Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Journal, Jan van Riebeeck
Riebeeck, Jan van. Journal of Jan van Riebeeck. Volume II, III, 1656-1662. Edited by H. B. Thom and translated by J. Smuts. Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1954.

Krotoa, called Eva by the Dutch, is the first Khoikhoi woman to appear in the European records of the early settlement at the Cape as an individual personality and active participant in cultural and economic exchange. Eva joined Commander Jan van Riebeeck’s household at the Dutch fort at around age... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Letters, Johanna Maria van Riebeeck
Briewe van Johanna Maria van Riebeeck en ander Riebeeckiana. Edited by D.B. Bosman and translated by Anne Good. Amsterdam, 1952.

Johanna Maria van Riebeeck (1679-1759) was from an elite family in the Dutch colonial network. She was the granddaughter of Jan van Riebeeck, first Dutch Commander at the Cape, who went on to hold important posts in the Dutch government in Batavia (Indonesia), and the daughter of Abraham van... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Ethnography, San Dance
Bleek, Wlihelm H. I., and Lucy C. Lloyd, eds. “The use of the !gõïn!gõïn, followed by an account of a Busman dance.” In Specimens of Bushman Folklore. London: George Allen & Co., Ltd., 1911.

Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek, German ethnographers who lived in Cape Town, were the first people to systematically write down Khoisan folklore, beliefs, and customs. They did their work in the late 19th century, so there is no way to be sure that the traditional way of life described by the... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Rock Art, Khoisan
Lewis-Williams, David and Thomas Dowson. Images of Power: Understanding Bushman Rock Art. Johannesburg: Southern Book Publishers, 1989.

Rock art, found on the walls of caves and on moveable rocks, was once thought to depict simple images of the daily lives of the Khoisan. In the last 20 years, study of oral traditions and close attention to what is actually depicted in the paintings has led to a complete revision of this theory.... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Object, Digging Stick
Ratzel, Friedrich. Drawing of digging stick and stone weights. Völkerkunde. Volume 1 (Leipzig and Vienna, 1894).

The Khoikhoi were semi-nomadic pastoralists (herders of sheep and cattle), who hunted game and gathered edible plants, nuts, roots, berries, and honey to supplement their diets. There was a division of labor between men and women: men hunted and tended the cattle while women looked after small... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Drawings, Khoikhoi
Drawing of Khoi dancers and musical instruments. In The Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope: Seventeenth-century drawings in the South African Library, Text by Andrew B. Smith and Translations by Roy H. Pheiffer. Cape Town: South African Library, 1993.

In the late 17th century, an anonymous artist did a series of impromptu sketches and set pieces showing Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope. The artist seems to have been interested in capturing natural movement and depicting actual articles of Khoikhoi clothing or activities in which they engaged,... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Travel Narrative, Peter Kolb 1
Kolb, Peter. “On the Manners and Customs which are observed among the European Inhabitants . . .” Letter Eight, Part Three in Caput Bonae Spei Hodiernum. Translated by Anne Good Nuremberg: Peter Conrad Monath, 1719.

Peter Kolb was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived at the Cape from 1705 to 1713. He was initially sponsored by a German baron to make astronomical observations in pursuit of a way to calculate longitude accurately. When this project ended, Kolb stayed at the Cape and observed... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Travel Narrative, Peter Kolb 2
Kolb, Peter. “On the Ceremonies and Customs that the Khoikhoi Observe at the Birth of a Child…” Letter 8, Part Two in Caput Bonae Spei Hodiernum. Translated by Anne Good Nuremberg: Peter Conrad Monath, 1719.

Peter Kolb was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived at the Cape from 1705 to 1713. He was initially sponsored by a German baron to make astronomical observations in pursuit of a way to calculate longitude accurately. When this project ended, Kolb stayed at the Cape and observed... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Will, Laurens Verbrugge and Beletje Frederikszoon
Notarial Deeds and Wills 1708-1714, #12. Stellenbosch Files: 1/STB 18/3. Cape Town Archives Repository. Translated by Anne Good.

