The Hottentot Proclamation, also known as the Hottentot Code, the Caledon Proclamation, or the Caledon Code, was a decree issued by governor of the Cape Colony the Earl of Caledon on 1 November 1809 to legalise the enslavement of Khoikhoi ( referred to as "Hottentots"), the decree was a first in a series of colonial laws designed to curtail the rights of First people living in the Cape Colony. [1] [2] [3]
The proclamation was repealed in 1828.
The Hottentot Proclamation was implemented during a period of rising abolitionist sentiment among the general public in Britain, which had led in part to the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807 through the British Parliament. [4] Thus, governor of the Cape Colony the Earl of Caledon ensured the decree appeared to be different from the slave codes passed by the Dutch colonialists which had previously controlled the Cape Colony. The Proclamation stipulated that its aim was to fully integrate Khoikhoi into the colonial economy:
[F]or the benefit of this colony at large, it is necessary that not only the individuals of the Hottentot nation in the same manner as the other inhabitants should be subject to proper regularity in regard to their places of abode and occupation, but also that they should find an encouragement for preferring entering the service of the inhabitants to leading an indolent life, by which they are rendered useless both for themselves and the community at large. [5]
Written contracts had to be registered documenting the employment of Khoikhoi labourers for periods of one month or longer. [4] [3] The decree also claimed to provide a safeguard against the mistreatment of Khoikhoi labourers at the hands of Afrikaner land owners, making it compulsory that they were paid for any services that they provided. [4] [3]
According to the Apprenticeship of Servants Proclamation of 1812, in support of the Hottentot Proclamation, white settlers could apprentice and employ a Khoikhoi child without paying them from the age of eight to eighteen years if the child was an orphan, destitute or grew up on the employer's property. [3]
Earl of Caledon imposed the Caledon Code in his capacity as the first Governor of the Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806. [2] The eastern and north-eastern districts of the Cape Colony were most affected by the declaration since most of the Khoikhoi population was based in these areas. [2]
It stated that the Khoikhoi were to have a “fixed place of abode” and that they could not travel freely, requiring a passport if they were found outside of their stipulated area:
The Hottentots going about the country, either on the service of their masters, or on other lawful business, must be provided with a pass, either of their commanding officer, if in the military service, or the master under whom they serve, or the magistrate of the district, on penalty of being considered and treated as vagabonds; and moreover, the tenor of a Proclamation of the 17th of October 1797, respecting soldiers, sailors, servants, &c. as well as military deserters, is to be strictly attended to in regard to Hottentots going about the country; so that every one is to ask a pass from any Hottentot that happens to come to his place, and in case of his not being provided with it, to deliver him up to the field-comet, landdrost or fiscal, in order to act as after due inquiry they shall feel incumbent to do. [6]
This prevented them from moving away from farms in which they worked as slaves unless their passes were signed by their employer. If asked to produce a pass by a white settler, they were to present the document verifying that they had permission from their employer to be away from home. [2]
Ordinance No. 50 of 1828 repealed the Proclamation in that year. [7]
The movement to issue Ordinance No. 50 was led by Dr John Philip, who continually worked against the discriminatory treatment of indigenous South Africans, and, together with British missionaries protested the Hottentot Proclamation. Even while he was back in Britain, from 1826 to 1828, Philip fought for the emancipation of tribes in the Cape. [4] Ordinance No.50 freed the Coloured slaves from the pass system while Black people in accordance to the Ordinance No. 49 of 1828 were still issued passes for the sole purpose of seeking work. [3]
All the slaves living in British colonies were to be freed after serving what is described as a period of apprenticeship, which only ended in 1838 in the Cape Colony. [4]
The repeal of the code would later set the stage for the abolition of slavery in all parts of the British empire via the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. [4]
Boers are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch Cape Colony, which the United Kingdom incorporated into the British Empire in 1806. The name of the group is derived from Trekboer then later "boer", which means "farmer" in Dutch and Afrikaans.
The written history of the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa began when Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias became the first modern European to round the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. In 1497, Vasco da Gama sailed along the whole coast of South Africa on his way to India, landed at St Helena Bay for 8 days, and made a detailed description of the area. The Portuguese, attracted by the riches of Asia, made no permanent settlement at the Cape Colony. However, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) settled the area as a location where vessels could restock water and provisions.
