Legacy in South Africa
Jan van Riebeeck is of cultural and historical significance to South Africa. Many of the Afrikaner population view him as the founding father of their nation. This regard was also prevalent in that his image appeared ubiquitously on stamps and the South African currency from the 1940s up until 1993 when the South African Reserve Bank changed the currency to an apolitical design of the fauna and flora of the region. The image used on the currency notes was, however, not that of Van Riebeeck, but of Bartholomeus Vermuyden.
6 April used to be known as Van Riebeeck's Day, and later as Founders' Day but the holiday was abolished by the ANC government after the democratic elections of 1994. His image no longer features on any official currency or stamps, but statues of him and his wife remain standing in Adderley Street, Cape Town.
The coat of arms of the city of Cape Town is based on the Van Riebeeck family coat of arms.
Many South African towns and villages have streets named after him. Riebeek-Kasteel is one of the oldest towns in South Africa, situated at 75 km from Cape Town in The Riebeek Valley together with its sister town Riebeek West.
Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck (English: Jan van Riebeeck High School) is an Afrikaans high school in Cape Town.
Read more about this topic: Jan Van Riebeeck
Famous quotes containing the words legacy, south and/or africa:
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?”
—Countee Cullen (1903–1946)