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The first Cape Governor was of mixed descent; and would have been regarded as a Coloured man today. This fact was largely unacknowledged in history textbooks by the Apartheid government. Simon van der Stel was born in 1639 in Mauritius.
#AColouredTapestry (1/7)
#AColouredTapestry (1/7)
Simon was the son of a VOC official and Maria Lievens, daughter of a formerly enslaved Indian woman known as Monica of the Coast of Goa, or Monica da Costa. He was appointed by the VOC as the Commander of the Cape in 1679. (2/7)
Soon after this arrival, he set about expanding the colony, establishing the town of Stellenbosch and the farm of Groot Constantia. By 1691, van der Stel had been promoted to the new position of Governor. He retired in 1699. (3/7)
Simon was succeeded by his son Willem Adriaan. In 1707, Adam Tas and 14 other free burghers signed a petition, accusing Willem Adriaan van der Stel of advancing the interests of the Khoe and San people who, (4/7)
the petitioners claimed, would “attack all Christians, good or bad without distinction”. They added, “Not much more can be expected from our slaves; we can also not expect much better and even less from… (5/7)
“all that black brood living among us, who have been bred from marriages and other forms of mingling with European… For there is no trusting the blood of Ham, especially as the black people are constantly being favoured and pushed forward…” (6/7)
Virtually all the colony’s un-enslaved Black people signed petitions in favour of Van der Stel’s good governance. Despite his popularity, the VOC dismissed Van der Stel, and ordered his return to the Netherlands in 1707. (7/7)