The history of the Cape Colony from 1806 to 1870 spans the period of the history of the Cape Colony during the Cape Frontier Wars, which lasted from 1779 to 1879. The wars were fought between the European colonists and the native Xhosa who, defending their land, fought against European rule.
Khoekhoe are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San peoples. The accepted term for the two people being Khoisan. The designation "Khoekhoe" is actually a kare or praise address, not an ethnic endonym, but it has been used in the literature as an ethnic term for Khoe-speaking peoples of Southern Africa, particularly pastoralist groups, such as the Griqua, Gona, Nama, Khoemana and Damara nations. The Khoekhoe were once known as Hottentots, a term now considered offensive.
Hottentot is a term that was historically used by Europeans to refer to the Khoekhoe, the indigenous nomadic pastoralists in South Africa.
The Griquas are a subgroup of mixed-race heterogeneous formerly Xiri-speaking nations in South Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Dutch Cape Colony. Like the Boers they migrated inland from the Cape and in the 19th century established several states in what is now South Africa and Namibia. The Griqua consider themselves as being South Africa’s first multiracial nation with people descended directly from Dutch settlers in the Cape, and local peoples.
Elections in South Africa include elections for the National Assembly, the provincial legislatures, and municipal councils. Elections are held on a five-year cycle and are conducted by the Electoral Commission (IEC), which is an independent body established by the constitution. The most recent elections for the National Assembly and provincial legislatures were held in 2024, while the most recent elections for municipal councils were held in 2021.
The following lists events that happened during 1809 in South Africa.
Nama are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Nama language of the Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama also speak Afrikaans. The Nama People are the largest group of the Khoikhoi people, most of whom have disappeared as a group, except for the Namas. Many of the Nama clans live in Central Namibia and the other smaller groups live in Namaqualand, which today straddles the Namibian border with South Africa.
Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape on 6 April 1652, setting up a supply station and fortifications for the Dutch East India Company. The decade saw the beginning of European settlement, marked by the introduction of crops from Europe and the New World and culminating in war with the Khoikhoi in 1659.
The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. The German anthropologist Theophilus Hahn recorded that the original name of the area was 'ǁHui ǃGais' – a toponym in the indigenous Khoe language meaning "where clouds gather."
Helderberg refers to a planning district of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the mountain after which it is named, a wine-producing area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, or a small census area in Somerset West.
The Oorlam or Orlam people are a subtribe of the Nama people, largely assimilated after their migration from the Cape Colony to Namaqualand and Damaraland.
Caledon, originally named Swartberg, is a town in the Overberg region in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Cape Town next to mineral-rich hot springs. As of 2011 it had a population of 13,020. It is located in, and the seat of, the Theewaterskloof Local Municipality.
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.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Cape Colony was annexed by the British and officially became their colony in 1815. Britain encouraged settlers to the Cape, and in particular, sponsored the 1820 Settlers to farm in the disputed area between the colony and the Xhosa in what is now the Eastern Cape. The changing image of the Cape from Dutch to British excluded the Dutch farmers in the area, the Boers who in the 1820s started their Great Trek to the northern areas of modern South Africa. This period also marked the rise in power of the Zulu under their king Shaka Zulu. Subsequently, several conflicts arose between the British, Boers and Zulus, which led to the Zulu defeat and the ultimate Boer defeat in the Second Anglo-Boer War. However, the Treaty of Vereeniging established the framework of South African limited independence as the Union of South Africa.
William Anderson was an English Christian missionary who relocated to South Africa under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. He was one of the earliest missionaries in the region. Anderson was instrumental in the foundation of the South African town Griquatown.
South African citizenship has been influenced primarily by the racial dynamics that have structured South African society throughout its development. The country's colonial history led to the immigration of different racial and ethnic groups into one shared area. Power dispersion and inter-group relations led to European dominance of the state, allowing it to directly shape citizenship although not without internal division or influence from the less empowered races.
Sir Lowry's Pass is a mountain pass on the N2 national road in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It crosses the Hottentots Holland Mountains between Somerset West and the Elgin valley, on the main route between Cape Town and the Garden Route. A railway line also crosses the mountain range near this point.
David Stuurman was a Khoi chief and political activist who fought against Dutch and British colonial administration. His active career as Khoi leader spanned twenty years (1799-1819) and the three Xhosa Wars which fell within this period.
the social reforms demanded by the superintendent of the London Mission Society, the Scottish Rev. John Philip, played an instrumental role in preparing the way for Ordinance 50 of 1828. This Ordinance repealed the Caledon Proclamation