Eva's men: gender and power in the establishment of the Cape of Good Hope, 1652-74

Journal of African History

Volumn 39, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 417-437

  Wells, Julia C ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; GENDER ROLE; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE;

SOUTH AFRICA;

EID: 0032454269     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853798007300     Document Type: Article

References (112)

1. I choose to use the term 'Khoena' over the more familiar 'Khoikhoi' or 'Khoisan' as it is grammatically gender inclusive, simply denoting 'people', whereas Khoikhoi translates as 'men of men'. Richard Elphick admits that the term 'Khoikhoi' is simply the choice of (male) scholars and has limited foundation in the records. Richard Elphick, Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa (2nd ed., Johannesburg, 1985), xxi, 46 n. The journals of the Dutch East India Company claim that the term 'Khoena' was the preferred one for groups of people living nearest to the Cape of Good Hope, while 'Khoikhoi' was rather jealously reserved for higher ranking kings. See Donald Moodie, The Record or a Series of Official Papers relative to the Condition and Treatment of the Native Tribes of South Africa (3 vols.) (Amsterdam and Cape Town, 1960), i, 110(31 Oct. 1657), and 215 (21 Sept. 1660). I also choose to use the name 'Eva' over Krotoa since the only information available about her comes through the Dutch who used this name. It is an indication of the bias in the accounts in which she is always perceived in terms of her relationship to them and never simply as a Khoena woman. As such, it signifies the unfortunate loss of her Khoena identity in the historical accounts.
2. I choose to use the term 'Khoena' over the more familiar 'Khoikhoi' or 'Khoisan' as it is grammatically gender inclusive, simply denoting 'people', whereas Khoikhoi translates as 'men of men'. Richard Elphick admits that the term 'Khoikhoi' is simply the choice of (male) scholars and has limited foundation in the records. Richard Elphick, Khoikhoi and the Founding of White South Africa (2nd ed., Johannesburg, 1985), xxi, 46 n. The journals of the Dutch East India Company claim that the term 'Khoena' was the preferred one for groups of people living nearest to the Cape of Good Hope, while 'Khoikhoi' was rather jealously reserved for higher ranking kings. See Donald Moodie, The Record or a Series of Official Papers relative to the Condition and Treatment of the Native Tribes of South Africa (3 vols.) (Amsterdam and Cape Town, 1960), i, 110(31 Oct. 1657), and 215 (21 Sept. 1660). I also choose to use the name 'Eva' over Krotoa since the only information available about her comes through the Dutch who used this name. It is an indication of the bias in the accounts in which she is always perceived in terms of her relationship to them and never simply as a Khoena woman. As such, it signifies the unfortunate loss of her Khoena identity in the historical accounts.
3. Christina Landman, 'The religious Krotoa (c. 1642-1674)', Kronos : Journal of Cape History, XXIII (Nov. 1996), 35.
4. D. B. Bosman, 'Uit die biografie van 'n Hottentottin in beskawing', Huisgenoot, XXVII (3 July 1942), 7, and (10 July 1942), 6-7.
5. Yvette Abrahams, 'Was Eva raped? An exercise in speculative history', Kronos: Journal of Cape History, XXIII (Nov. 1996), 3-21.
6. V. C. Malherbe, Krotoa, called Eva : A Woman Between (University of Cape Town, Centre for African Studies, Communication no. 19, 1990).
7. Landman, 'The religious Krotoa', 22.
8. Carli Coetzee, 'Krotoa, the uncanny mother'. Paper presented at the Gender and Colonialism Conference, University of the Western Cape, Belleville, Jan. 1997.
9. Although a number of versions of the Dutch East India Company journals have been published, this study relies primarily on three English translations. Most used is Donald Moodie's The Record , which is limited to references to Dutch/African relations but also includes a variety of other Company documents. H. B. Thom published a comprehensive version of just the journal in 1952, entitled Journal of Jan Van Riebeeck (Cape Town and Amsterdam, 1952) but limited himself to Van Riebeeck's era only. As he points out in his introduction, this work cannot be taken as Van Riebeeck's personal memoir as it is written in several different hands, indicating that it was composed at times by dictation from Van Riebeeck and at times by others unknown. References to the journal have to be taken as material supervised by Van Riebeeck, though not necessarily his own words. For English translations of the period after Van Riebeeck, relevant volumes of H. C. V. Leibbrandt, Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town, 1891) are used.
