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Volume:II-49 (2018)Hendrik Swellengrebel was born at the Cape on 26 November 1734, the fifth child of Hendrik Swellengrebel Snr, at the time the Secretary of the Council of Policy, but from 1739 Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and of Helena Wilhelmina ten Damme. After bidding farewell to his parents on 25 March 1746, Hendrik Jr travelled as an... -
Volume:II-38 (2007)In 1780 the young Francois Vaillant (as he then was) set out from Holland for the Cape to collect specimens of birds and animals. His account of his travels, which was published widely during the revolutionary period in France and became an influential piece of writing about South Africa, popular throughout Europe, reflected many Enlightenment attitudes. Le Vaillant’s account...
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Volume:II-34 (2003)Hendrik Cloete, the owner of Groot Constantia from 1778, extended the manor house and improved and marketed the celebrated Constantia wines. This volume, the correspondence between Cloete and Hendrik Swellengrebel jr follows his attempt o obtain the concession from the Dutch East India Company to freely trade and market his famous wines. This material enables the reader to take...
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Volume:II-17 (1986)Carl Peter Thunberg (1743), a Swede and disciple of the renowned botanist, Linnaeus the elder, was the first university graduate to travel extensively in the Cape interior, preceding the expedition of his compatriot, Anders Sparrman. Apart from recounting his three journeys - two to the Eastern Cape as far as the Sundays River, and one to the Roggeveld -...
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Volume:II-13 (1982)Hendrik Swellengrebel Jr (1734-1803) was the son of Hendrik Swellengrebel who served as governor for a number of years and retained extensive properties there. The younger Swellengrebel lived a comfortable life in the Netherlands, but visited the Cape between 1776-1777. Thereafter he retained an interest in Cape affairs. He became associated with the rebel Cape Patriot movement and did...
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Volume:II-7 (1976)This second volume of Sparrman's travels concerns his account of his journey to the Eastern Cape including a stay at Agter Bruintjies Hoogte. It includes comments on the practices of the Khoi of the eastern districts and of local flora and fauna.
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Volume:II-6 (1975)Anders Sparrman (1748-1820), a young Swedish doctor, is noteworthy for his visit to parts of the Cape which were little known at that time. This first volume describes his journey past Mossel Bay and through the Langkloof.
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Volume:II-4 (1973)This second part of Valentyn's travels continues with the account of his visit in 1702 and a later visit of 1714. It includes a lengthy account of the customs of the Khoi and their language, the fauna to be encountered and the early history of the settlement.
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Volume:II-1 (1970)Adam Tas (1668-1722) was an early Dutch free burgher, farming in the Stellenbosch district. He is best known for the part he played in the free burgher conflicts with the Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel, concerning the corruption of Company officials and their misuse of trading monopolies. This diary, the work of an engaging and genial man, describes...
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Volume:I-46 (1965)Paravicini di Capelli was an artillery-captain at the time of the Batavian Republic and aide-de-camp of the Cape governor, General Jan Willem Janssens. He travelled with the governor into the interior, keeping an official journal as well as his own, and was active in preparations of the Cape against attack by the British, travelling widely during this period. In...
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Volume:I-25 (1944)In this third volume of Mentzel's account of life at the Cape he travelled into the interior, to Stellenbosch and Swellendam. He comments on agriculture and viticulture, as well as hunting. The final chapters discuss the Khoi inhabitants.
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Volume:I-24 (1943)M.D. Teenstra was a Dutch gentleman-farmer, who visited the Cape in 1825. During the course of his stay he went for a cure at the Caledon baths, and visited Genadendal and Cape Agulhas, returning to Cape Town via Franschhoek and Stellenbosch. His observations are acute and full and he made full use of statistics and other official information available...
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Volume:I-23 (1942)This volume touches on one of the most important aspects of South African economic history before the discovery of diamonds and gold. It is an early study of the livestock industry at the Cape, especially the development of the merino sheep industry. The author was a colonial-born Company official, who found favour with the British authorities when they took...
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Volume:I-19 (1938)The Duminy diaries consist of the diary of Johanna Margareta Duminy (1797), the journal of François Duminy of his visit to the Caledon Baths and the Bok river (9 November 1810 to 4 March 1811), the journal François Duminy's expedition to Walfish Bay in 1893 and Sebastian Valentyn van Reenen's journal of the same expedition. An English translation of...
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Volume:I-18 (1937)This is an account of a journey in to the Eastern Cape undertaken by the Governor of the Cape, J.W. Janssens and Capt Paravicini de Capelli, recorded by D.G. van Reenen. Van Reenen was a prominent burger at the Cape, a winemaker, reputed to make the best wine in the Cape, and he held the wine and meat...
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Volume:I-15 (1935)These journals were published originally in Molsbergen's Reizen in Zuid Afrika. Wikar's report is an account of the daily life and adventures of the first European who is known to have journeyed along the Orange River, while that of Jansz records the first European crossing of the Orange River into South-West Africa . Van Reenen crossed the Orange River...
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Volume:I-12 (1931)The Swede, Olaf Bergh, was one of the earliest travellers to undertake the journey up to Namaqualand. The purpose of his journeys was to negotiate with the 'Sousequase and Gourisse Hottentots' , to trade and to familiarise himself with the region up the Cape west coast. Isaq Schrijver of Leiden was also sent north by Governor Simon van...
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Volume:I-11 (1928-30)In this second volume Lichtenstein returned to Cape Town via Graaff Reinet and the Karroo. Subsequently he returned to the Swellendam district. His last journey took him north to Kuruman where he encountered the Koranna and the Bechuana.
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Volume:I-6 (1924)The second part of Mentzel's account of life at the Cape ranges widely, from revenues available to the Cape government, to the daily life of the burghers, public auctions and the treatment of slaves.
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Volume:I-5 (1922)Includes descriptions of the Cape by Ovington, 1695; Beeckman, 1715; Dampier, 1691; Rogers' Description of Natal, c. 1696; Cnoll's Dagregister van een reis naar het Warme Bad, with an English translation; Dagverhaal wegens de reis naar 't Warme Water, opgesteld door Willem van Putten, c. 1710, with an English translation; letter dated 1708 from John Maxwell to Rev. Dr...
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Volume:I-4 (1921)The first of three volumes by Mentzel on conditions at the Cape as he found them in the mid-18th century. Mentzel intended to correct the errors perpetrated by such earlier travellers as Kolb. This volume contains an historical background, a description of the physical features of the Cape and accounts of the administration and finances of the colony.
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Volume:I-3 (1920)As was the case with many of the early volumes of the Society, this is a bilingual text. It is the report of the commission sent to the Cape in the critical years between the two British occupations. The purpose of the report was to decide on the future government of the Cape, but it ranged widely over social,...
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Volume:I-2 (1919)This 'biography' of Allemann is, in fact, an entertaining account of social life at the Cape during the mid-18th century. The topics range from the structure of the military forces to the life of slaves, and the revolt of Etienne Barbier to shipwrecks and the financial prospects of young women.
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Volume:I-1 (1918)Written in Dutch, with translations in English, according to John X Merriman, one of the founders of the society, these documents deal 'with matters that Dr Theal characterized as, probably, of the greatest importance to the European Settlement in this country'. They are official reports on conditions at the Cape.
Dutch East India Company period to 1808admin2019-08-08T08:18:10+00:00