Editing History of South Africa (section)

==Dutch colonization (1652–1815)==
{{Expand section|date=May 2017}}
{{Main|Dutch Cape Colony}}
{{See also|History of South Africa (1652–1815)|Economic history of South Africa|Military history of South Africa|Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars|Dutch Empire|7=:Category:Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company|l7=Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company|8=:Category:Military history of the Dutch East India Company|l8=Military history of the Dutch East India Company|9=:Category:Dutch exploration in the Age of Discovery|l9=Dutch Republic in the Age of Discovery}}
{{See also|History of Cape Town|Stellenbosch|Swellendam|Graaff-Reinet|Franschhoek|Huguenots in South Africa|Cape Dutch|Dorsland Trek|Afrikaner nationalism|Christianity in South Africa|Afrikaner Calvinism|Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa|Cape Dutch architecture|Roman-Dutch law|South African wine}}
[[File:Aernout Smit Table Bay, 1683 William Fehr Collection Cape Town.jpg|thumb|right|View of [[Table Bay]] with ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), c. 1683.]]
[[File:Jan van Riebeeck.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jan van Riebeeck]], first Commander of the Dutch East India Company colony]]
[[File:Vignoble de Groot Constantia Afrique du Sud.jpg|thumb|right|[[Groot Constantia]], the oldest [[wine estate]] in South Africa, was founded in 1685 by [[Simon van der Stel]]. The [[South African wine]] industry (New World wine) is among the lasting legacy of the [[Dutch East India Company|VOC era]]. The recorded [[economic history of South Africa]] began with the VOC period.]]
The [[Dutch East India Company]] (in the Dutch of the day: ''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'', or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement at the Cape in 1652. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the [[Spice trade|spice route]] to the East, had no intention of colonizing the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could be serviced and restock on supplies.<ref name=":0" /> To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of [[Jan van Riebeeck]] reached Table Bay on 6 April 1652.<ref name="Noble-141">{{Cite book|last=Noble|first=John|title=Illustrated official handbook of the Cape and South Africa; a résumé of the history, conditions, populations, productions and resources of the several colonies, states, and territories|publisher=J.C. Juta & Co.|year=1893|page=141|url=https://archive.org/stream/illustratedoffic00nobliala#page/141/mode/1up|access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref>

The VOC had settled at the Cape in order to supply their trading ships. The Cape and the VOC had to import Dutch farmers to establish farms to supply the passing ships as well as to supply the growing VOC settlement. The small initial group of free burghers, as these farmers were known, steadily increased in number and began to expand their farms further north and east into the territory of the Khoikhoi.<ref name=":0" /> The free burghers were ex-VOC soldiers and gardeners, who were unable to return to Holland when their contracts were completed with the VOC.<ref>Ransford, Oliver. The Great Trek. John Murray. Great Britain. 1972. Page 1 – 2.</ref> The VOC also brought some 71,000 slaves to Cape Town from India, Indonesia, East Africa, Mauritius, and Madagascar.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/the-untold-stories-of-slavery-at-cape-towns-iziko-slave-lodge/|title=The Untold Stories of Slavery at Cape Town's Iziko Slave Lodge|last=Collinson|first=Lee-Shay|date=9 February 2017|website=Culture Trip}}</ref>

[[File:Jan Van Riebeeck Statue Cape Town.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Statue of Jan van Riebeeck|statue]] of [[Jan van Riebeeck]], the founder of [[Cape Town]], in Heerengracht Street.]]
[[File:Cape Town, Castle of Good Hope - panoramio.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Castle of Good Hope]] ([[:nl:Kasteel de Goede Hoop|Kasteel de Goede Hoop]] in Dutch), Cape Town. Founded officially in 1652, [[History of Cape Town|Kaapstad]]/Cape Town is the oldest [[urban area]] in South Africa.]]

The majority of burghers had [[Dutch (ethnic group)|Dutch ancestry]] and belonged to the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], but there were also some Germans, who often happened to be [[Lutherans]]. In 1688, the Dutch and the Germans were joined by French [[Huguenots]], Calvinist Protestants fleeing religious persecution in France under its Catholic ruler, [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]].

Van Riebeeck considered it impolitic to enslave the local Khoi and San aboriginals, so the VOC began to import large numbers of slaves, primarily from the [[Dutch East India Company in Indonesia|Dutch colonies in Indonesia]]. Eventually, van Riebeeck and the VOC began to make [[indentured servants]] out of the Khoikhoi and the San. The descendants of unions between the Dutch settlers and the Khoi-San and Malay slaves became known officially as the [[Cape Coloureds]] and the [[Cape Malays]], respectively. A significant number of the offspring from the white and slave unions were absorbed into the local proto-[[Afrikaans]] speaking white population. The racially mixed genealogical origins of many [[white South Africans]] have been traced to interracial unions at the Cape between the European occupying population and imported Asian and African slaves, the indigenous Khoi and San, and their mixed-ethnicity descendants.<ref>Hans F Heese, ''Cape Melting Pot: The Role and Status of the Mixed Population at the Cape, 1652–1795'', Cape Town: D A Robertson, 2011 (translation by Delia A Robertson from Professor Heese's original 1985 Afrikaans study ''Groep Sonder Grense, Die Rol en Status van die Gemengde Bevolking aan die Kaap, 1652–1795''), {{ISBN|062034153X}}</ref> [[Simon van der Stel]], the first Governor of the Dutch settlement, famous for his development of the lucrative South African wine industry, was himself of mixed race-origin.<ref>F Wallis, ''Nuusdagboek: Feite en Fratse oor 1000 Jaar'' Cape Town: Human &Rousseau 2000</ref>