10. Although a number of versions of the Dutch East India Company journals have been published, this study relies primarily on three English translations. Most used is Donald Moodie's The Record , which is limited to references to Dutch/African relations but also includes a variety of other Company documents. H. B. Thom published a comprehensive version of just the journal in 1952, entitled Journal of Jan Van Riebeeck (Cape Town and Amsterdam, 1952) but limited himself to Van Riebeeck's era only. As he points out in his introduction, this work cannot be taken as Van Riebeeck's personal memoir as it is written in several different hands, indicating that it was composed at times by dictation from Van Riebeeck and at times by others unknown. References to the journal have to be taken as material supervised by Van Riebeeck, though not necessarily his own words. For English translations of the period after Van Riebeeck, relevant volumes of H. C. V. Leibbrandt, Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town, 1891) are used.
11. Although a number of versions of the Dutch East India Company journals have been published, this study relies primarily on three English translations. Most used is Donald Moodie's The Record , which is limited to references to Dutch/African relations but also includes a variety of other Company documents. H. B. Thom published a comprehensive version of just the journal in 1952, entitled Journal of Jan Van Riebeeck (Cape Town and Amsterdam, 1952) but limited himself to Van Riebeeck's era only. As he points out in his introduction, this work cannot be taken as Van Riebeeck's personal memoir as it is written in several different hands, indicating that it was composed at times by dictation from Van Riebeeck and at times by others unknown. References to the journal have to be taken as material supervised by Van Riebeeck, though not necessarily his own words. For English translations of the period after Van Riebeeck, relevant volumes of H. C. V. Leibbrandt, Précis of the Archives of the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town, 1891) are used.
12. Moodie, The Record, i, 44 (28 Jan. 1654), Van Riebeeck's journal.
13. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 43 (6 June 1652); and Moodie, The Record, i, 110 (31 Oct. 1657), Van Riebeeck's journal.
14. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 43 (6 June 1652); and Moodie, The Record, i, 110 (31 Oct. 1657), Van Riebeeck's journal.
15. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 44 (8 June 1652).
16. Chainhantima, a Chainouqua sub-chief, related that his wife had been given to the Chobona in childhood, was raised in the house of the chief, then given to him as a bride of extraordinary high status. Moodie, The Record, i, 111 (1 Nov. 1657), Van Riebeeck's journal.
17. L. Alberti, Ludwig Alberti's Account of the Tribal Life and Customs of the Xhosa in 1807 (Cape Town, 1968; first published 1815 in German), 83.
18. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 30 (10 April 1652).
19. Malherbe, Krotoa, 8.
20. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 208 (28 Jan. 1654).
21. David Gordon, 'From rituals of rapture to dependence: the political economy of Khoikhoi narcotic consumption c. 1487-1870', South African Historical Journal, XXXV (Nov. 1996), 66.
22. Moodie, The Record, i, 247 (5 May 1662), Memorandum left by Van Riebeeck for his successor, Zacharius Wagenaar.
23. Jan Reijnertz and Elizabeth van Opdorp were married on 23 Nov. 1653. At the time he was a junior merchant for the Company, but later became one of the first free burger farmers. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, 188, 192 (8 and 23 Nov. 1653);
24. Leibbrandt, Précis, 266-7 (8 Feb. 1669).
25. Moodie, The Record, i, 110 (31 Oct. 1657), 142 (23 Sept. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
26. Moodie, The Record, i, 148 (7 Nov. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
27. Moodie, The Record, i, 149 (9 Nov. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
28. Moodie, The Record, i, 184 (16 July 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
29. Moodie, The Record, i, 172 (20 June 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
30. Moodie, The Record, i, 135 (7 July 11658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
