History of South African Nationality - Dutch Colonial Rule

Dutch Colonial Rule

South African nationality begins with its history as a European colony. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (abbreviated V.O.C., in reference to the original Dutch version of this title) established the first permanent European settlement in the region. At that time, the pastoral group known as the Khoikhoi inhabited the region along with other Niger-Congo peoples who had emigrated from the Northwest approximately 1500 years prior. The Dutch formally purchased land from the Khoikhoi in 1671 and Cape Colony was established.

As the colony developed and expanded, slaves from other African regions as well as parts of South and Southeast Asia were imported to work in agriculture and in domestic service. During the 18th century, the growth in population of white settlers was nearly identical to increases in slave populations, despite the fact that the slaves were predominantly male.

Thus the society under Dutch rule was a mixture of races and ethnic groups: the indigenous Khoikhoi peoples, the white settlers of European descent who eventually became Afrikaners, and the heterogeneous slave populations from various other parts of Africa and Asia. Since only members of V.O.C. had the right to land ownership or political power, the colony's system of law internalized and perpetuated racial inequalities. The constrictive, domineering administrative policies of the V.O.C. led to considerable settler resentment of authority structures, and the libertarianism associated with the Boers (South Africans of Dutch descent).