|
The Foundations of Franschhoek and
Stellenbosch
Simon van der Stel was the pioneering founder and patron
of wine farming in the Cape and the moving force in the
establishment of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. He was
also the first Coloured Governor of the Cape; in fact
the first person to carry the title Governor of the
Cape.
Simon was born at sea en route from Batavia to Mauritius
where he was reared until the age of 20. His father had
been appointed the Dutch Commander of Mauritius. Simon’s
mother was a Coloured woman, Maria Lievens, born to a
former Indian slave Monica da Costa (Monica of the Coast
of Coromandel), also sometimes referred to as Monica of
Goa.
These finer details of the van der Stel family were kept
hidden for many years. The only portrait that we have of
Simon van der Stel clearly also shows us that he did not
have European features.
It was under Simon van der Stel that the development of
the Drakenstein Valley, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch
became possible. He had a different way of doing things.
Had it been up to van der Stel alone he was on record as
preferring the assisted installation of Bengali and
African farmers in the Cape and was unimpressed with the
free-burgher farmers that he inherited. The arrival of
French Hugenots offered an alternative and changed the
circumstances. Van der Stel was overjoyed at their
arrival in the Cape as the Hugenots offered skills and
culture that was glaringly missing in the burgher
population. Van der Stel showed in practice in the
foundation period of these new areas that hard work and
ingenuity is what mattered rather than ‘station in life’
or colour. He clearly also acknowledged that without
slaves the task of taming the land would be impossible.
While the Hugenots steerling efforts have received much
praise, history neither acknowledged nor rewarded the
descendents of slaves for their pioneering contribution.
And Simon’s own roots were hidden from the world. At the
end of the 17th Century Simon actively encouraged Free
Black settlement in and around the new town that carried
his name.
The Early Free Black Farmers and Artisans of Franschhoek
Paarl Stellenbosch triangle
In 1712 there were 17 Free Blacks in the Stellenbosch
district of which Franschhoek was a part. Amongst these
were artisan craftsmen such as Isaac van Terenate,
Rangton of Bali, Anthonie van Saloor, Jafta van der Caab
and Johannes Adriaanse. They were amongst the founders
of the Coloured and African communities of today.
Right up to the early 1800s the Cape Colony had six
districts; Cape, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh, Swellendam,
Graaf Reinet and Uitenhage. Stellenbosch landdrost
district stretched from the west coast around the van
Rynsdorp area, through to Agulhus and down to the Cape
Flats. It included Paarl, Wellington, Somerset West,
Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Caledon. Stellenbosch
district was a huge area. By 1827 the Stellenbosch
district had a total population of 16 325 of which 8 445
were slaves. In 1692 there were seven registered slave
owners with 43 slaves between them. The back-breaking
work that went into taming the land and creating the
beautiful farms and vineyards and towns largely relied
on slave labor, captured San labor and Khoi serfs.
Franschhoek was originally an elephant breeding ground
first called Olifantshoek and was a far cry from the
neat parcels of farms seen today.
Dotted across the farming landscape there are numerous
slave marker sites on farms such as Boschendal, Vergelen,
Meerlust, Spier, Elsenburg, Nieuwendorp, Languedoc,
Eensaam and so on. Assisted by missionaries the free
slaves, after emancipation, were settled in Pniel, and
in terraced houses in Herte street in Stellenbosch and
in Franschhoek. After Apartheid was introduced Coloured
residents in the then designated white areas of town in
Franschhoek, Paarl and Stellenbosch were forcibly
removed from their beautiful homes, and dumped in
crowded and inhospitable locations designated for
Coloured and African people. Black farming pioneers,
slaves and laborers which had made Franschhoek the great
real estate that it is today, were henceforth to be seen
as a blot on the landscape.
The farm Old Nectar which in 1683 was called Weltevreden
was originally granted to pioneering Free Black farmers
Jan of Saloor and Marquart of Saloor. Klein Gustrouw,
formerly known as ‘Leef op Hoop’ was first owned by
pioneering Free Black farmer Louis of Bengal on his
death in 1696 it was sold to the estate of Anthonie of
Angola. The farm today known as Lanzerac originally was
‘Schoongezicht’ but also included a number of other
farms bought up by Lieutenant Isaq Schrijver. One of
those farms was ‘Angola’ owned by pioneering Free Black
farmers Anthonie of Angola, Manuel of Angola and his
wife Elizabeth van de Caab.
Besides these Free Black farmers a significant number of
European settlers in the Stellenbosch, Franschhoek,
Jonkershoek and the Drakenstein Valley, at all social
levels had some familial connectivity to Free Blacks and
slaves. For instance the first owners of the farm Rust
en Vrede were the French family Jacques and
Marie-Madeleine De Savoyes. They were held in high
esteem by the Cape elite and counted Simon van der Stel
as a friend. Their eldest daughter Margo married
Christoffel Snyman the son of the Free Black burgers
Anthonie from Bengal and Catharina of Palicatte.
The Free Black farmer Christoffel Snyman and his French
wife Margo, as Marie-Madeleine then called herself,
became the second owners of the farm Zandvliet, today
known as Solms-Delta. Margo later married into the
Viljoen family after Christoffel died. One of Margo and
Christoffel’s daughters (colored), in one of those
strange circumstances associated with the times, married
her step-father’s brother and had a number of Viljoen
children.
From another angle the ties that bind us are also
illustrated by a petition from farmer van Zyl and his
neighbors to Governor Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes,
complaining that Khoi women were visiting their slaves
who were of Indonesian roots, resulting in children
being born. Van Zyl wanted a legal order allowing
farmers to indenture these children.
*
|
and
through 