31. Moodie, The Record, i, 181 (8 July 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
32. Moodie, The Record, i, 165 (20 May 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
33. Moodie, The Record, i, 130 (1 July 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
34. Moodie, The Record, i, 177 (26 June 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
35. Moodie, The Record, i, 146 and 251 (29 Oct. 1658 and 5 May 1662), Van Riebeeck's journal and Memorandum to Wagenaar.
36. Thom, Van Riebeeck, i, xxi.
37. Moodie, The Record, i, 110 (31 Oct. 1657), Van Riebeeck's journal.
38. Moodie, The Record, i, 221 (2 Nov. 1660), Van Riebeeck's journal.
39. Moodie, The Record, i, 146 (29 Oct. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
40. Moodie, The Record, i, 210 (30 June 1660), Van Riebeeck's journal.
41. Jay Naidoo, 'Was the "Van Riebeeck principle" a plea for peace or a plea for plunder?' in Naidoo, Tracking Down Historical Myths (Johannesburg, 1989), 18-34.
42. Moodie, The Record, i, 82 (12 Jan. 1656), Van Riebeeck's journal.
43. Moodie, The Record, i, 114-15 (14 Nov. 1657), Van Riebeeck's journal.
44. Moodie, The Record, i, 135 (7 July 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal; i, 203-4 06 Mar. 1660), despatch from Van Riebeeck to Chamber of Seventeen; i, 247 (5 May 1662), Memorandum from Van Riebeeck to Wagenaar.
45. Moodie, The Record, i, 135 (7 July 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal; i, 203-4 (16 Mar. 1660), despatch from Van Riebeeck to Chamber of Seventeen; i, 247 (5 May 1662), Memorandum from Van Riebeeck to Wagenaar
46. Moodie, The Record, i, 135 (7 July 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal; i, 203-4 06 Mar. 1660), despatch from Van Riebeeck to Chamber of Seventeen; i, 247 (5 May 1662), Memorandum from Van Riebeeck to Wagenaar.
47. I. Schapera, The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa, Bushmen and Hottentots (London, 1965 edition, first publ. 1930), 118-20.
48. Elphick, Khoikhoi, 107; Malherbe, Krotoa, 23.
49. Elphick, Khoikhoi, 107; Malherbe, Krotoa, 23.
50. Moodie, The Record, i, 128 (21 June 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
51. Malherbe, Krotoa, 16.
52. Moodie, The Record, i, 125 (12 May 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
53. Moodie, The Record, i, 131 (1 July 1658), Van Riebeeck journal.
54. Moodie, The Record, i, 138 (30 July 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
55. Moodie, The Record, i, 141 (18 Sept. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
56. Moodie, The Record, i, 139 (26 Aug. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
57. Moodie, The Record, i, 142 (23 Sept. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
58. Moodie, The Record, i, 141 (18 Sept. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal. The Cochoqua were commonly referred to in the journal as 'Saldhanars', a name given generically to most Khoena from outside the immediate peninsular area prior to this time. In much of the journal it is therefore difficult to distinguish precisely who is who or how much contact they had.
59. Moodie, The Record, i, 145 (25 Oct. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
62. Moodie, The Record, i, 147 (31 Oct. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
63. Moodie, The Record, i, 149 (9 Nov. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
64. Moodie, The Record, i, 150 (10 Nov. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
65. Moodie, The Record, i, 151 (31 Dec. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
66. Moodie, The Record, i, 152 (31 Dec. 1658), Van Riebeeck's journal.
67. Ibid.
68. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 9 (1 Feb. 1659).
69. From the evidence, it appears that the term 'Chobona' was most often used in a generic sense to refer to larger, darker-skinned Africans living in the interior. This became distorted to refer to a powerful king called the Chobona, who ruled over the Monomotapa empire. The fact that Chobona people were described as living in stone houses and permanent towns could have been a reference to the Tswana or even to more ancient peoples, such as those who lived at the Great Zimbabwe or Mapungubwe. Since the Khoena people are believed to have migrated southward from the area of present-day Botswana, some lingering knowledge of stone structures is possible. See Elphick, Khoikhoi, 14-22.
70. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 10 (3 Feb. 1659).
71. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 24 (6 Mar. 1659).
