During 1664, tensions between Great Britain and the Netherlands rose amid rumours of war. That same year, Commander Zacharias Wagenaer, successor to Jan van Riebeeck, was instructed by Commissioner Isbrand Goske to build a pentagonal fortress out of stone. The first stone was laid on 2 January 1666.[6][self-published source?] The fortress was partially built by slave labour. The VOC was unsure about the size of the local population groups and thus feared a revolt if they enslaved them; instead they brought in up to 60,000 enslaved people from Madagascar, Mozambique, the Dutch-Indies, and India.[7] Work was interrupted frequently because the Dutch East India Company was reluctant to spend money on the project. On 26 April 1679, the five bastions were named after the main titles of William III of Orange-Nassau: Leerdam to the west, with Buuren, Katzenellenbogen, Nassau, and Oranje clockwise from it.[5][pageneeded] The names of these bastions have been used as street names in suburbs in various provinces, but primarily of Cape Town, such as Stellenberg, Bellville.
Sketch of Castle of Good Hope in 1680
In 1682 the gated entry replaced the old entrance, which had faced the sea. A bell tower, situated over the main entrance, was built in 1684—the original bell, the oldest in South Africa, was cast in Amsterdam in 1697 by the East-Frisian bellmaker Claude Fremy, and weighs just over 300 kilograms (660lb). It was used to announce the time, as well as warning citizens in case of danger, since it could be heard 10 kilometres away. It was also rung to summon residents and soldiers when important announcements needed to be made.[8]
The French author François-Timoléon de Choisy was part of a party who resupplied at the fort in June 1685 on their way to Siam, and described the building thus:
"The fortress is very attractive. The dwellings consist of houses mostly covered in thatch, but so clean and so white that you know they are Dutch. There is a garden which the Company has laid out; I would love it to be in a corner at Versailles. As far as the eye can see there are walks of orange and lemon trees, vegetable gardens, espaliers, and dwarf trees, the whole interspersed with fresh-water springs...".[9]
During his stay, de Choisy met with the Dutch Commissioner-General and a French chevalier named de Saint-Martin, whilst other members of the party hunted locally for "partridges, roe deer and turtledoves". The Commissioner-General added small suckling pigs and wine from the Canary Islands to their rations, indicative of the stock they kept.[10] de Choisy noted that at the time, more than 25 of the Dutch East India Company ships were stopping annually at the Cape to take on provisions of sheep, wine, fruit and vegetables.[10]
The fortress housed a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops, and cells, among other facilities. The yellow paint on the walls was originally chosen because it lessened the effect of heat and the sun. A wall, built to protect citizens in case of an attack, divides the inner courtyard, which also houses the De Kat Balcony,[note 1][self-published source?] which was designed by Louis Michel Thibault with reliefs and sculptures by Anton Anreith. The original was built in 1695, but rebuilt in its current form between 1786 and 1790. From the balcony, announcements were made to soldiers, slaves and burghers of the Cape.
It was briefly home to Lady Anne Barnard, after whom one of the Castle function rooms is named.
During the Second Boer War (1899–1902), part of the castle was used as a prison, and the former cells remain to this day. Fritz Joubert Duquesne, later known as the man who killed Kitchener and the leader of the Duquesne Spy Ring, was one of its more well-known residents. The walls of the castle were extremely thick, but night after night, Duquesne dug away the cement around the stones with an iron spoon. He nearly escaped one night, but a large stone slipped and pinned him in his tunnel. The next morning, a guard found him unconscious but alive.[13]
In 1936, the Castle was declared an historical monument (from 1969 known as a national monument and since 1 April 2000 a provincial heritage site), the first site in South Africa to be so protected.[14] Extensive restorations were completed during the 1980s making the Castle the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort.[4]
The Cape Heritage Museum, located within the historic Castle of Good Hope in South Africa, is curated by Mr. Igshaan Higgins. This museum provides an inclusive narrative of South Africa's history, highlighting the interactions among different communities such as the Khoi, San, and Dutch, through various epochs including colonialism and apartheid. It aims to offer a balanced reflection on the nation's diverse heritage and complex past. [15][16]
Symbolism
Prior to being replaced in 2003, the distinctive shape of the pentagonal castle was used on South African Defence Force flags, formed the basis of some rank insignia of major and above, and was used on South African Air Force aircraft.
