19 May 1659

The Khoikhoi protest against white encroachment leading to the first anti-colonial Khoikhoi-Dutch War

With the coming of the Dutch settlement, the Khoikhoi faced a stronger demand for their cattle. Trade disputes and charges of theft caused great tension between colonists and the Khoikhoi who, for their part, feared that the settlement of free burghers (farmers) in 1657 would eventually deprive them of their valuable pastures and watering places. Into this increasingly volatile situation stepped a Goring-haiqua named Doman, who in about 1657 was sent to Batavia to learn to become an interpreter. But having witnessed first hand the capacity of the Dutch to reduce indigenous people to positions of servitude, he became a staunch opponent of European colonisation.

Unfortunately for Doman, his earlier attempts to make Khoikhoi trade with the Dutch the exclusive preserve of the peninsular groups left him dangerously short of allies. Thus his attempts to persuade local chief Gogosoa to attack the Dutch were bluntly refused. However, Doman was able to persuade some of the younger leaders to join him in what he regarded as a war of liberation.

On a cold and drizzling day on 19 May 1659 the Khoikhoi a series of raids started on the free burghers' herds. Doman had waited for rainy weather, knowing that the Dutch matchlock muskets could not be fired in the rain with damp powder.

The First Khoikhoi-Dutch War followed, it lasted almost a year and resulted in only a few deaths. Initiative lay chiefly with the Khoikhoi, who attacked, often in groups of several hundred. Instructed by Doman, who had witnessed Dutch military tactics in Java, they darted about erratically to frustrate Dutch marksmen. Commander Van Riebeeck responded with defensive tactics, withdrawing the free burghers to the fort, temporarily arming the slaves (an extraordinarily risky measure), and building a strong kraal to protect the colony's remaining livestock.

Lacking firearms and unwilling to storm the central fort, the Khoikhoi eventually signaled their willingness to parley. A peace was negotiated; the war had ended in stalemate. The Khoikhoi returned no livestock seized in the war and paid no reparations. Yet they did accept the continued European occupation of the Cape peninsula, a threat to their perseverance as an independent people.

The Dutch erected fortified posts and planted almond hedges (some of which still survive) to prevent cattle being driven off again. Khoikhoi were obliged to use specified routes and paths, and to enter the settlement only at certain guarded gaps in the hedge. Horses which arrived from Batavia gave the colonists the mobility they had lacked in the war, and expeditions from the fort became longer and more frequent. As trading con­tacts were established with more Khoikhoi groups, the set­tlement gradually became independent of the Peninsular Khoikhoi, whose wealth and importance waned rapidly.

Sources:

1. Hermann Giliomee and Bernard Mbenga (2007). New History of South Africa. Tafelberg Publishers, Cape Town, pg 50.
2. Bulpin, T.V. (1985). Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Southern Africa, Cape Town: Reader’s Digest Association South Africa, pg 46.
3. Biography: Doman, trained interpreter and Khoikhoi leader in the mid 1600s. He led the Khoikhoi in the first Khoikhoi-Dutch war.