72. Malherbe, Krotoa, 29.
73. Moodie, The Record, i, 172 (20 June 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
74. Moodie, The Record, i, 174 (21 June 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
75. Moodie, The Record, i, 180 (8 July 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
76. Moodie, The Record, i, 179 (1 July 1659), Van Riebeeck's journal.
77. Moodie, The Record, i, 198 (18 Jan. 1660), Van Riebeeck's journal.
78. Moodie, The Record, i, 219 (9 Oct. 1660), Van Riebeeck's journal.
79. E. E. Mossop (ed.), Journals of the Expeditions of the Honourable Olof Bergh (1682 and 1683) and the Ensign Isaq Schriver (1689) (Publication no. 12, Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town, 1931), 16; Malherbe, Krotoa, 45-6; Elphick, Khoikhoi, 201.
80. E. E. Mossop (ed.), Journals of the Expeditions of the Honourable Olof Bergh (1682 and 1683) and the Ensign Isaq Schriver (1689) (Publication no. 12, Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town, 1931), 16; Malherbe, Krotoa, 45-6; Elphick, Khoikhoi, 201.
81. E. E. Mossop (ed.), Journals of the Expeditions of the Honourable Olof Bergh (1682 and 1683) and the Ensign Isaq Schriver (1689) (Publication no. 12, Van Riebeeck Society, Cape Town, 1931), 16; Malherbe, Krotoa, 45-6; Elphick, Khoikhoi, 201.
82. Moodie, The Record, i, 281 (12 Apr. 1664), Resolution of Council.
83. R. Raven-Hart, Cape of Good Hope 1652-7702. The First 50 Years of Dutch Colonisation as seen by Callers (2 vols.) (Cape Town, 1971), i, 68: account of Jean Baptiste Tavernier.
84. Moodie, The Record, i, 230 (5 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal. This was the second time Pieter reports a lion running away at the sight of him; the first occurred two days earlier, on 3 Feb.
85. Moodie, The Record, i, 224 (14 Dec. 1660), Van Riebeeck's journal.
86. Moodie, The Record, i, 232 (17 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
87. Moodie, The Record, i, 232 (16 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
88. Moodie, The Record, i, 230 (11 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal. It is worth noting that during the first expedition, the only two people who had mountains named after them were Van Riebeeck and Van Meerhoff.
89. Moodie, The Record, i, 231 (11 Feb. 1661) and 232-3 (18-20 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
90. Moodie, The Record, i, 232 (20 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
91. Moodie, The Record, i, 233 (20 and 22 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
92. Moodie, The Record, i, 230 (11 Feb. 1661) and 233 (22 Feb. 1661), Van Meerhoff's journal.
93. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 359, 360 (15 and 16 Mar. 1661).
94. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 361 (17 Mar. 1661).
95. Ibid.
96. Moodie, The Record, i, 235 (23 Apr. 1661), Van Riebeeck's journal.
97. Thom, Van Riebeeck, iii, 374 (23 Apr. 1661).
98. Moodie, The Record, i, 236, n. The subsequent coming to light of evidence about the nature of the Monomotapa empire and Portuguese trade in general confirms, however, that there could have been slightly more truth in the stories than Moodie imagined.
99. Moodie, The Record, i, 240 (23 Aug. 1661 and 30 Sept. 1661), Despatch from the Chamber of Seventeen.
100. Moodie, The Record, i, 241 (10 Nov. 1661), Resolution of Council.
101. Moodie, The Record, i, 263 (3 Feb. 1663), Wagenaar's journal.
102. Moodie, The Record, i, 289 (16 May 1666), Despatch from Wagenaar to the Chamber of Seventeen, Amsterdam.
103. Moodie, The Record, i, 275 (3 Feb. and 11 Feb. 1664), Wagenaar's journal.
104. Moodie, The Record, i, 275 and 148 (3 Feb. 1664 and 7 Nov. 1658), Wagenaar's journal and Van Riebeeck's journal.
105. Moodie, The Record, i (29 Jan. 1664).
106. Moodie, The Record, i, 271 (22 Nov. 1663).
107. Moodie, The Record, i, 271 (24 Nov. 1663). The journal claimed that Eva was found at the house of a free burger living beside the main road to the Cochoqua, a description often given for Jan and Elizabeth Reijnertz' house.
108. Moodie, The Record, i, 279 and 280 (26 Apr. 1664 and 2 June 1664).
109. Leibbrandt, Précis, 222 (30 June 1667).
110. Leibbrandt, Précis, 225 (10 July 1667).
111. Leibbrandt, Précis, 238 (27 Feb. 1668). Although on primarily an exploratory and peace-making misison, Pieter was also engaged in purchasing slaves, having acquired 'three young slaves' prior to his murder.
112. Moodie, The Record, i, 354 (14 July 1677), Governor Johan Bax's journal and resolution of Council.