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CHAPTER 2 - The Dutch East Indian Company

The Dutch East Indian Company & The Cape of Good Hope:

The Dutch East Indian Company - also known as the VOC’s initial intention was to create a refreshment station at the Cape. The initial voyage was a long one and the sailors would get sick on the ships due to nutrition deficiency. Therefore, it was important to have a “halfway” station at the Cape of Good hope, where these ships can dock and refill for the voyage ahead. Thus, the VOC intended to establish a refreshment station at the cape to enable the VOC to gather refreshments and trade; which eventually led to a broader expansion, that included general trade with the East, ending in profit. There are three main phases of economic development at the Cape. These included phase one which was intensive agriculture, phase two; extensive agriculture, and phase 3 (transhumant pastoralism). In the following paragraphs, these phases will be discussed.

The Refreshment station:

The VOC created a small refreshment station at the cape, because of the commerce obtained in the east. The cape itself wasn’t the main objective for making a profit but helping the VOC to make that profit. Its main purpose was to help the ships passing through the Cape with the necessary water and refreshments so that ships can continue the voyage to the east. The profitability of the voyage was immense, recently a study showed that at least 4000 ships sailed to the east between the 1600s to the 1750s.

The cape as a refreshment station;

The intention was nothing more than establishing a small and controlled establishment. The primary objective was to supply the passing ships. What the VOC did not take into account is the colony that will come about in the centuries that followed. The Dutch had to sail the seas through the Atlantic, around the cape horn and into the southern seas and onward to the Indian Ocean. The main objective of the EIC was to conquer territories or at least obtain colonies found within the trading route. Like any other company historically, the main goal was to eliminate competitors. According to a study, the main aim of the Cape was not to involve a major trading post nor creating an extensive community. Thus the main function of the cape station was for refreshments. Today one can draw a correlation between a filling station and a refreshment station, which was apparent at the Cape at that stage in history.

Refreshment station to Colony:

The emergence of the free burgers came about in 1657 when nine officials requested to leave the VOC and received a farm in Rondebosch (about 11.3 hectares). Van Riebeeck argued that these farmers had to cultivate the land and a deal would happen between the VOC and the farmers, which would save the VOC money. One can argue that this is where the expansion of the cape colony started. After 1662 the intensive agriculture came to the forefront. Different economical phases during periods of expansion occurred. Phase 1 included Intensive agriculture

By the 1680s the free burgers experienced a difficult time in the farming industry. The sustainability of the farms and satisfying their own needs proofed to be difficult. It was an impossible task according to the methods incorporated by Jan van Riebeeck. The reasons why it was hard to farm can be seen as a combination of factors. Factors included some inexperience of the first free burgers. Farming relatively speaking can be noticed as a combination of understanding the geographical affiliation and the knowledge and the knowledge needed to cultivate the soil or work the livestock. Due to the lack of knowledge, the first-generational farmers were ill-equipped to cultivate the land and therefore influenced the production and activity on the farm.

Financial matters were another factor. The investment was limited, and money was needed to cultivate the land. The VOC assisted in giving the farmers loans and credit with low investment, but the total outcome was dire.

Another reason for the poor production value of farms was the continuing of the VOC’s farming. Climate and soil was another problem that the farmers had. They were not prepared for droughts floods etc. It is therefore apparent that there was a continual flow of existing factors that influenced the productivity of the farmers.

Transhumant pastoralism:

At the end of the 1700s, the white community exceeded that of other ethnic groups. The Colony started to grow and the boarders were at the Gariep orange river. Intensive agricultural farming made space for the new farming methods of livestock. The trek Boers (migrant farmers), left the agricultural farming and focused more on the hunting and herding compositions.

Weakened ties to Europe forced the inhabitants of the cape to associate themself with Africa and permanent residents thereof. Farmers noted that they need to investigate more of the cape for better farmland. These investigations led to attractive factors include: Stock farming, better Environments, and capital for creating a farm further away were cheaper. The free permits of 1703 made it easier for the folk to move further away from the cape. Another factor included that less labour was required due to different stock farming methods.

“Transhumance, a form of pastoralism or nomadism organized around the migration of livestock between mountain pastures in warm seasons and lower altitudes the rest of the year. The seasonal migration may also occur between lower and upper latitudes.”

Transhumance occurring in the Cape colony was necessary due to environmental factors and certain structures that allowed this way of agriculture to happen.

We can see that what was initially intended as a halfway station of refreshment for the VOC and wat initially started as a refreshment station ended up as a colony, union, republic, and finally a democratic republic. The influence of the VOC and the harsh farming conditions had a great effect on the exploration of the interior of the Cape. It is evident that the farming communities tried to make a better living for their families by exploring different methods of farming and ways of making a living, but some farming communities were subjugated to extreme poverty and harsh conditions.

In conclusion, the creation of a country was partly constructed by a small refreshment station allocated at the cape, combined with a vast interwoven indigenous population and the history that followed alongside it came about the start of political geographical seclusion called South Africa.