Abstract

DE KLERK, Pieter. The founding of the Cape Colony in Dutch historical writing. Historia [online]. 2009, vol.54, n.2, pp.178-196. ISSN 2309-8392.

This article examines a number of texts by Dutch historians. These include studies on the early history of the Cape Colony and general reviews of the history of the Netherlands and their colonies. It appears that most overviews refer only briefly to the founding of the Cape Colony. Furthermore, many books on Dutch colonial history do not pay much attention to this event. During the period before about 1920, Dutch writers made an important contribution to the publication of texts on the early history of the Cape Colony, but they have played a less prominent role in research that has since been done on this subject. A number of historians emphasise the fact that, although the Dutch founded colonies in various parts of the world, it is only in Southern Africa that there are a few million people to be found today with a language and culture of mainly Dutch origin. Only one of these historians points out that the establishment of a Dutch-speaking society at the Cape was the result of both emigration from Europe and the acceptance of many aspects of Dutch culture by the slaves and the indigenous Khoikhoi population.

Keywords : A. Biewenga; Cape Colony; colonial history; Dutch colonies; Dutch culture; Dutch East India Company (VOC / DEIC); Dutch historical writing; Dutch race; E.C. Godée Molsbergen; G.J. Schutte; J. Romein; Jan van Riebeeck; Khoikhoi; N.G. van Kampen; Netherlands; P. Geyl; R. Ross; Simon van der Stel; U.G. Lauts; W.C. Mees.

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