Cape Germans: Difference between revisions
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A significant number of white people in [[South Africa]] are descended from Germans. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the [[Afrikaner]] and Afrikaans population, because they had religious & ethnic similarities to the Dutch colonists. |
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==History== |
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'''Cape Germans''' are South African German ethnic people who emigrated to the [[Cape Colony]] during the Dutch rule between (1652-1806) and in the succeeding centuries. In 1652 the [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch East India Company's]] established a supplies station at the [[Cape of Good Hope]] under the command of [[Jan van Riebeeck]]. The party was made up of 90 settlers, a number of whom were from Germany, displaced by the 30-year war (1618-1648) in Europe. |
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==Pre 1700s== |
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In the 1680s, more German farmers and women arrived at [[Cape Colony]]. In 1691, the population was 1000 [[Europeans]] especially [[Dutch people|Dutch]],German & [[Huguenots]] and 400 slaves. From this point onwards the white population increased to about 1300 by the year 1700. About 4000 Germans immigrated to the Cape during the Dutch period, almost all of them males. They came from all German-speaking areas of Europe. The Germans who arrived at the Cape in the seventeenth<!--editor possibly meant 1700s?--> century were not emigrants but worked for the Dutch East India Company, perhaps initially in Holland, and then were sent to the Cape. |
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==18th & 19th Centuries== |
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German missionaries established themselves at various centres in South Africa. The earliest efforts were made by George Schmidt. A group of 74 Germans, (wine-makers) selected by the Cape Emigration Commissioner, Mr Field, were among emigrants who sailed to South Africa on the ship Aurifera. This was during the era of assisted emigration to the Cape between 1857 and 1862. |
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==THE BERGTHEIL settlers: 1848== |
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After the Bergtheil Settlers arrived in Natal, German Military Settlers were sent to South Africa. These men had been recruited for service with British forces in the Crimean War (1854-6) and were stationed in England. From here it was intended they should sail to South Africa but the war ended before their departure. The soldiers (2362 in all) were instead sent to the Cape as settlers, arriving in East London in early 1857. It was suggested that the men marry, with the incentive being free passages for wives, resulting in last-minute weddings at the quayside. |
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