1650s in South Africa

1650s In South Africa

Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape on 6 April 1652. He set up a supply station and fortifications for the Dutch East India Company. Bernert Willemsz Wijlant, the first European baby, was born at the Cape on 6 June. In 1654, Batavian convicts and political opponents were banished to the Cape bringing Islam, their faith, to South Africa. van Riebeeck sent Jan Wintervogel, a Dutch ensign, to scout the interior in 1655. Wintervogel went as far as Saldanha Bay. Van Riebeeck sent Willem Muller, a Dutch corporal, with the Khoikhoi interpreter, Autsumao, to explore the Hottentots Holland region. Maize and Grape vines were planted in the Cape that same year. In 1657, Abraham Gabbema was sent to scout the interior and explored as far as the Berg River and Paarl regions. Doman, the leader of the Goringhaiqua Khoikhoi, was sent to Batavia to be trained as an interpreter. Nine Dutch East India Company servants were freed to become free burghers (free citizens) on 21 February. They settled along the Liesbeeck River (now Rondebosch area). The first wine was pressed from Cape grapes on 2 February 1659. Jan van Riebeeck established the Burgher Militia on 1 May. The Khoikhoi protested against white encroachment on 19 May, leading to the first anti-colonial Khoikhoi-Dutch War.