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Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710
During the late seventeenth century, a section of Cape Town's ‘free black' (vrijzwart) population, a group comprised primarily of formerly enslaved people, took up farming in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch. Despite initial prosperity, these free black farmers ceased to exist as an independen...
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| Language: | English |
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Department of Historical Studies
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613170613354496 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Van, Der Linde Paul |
| author2 | Penn, Nigel |
| author_browse | Penn, Nigel Van, Der Linde Paul |
| author_facet | Penn, Nigel Van, Der Linde Paul |
| author_sort | Van, Der Linde Paul |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | During the late seventeenth century, a section of Cape Town's ‘free black' (vrijzwart) population, a group comprised primarily of formerly enslaved people, took up farming in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch. Despite initial prosperity, these free black farmers ceased to exist as an independent socio-political entity by the 1720s. Scholars of the Dutch Cape Colony, such as Hermann Giliomee and Karel Schoeman, have attributed this decline to a lack of capital, high labour costs, the distance from the market and the specialised nature of wheat farming at the Cape. Yet white farmers, confronted by similar obstacles, managed to transcend them and coalesce into a permanent agrarian class. This thesis attempts to account for this disparity by examining hitherto unexplored socio-economic factors that contributed to the rise and fall of free black farmers in Jonkershoek, particularly the patronage network between the free blacks and the Van der Stel dynasty. An extensive perusal of archival sources and secondary literature has facilitated two key observations. Firstly, the influx of free black farmers into Jonkershoek was contingent on the direct intervention of Governor Simon van der Stel, who hoped to supplant the recalcitrant white farmers with a more compliant group of agriculturalists. Imperatively, Van der Stel's policy of encouraging free black settlement in Jonkershoek via land grants was maintained by his son and successor, Willem Adriaan van der Stel. Secondly, the association between the Van der Stels and the free black farmers left the latter vulnerable to economic exclusion when Willem Adriaan van der Stel became embroiled in a dispute with the white settler faction and was subsequently dismissed on corruption charges in 1707. These findings demonstrate that, despite their status as free individuals, free black farmers occupied a precarious position within Cape society and were constantly compelled to negotiate their freedom. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38193 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:53.390Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Historical Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Historical Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38193 Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 Van, Der Linde Paul Penn, Nigel Historical Studies During the late seventeenth century, a section of Cape Town's ‘free black' (vrijzwart) population, a group comprised primarily of formerly enslaved people, took up farming in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch. Despite initial prosperity, these free black farmers ceased to exist as an independent socio-political entity by the 1720s. Scholars of the Dutch Cape Colony, such as Hermann Giliomee and Karel Schoeman, have attributed this decline to a lack of capital, high labour costs, the distance from the market and the specialised nature of wheat farming at the Cape. Yet white farmers, confronted by similar obstacles, managed to transcend them and coalesce into a permanent agrarian class. This thesis attempts to account for this disparity by examining hitherto unexplored socio-economic factors that contributed to the rise and fall of free black farmers in Jonkershoek, particularly the patronage network between the free blacks and the Van der Stel dynasty. An extensive perusal of archival sources and secondary literature has facilitated two key observations. Firstly, the influx of free black farmers into Jonkershoek was contingent on the direct intervention of Governor Simon van der Stel, who hoped to supplant the recalcitrant white farmers with a more compliant group of agriculturalists. Imperatively, Van der Stel's policy of encouraging free black settlement in Jonkershoek via land grants was maintained by his son and successor, Willem Adriaan van der Stel. Secondly, the association between the Van der Stels and the free black farmers left the latter vulnerable to economic exclusion when Willem Adriaan van der Stel became embroiled in a dispute with the white settler faction and was subsequently dismissed on corruption charges in 1707. These findings demonstrate that, despite their status as free individuals, free black farmers occupied a precarious position within Cape society and were constantly compelled to negotiate their freedom. 2023-07-30T09:03:48Z 2023-07-30T09:03:48Z 2023 2023-07-30T09:03:17Z Master Thesis Masters Master of Arts http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38193 eng application/pdf Department of Historical Studies Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | Historical Studies Van, Der Linde Paul Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| title_full | Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| title_fullStr | Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| title_short | Negotiating freedom: the free black farmers of Jonkershoek, 1697-1710 |
| title_sort | negotiating freedom the free black farmers of jonkershoek 1697 1710 |
| topic | Historical Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38193 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vanderlindepaul negotiatingfreedomthefreeblackfarmersofjonkershoek16971710 |