Editing Jan van Riebeeck (section)

== Life ==

=== Early life ===
Jan van Riebeeck was born in [[Culemborg]] on 21 April 1619, as the son of a surgeon. He grew up in [[Schiedam]], where he married a 19-year-old [[Maria van Riebeeck|Maria de la Queillerie]] on 28 March 1649. She died in [[Malacca]], now part of Malaysia, on 2&nbsp;November 1664, at the age of 35. The couple had eight or nine children, most of whom did not survive infancy. Their son [[Abraham van Riebeeck]], born at the Cape, later became [[Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/johan-anthoniszoon-jan-van-riebeeck |title=Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" Van Riebeeck |last=Rajgopaul |first=Jeeva |date=17 October 2011 |website=South African History Online |language=en |access-date=11 February 2019}}</ref>

=== Employment in the VOC ===
Joining the ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'' (VOC) ([[Dutch East India Company]]) in 1639, he served in a number of posts, including that of an assistant surgeon in the [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] in the [[East Indies]].<ref name=":0" />

He was head of the VOC trading post in [[Tonkin]], Indochina. After being dismissed from that position in 1645 due to conducting trade for his own personal account, he began to advocate a refreshment station in the [[Cape of Good Hope]] after staying 18 days there during his return voyage. Two years later, support increased after a marooned VOC ship was able to survive in a temporary fortress. The [[Dutch East India Company#Organisational structure|Heeren XVII]] requested a report from Leendert Jansz and Mathys Proot, which recommended a Dutch presence.<ref name=":0" />

In 1643, van Riebeeck travelled with [[Jan van Elseracq]] to the VOC outpost at [[Dejima]] in [[Japan]]. Seven years later in 1650, he proposed selling hides of South African wild animals to Japan.<ref>Osada, Masako. (2002). [https://books.google.com/books?id=XmD52sveLMEC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA28&dq= ''Sanctions and Honorary Whites: Diplomatic Policies and Economic Realities in Relations Between Japan and South Africa,'' p. 28].</ref>
[[File:Marion Walgate Coin Design.jpg|thumb|220px|1952 [[Coins of the South African pound#Coins of the Union of South Africa|5 shillings]] coin commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of Capetown, and depicting Van Riebeeck's ship, the ''Drommedaris'']]
Van Riebeeck was requested by the Dutch East India Company to undertake the command of the initial Dutch settlement in the future South Africa and departed from [[Texel]] on 24 December 1651. He landed two ships (The ''Drommedaris'' and ''Goede Hoope'') in [[Table Bay]], at the future [[Cape Town]] site on 6 April 1652, and a third ship, the ''Reijger'', on 7 April 1652. He was accompanied by 82 men and 8 women, including his wife Maria.<ref name=":1" /> The fleet originally included five ships, but the ''Walvis'' and the ''Oliphant'' arrived late, having had 130 burials at sea.<ref name=":0" />

Van Riebeeck commenced immediately to fortify the settlement as a way station for the VOC trade route between the Netherlands and the East Indies.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} The primary purpose of this way station was to provide fresh provisions for the VOC fleets sailing between the [[Dutch Republic]] and [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]], as deaths en route were very high.

=== Commander of the Cape Colony ===
[[File:Charles Bell - Jan van Riebeeck se aankoms aan die Kaap.jpg|thumb|left|''Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay in April 1652'', painted by [[Charles Davidson Bell]] | 400x400px]]

Van Riebeeck was Commander of the Cape from 1652 to 1662; he was charged with building a fort, with improving the natural anchorage at Table Bay, planting cereals, fruit, and vegetables, and obtaining livestock from the indigenous [[Khoi]] people. In the [[Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden]] in Cape Town, a few [[Brabejum|wild almond]] trees still survive. The initial fort, named [[Fort de Goede Hoop]] ('Fort of Good Hope') was made of mud, clay, and timber, and had four corners or bastions.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Gabeba |first=Abrahams |title=The Grand Parade, Cape Town: Archaeological Excavations of the seventeenth century Fort de Goede Hoop |journal=Fortifications of the Cape Peninsula |year=1993 |volume=48 |issue=157 |pages=3–15 |doi=10.2307/3888871 |jstor=3888871}}</ref> This fort was replaced by the [[Castle of Good Hope]], built between 1666 and 1679 after van Riebeeck had left the Cape.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.castleofgoodhope.co.za/ |title=Home |work=castleofgoodhope.co.za}}</ref>

Van Riebeeck was joined at the Cape by a fellow Culemborger [[Roelof de Man]] (1634–1663), who arrived in January 1654 on board the ship ''Naerden''. Roelof came as the colony bookkeeper and was later promoted to second-in-charge.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://databases.tanap.net/cgh/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317051047/http://databases.tanap.net/cgh/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=17 March 2005 |title=Tanap |work=tanap.net}}</ref>

Van Riebeeck reported the first [[comet]] discovered from South Africa, [[C/1652 Y1]], which was spotted on 17 December 1652.<ref name=":0" />

In his time at the Cape, van Riebeeck oversaw a sustained, systematic effort to establish an impressive range of useful plants in the novel conditions on the Cape Peninsula – in the process changing the natural environment forever.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gunn |first=Mary |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/8591273 |title=Botanical exploration of southern Africa: an illustrated history of early botanical literature on the Cape flora: biographical accounts of the leading plant collectors and their activities in southern Africa from the days of the East India Company until modern times |date=1981 |publisher=Published for the Botanical Research Institute by A.A. Balkema |others=L. E. W. Codd |isbn=0-86961-129-1 |location=Cape Town |pages=24 |oclc=8591273}}</ref> Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples, and citrus, had an important and lasting influence on the societies and economies of the region. For instance, in 1659, he established a [[vineyard]] in the Colony to produce [[red wine]] in order to combat [[scurvy]].<ref name=":0" /> Van Riebeeck owned the farm, Boschheuwel, which he advised the Company to buy on his departure in 1662 to grow fruit and vegetables while Rondebosch could be used as a nursery for young plants.<ref>Sleigh, D. (2004). Die Buiteposte: VOC-Buiteposte onder Kaapse bestuur 1652–1795, p226.</ref> The daily diary entries kept throughout his time at the Cape (VOC policy) provided the basis for future exploration of the natural environment and its natural resources. Careful reading of his diaries indicates that some of his knowledge was learned from the indigenous peoples inhabiting the region.<ref>S. Pooley, 'Jan van Riebeeck as Pioneering Explorer and Conservator of Natural Resources at the Cape of Good Hope (1652–62)', Environment and History 15 (2009): 3–33. {{DOI|10.3197/096734009X404644}}</ref>

He died in Batavia (now renamed to [[Jakarta]]) on [[Java]] on 18 January 1677.