Laurens Verbrugge and Beletje Frederikszoon were ordinary people from Holland who settled in Stellenbosch (near Cape Town) and took up farming there. Though not wealthy, they did own slaves and had sufficient property that they felt the need to draw up a will when Beletje became ill. Note the... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Law, Alcohol Sale
"Laws and Regulations Respecting Slaves at the Colony the Cape of Good Hope since the Year 1658 till a. 1805." In Dutch laws translated into English. 1806. James Ford Bell Library, University of Minnesota.

The following law suggests that slaves and Khoikhoi were considered particularly prone to alcohol addiction. There is some anecdotal evidence that this was a common stereotype held by Europeans at the Cape. Some scholars argue that alcoholism may indeed have been more prevalent among the Khoikhoi... [more]

Cultural Contact in Southern Africa: Law, Slave Women and Children
"Laws and Regulations Respecting Slaves at the Colony the Cape of Good Hope since the Year 1658 till a. 1805." In Dutch laws translated into English. 1806. James Ford Bell Library. University of Minnesota.

Although marriage was not forbidden between Europeans and slaves or other non-Europeans, it was quite rare and entailed a drop in social status for the European. Nevertheless, sexual relationships occurred—sometimes coerced, sometimes by mutual agreement. The children born to slave women by these... [more]

British Empire: Painting, The Secret of England's Greatness
Barker, Thomas Jones. The Secret of England's Greatness. 1863.

There are many paintings that represent the British Empire, but The Secret of England’s Greatness (1863) by Thomas Jones Barker is one of the most powerful. It depicts Queen Victoria presenting a bible to a kneeling African chief in the Audience Chamber at Windsor. In the background are... [more]

British Empire: Letter, Mary Moffat
Letter from Mary Moffat to James Smith dated 30 December, 1828, in Schapera, I. Apprenticeship at Kuruman. London: Chatto and Windus, 1951. (OR, Rhodes House, Mss. Afr. t. 46.?)

Mary Moffat (1795-1871) was the wife of Robert Moffat, the missionary for the London Missionary Society who established a mission center at Kuruman in southern Africa. Their daughter married David Livingstone. In 1816, Robert Moffat was ordained and accepted as a missionary by the London Missionary... [more]

British Empire: Travel Narrative, Mary Kingsley
“Life in West Africa” in British Empire Series II. London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Truber and Co., 1899.

Mary Kingsley (1862-1900) is one of the best known British women to have visited West Africa during the period historians call the Age of New Imperialism. Her early life gave no indication of her future renown. She spent the early part of her life confined to her home taking care of an invalid... [more]

British Empire: Autobiography, Head Above Water
Emecheta, Buchi. Head Above Water. London: Ogwugwu Afo, 1986.

Buchi Emecheta was born in Nigeria in 1944 to Igbo parents. She was orphaned at a young age, and subsequently educated at a missionary school in Nigeria. She was married at the age of 16 to Sylvester Onwordi, a student she had been engaged to since childhood. In 1960, she moved to Britain with her... [more]

British Empire: Fiction, Nervous Conditions
Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nervous Conditions. Seattle: Seal Press, 1989.

In 1959, Tsitsi Dangarembga was born in Africa in the British colony known as Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe. From the age of two, she spent four years living in Britain. On her return to Rhodesia, she attended a missionary school in Mutare. In 1977, she went back to Britain to attend Cambridge... [more]

The Calling of Katie Makanya: Excerpts from The Calling of Katie Makanya
McCord, Margaret. The Calling of Katie Makanya: A Memoir of South Africa. John Wiley, 1995.

Nana Asma'u, Muslim Woman Scholar: Excerpts from One Woman’s Jihad
Mack, Beverly B. and Jean Boyd. One Woman’s Jihad: Nana Asma’u, Scholar and Scribe. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2000.