imperial struggles, colonisation and the Dutch slave trade in seventeenth- century New Netherland 108
- 6 The control of unfree labour across the Dutch Empire in the eighteenth century 129
- III Local adaptations and developments 151
- 7 Settler colonialism and early American history 153
- 8 Colonising the Cape of Good Hope 179
- 9 Shipping mules in the eighteenth century 200
- Epilogue 223
- Select bibliography 233
- Index 254