↑ "Kat" is a Dutch term for a transverse wall built for fortification purposes. It dates from Roman times when it also meant a seat of authority or place of command on a battlefield.[11]
Related Research Articles
Leerdam is a city and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The municipality was merged with the municipalities of Vianen and Zederik on 1 January 2019. The name of the new municipality is Vijfheerenlanden which is a part of the province Utrecht. The former municipality Leerdam was a part of the province South Holland.
Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck was a Dutch navigator, ambassador and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company.
The Castle of Good Hope Decoration was a military decoration for bravery which was instituted by the Union of South Africa on 6 April 1952, but never awarded. The decoration was intended for award to members of the South African Defence Force for a signal act of valour or most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and provincial heritage site in the suburb of Constantia in Cape Town, South Africa.
House of Hope, also known as Fort Good Hope, was a redoubt and factory in the seventeenth-century Dutch colony of New Netherland. The trading post was located at modern-day Hartford, Connecticut at Park River), a tributary river of the Fresh River. The location of this confluence of rivers is at contemporary Sheldon Street. The fort is recalled today with a nearby avenue called Huyshope, once the center of economic activity in the city.
The Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars refers to a series of armed conflicts that took place in the latter half of the 17th century in what was then known as the Cape of Good Hope, in the area of present-day Cape Town, South Africa, fought primarily between Dutch colonisers, who came mostly from the Dutch Republic and the local African people, the indigenous Khoikhoi.
Anton Anreith was a sculptor and woodcarver from Riegel near Freiburg in Breisgau, Baden, Germany. He is known for numerous sculptural embellishments that adorn buildings in the Cape region of South Africa, thought to represent the crowning achievement of the Cape Baroque style.
The Redoubt Duijnhoop was a square demi-bastioned clay and timber Redoubt built fort constructed at the mouth of the Salt River, leading into Table Bay, South Africa in January–February 1654. It formed part of the defences of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie 'VOC' replenishment station, which had been established under Jan van Riebeeck in 1652. The purpose of the station was to supply ships travelling between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies.
The Fort of Good Hope was the first military building to be erected in what is now Cape Town. It was built in 1652, and was in use until 1674 when it was superseded by the Castle of Good Hope.
Dozens of fortifications were built in Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula between the 1650s and the 1940s. Most have gone, but a few still stand.
The Company's Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa, a park and heritage site located in central Cape Town. The garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region's first European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh produce to replenish ships rounding the Cape. It is watered from the Molteno Dam, which uses water from the springs on the lower slopes of Table Mountain.
The Chavonnes Battery was a fortification protecting Cape Town, South Africa, built in the early 18th century. It is now a museum and function venue.
Ussher Fort is a fort in Accra, Ghana. It was built by the Dutch in 1649 as Fort Crèvecœur, and is two days' march from Elmina and to the east of Accra on a rocky point between two lagoons. It was one of three forts that Europeans built in the region during the middle of the 17th century. Fort Crèvecœur was part of the Dutch Gold Coast. The Anglo-Dutch Gold Coast Treaty (1867), which defined areas of influence on the Gold Coast, transferred it to the British in 1868. Because of its significance in the history of European colonial trade and exploitation in Africa, the fort was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
Fort de Goede Hoop or Fort Good Hope was a fort on the Dutch Gold Coast, established in 1667 near Senya Beraku.
Rust en Vreugd, is a historic house and garden, located on Buitekant Street at the edge of the central business district of Cape Town, South Africa. It is one of the few remaining 18th-century buildings in the city. The Rust en Vreudg is home to the William Fehr Collection of pictorial Africana. It is a part of the Iziko Museums.
Iziko Museums of South Africa, formerly Southern Flagship Institution (SFI) and then Iziko Museums of Cape Town, is an organisation governing national museums in greater Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2024 there are 11 museums in the group.
The South African International Exhibition was a world's fair held in Cape Town, Cape Colony in 1877. It was officially opened on 15 February of that year by Henry Bartle Frere.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cape Town:
↑ Explorer, Museum (20 February 2023). "Cape Heritage Museum". Museum Explorer SA. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
Sources
de Choisy, Abbé (1993). Journal of a Voyage to Siam: 1685-1686 (Translated and Introduced by Michael Smithies). Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. ISBN967-65-3026-3.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
