South African History
Extended family of Piet Oosthuizen with friends Charles and Richard Pace.
Almost four hundred years ago, in the early-1600′s, the same time America’s founders colonized Jamestown, Virginia, the Dutch colonized South Africa. The Dutch East India Company, with support from the government founded a refreshment station near the tip of the continent of Africa, at the cape (head) of land sticking out where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian. They called their post “Kapstad”, “Capetown”. You can see their fort today. There were no other people living in the area, other than a few bushmen. The black tribes were much further north. “Kapstad”, “Capetown” immediately became successful.
Before this outpost was established, carrying goods from the Far East to Europe was first done overland. The process was slow, expensive, and dangerous. It was better in every respect to haul the goods around Africa. For navigators carrying goods from East to West, Kapstad was heaven. From the strain of a long voyage they could recover in a safe and civilized European town with all the advantages of home, but in a climate far superior to the harsh conditions of northern Europe. Wonderful food, the services of doctors, schools, church, cleanliness, fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and every necessary supply were provided. Ships would stay weeks or months at the time.
Cape Town was the world’s most famous refreshment station for four hundred years until the airplane seized East-West travel. Sir Francis Drake said it was the most beautiful place in the world to approach from the sea. One can see Table Mountain from a hundred miles away.
The early Dutch settlers, now four million, are called Afrikaners. To their number was gradually added English, now about one million. The Dutch had gone there to be farmers. The English came later when gold, diamonds and rich minerals were discovered. The Afrikaners, in a scene similar to our settling of the western US, but even more challenging, moved further north. In 1898 gold was discovered in huge amounts. With it came a larger English overseas interest in this area. Subsequently, South Africa fought their equivalent to our War Between the States, with the Afrikaners and English fighting the Boer War which concluded at the beginning of the 20th century.
“Boer” means “farmer” in Dutch. It was a savage war. Many soldiers, English and Afrikaner, were killed. By the end of the war the vast wealth of South Africa was owned by the English. Bad feelings between English and Afrikaners are just now dying.
The South Africans sent men to help the English and Americans in two world wars, and had more deaths from combat as a percentage of population than the armies of any other Allied nation. With the war being fought six thousand miles away, they could have avoided the pain and suffering.
In 1994, South Africa became a democracy, like its northern neighbors. The world is hopeful that South Africa can overcome the painful and destructive paths of other Sub-Saharan African countries that have succumbed to massive government corruption and the ensuing reduction in standards of living.