According To The Tulbagh Slave Code of 1754
SLAVES
* are to be indoors after 10 p.m. or carry a lantern
* are not to ride horses or wagons in streets
* are not to sing, whistle or make any other sound at night
* are not to meet in bars, buy alcohol, or form groups on public
holidays
* are not to gather near the entrance of a church during church
services
* are not to stop in the street to talk to other slaves
* who insulted or falsely accused a freeman, would be flogged
* who struck a slaveholder - put to death
* are not permitted to own or to carry guns
* Free blacks aren’t equal to free white burghers
* Freed slave women are not to wear coloured silk of hoop skirts, fine
lace, or any decoration on their hats, or earrings made of gems or
imitation gems
Key Terms
Burgher - noun archaic a citizen of a town or city.
Mohametan (variant forms: Muhammadan, Mahommedan or
Mahometan) is a term used as both a noun and an adjective meaning
belonging or relating to either the religion of Islam or to that of the
prophet Muhammad.
Xhosa- a member of a Nguni people of eastern Cape Province,
Republic of South Africa.
Khoi - are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group of
Southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen (or San). They
have lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD and when white
settlers arrived in 1652 they began to practice extensive pastoral
agriculture in the Cape region.
Malay - A member of a people inhabiting Malaysia, the northern Malay
Peninsula, and parts of the western Malay Archipelago.
Mandoor- a slave who acts as the foreman of other slaves. Etymology:
Malay mandor, mandur 'overseer, foreman'
Renege (also renegue) >verb go back on a promise, undertaking, or
contract.
Manumission - the formal act of freeing from slavery
‘Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie’ (VOC) Dutch East India
Trading Company
1602-1799

Est. in 1602 when several Dutch companies merged to form a single more
powerful company (oldest-share)

Was granted a monopoly over trade throughout the Netherlands.

“The foundations for the VOC’s commercial empire were, in effect, laid
down by Portugal in the sixteenth century, very largely as a result of the
treaty of Tordesillas, agreed with Spain, in 1494” (Crump)

“It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first
company to issue stock. (Wikiepedia)

“the VOC possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to
wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.[2]”
(Wikipedia)
melakatoday.files.wordpress.com

“For much of this time it was the world’s largest trading company, owning,
at the height of its wealth and power, more than half the world’s sea-going
shipping” (Crump)

“VOC was lord of over 150 trading vessels, 40 warships, 20,000 seamen,
10,000 soldiers and had nearly 50,000 civilians in its service” (oldestshare)

Had ports all over the world including the Netherlands, England, France,
Spain and Portugal in Europe

Ports also existed in Japan, China, most of the coasts of India, Ceylon,
Malaya and what is now Indonesia and Africa (Crump)
(wikipedia)



Although built as merchant sea fairing vessels they could also be used as
war ships
Most common type of ship used was a “Fluyt” Ship. (Crump)
Primarily traded in spices from the East Indies, but would begin to trade
in other fares as they became valuable. Originally in Java

“Dutch colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply
camp for the Dutch East India Company some 50 km north of the cape in
Table Bay on April 6, 1652 and this eventually developed into Cape Town.”
(Wikipedia)
Interesting Fact: The van Riebeeck code or arms would be used to represent Cape
Town
The anchor symbolising Good Hope as well as the gold foundation on which this
anchor rests, indicate my wish for the future wealth and prosperity of this
settlement; the same is covered and protected by a red shield, bearing three
golden rings,3 being the coat of arms which we know was borne by your father
and founder, Van Riebeeck.” (uk.geocities.com/muurkroon/CapeTown.html)

They sent three small ships, the Dromedaris, the Reijger and the Goede
Hoop under the command of the 23-year-old Jan Antony van Riebeeck, a
ship's surgeon, to establish a stronghold on the shores of Table Bay. Their
objective was to grow vegetables, barter for livestock, with the Hottentot
tribes, and build a hospital and a sanctuary for the repair of ships. Jan van
Riebeeck's first fort, subsequently replaced by the existing Castle of Good
Hope, was Cape Town's first building.”(Discover the Cape)
www.capetown.at

This port was originally used a re-supplying station for VOC vessels as they
made the long trip about the African continent to reach the west indies.
(Wikipedia)

This watering port would eventually become what is today known as Cape
Town, South Africa - Jan van Riebeeck is credited with its founding.

“The station was not meant to be expanded beyond the area of the bay,
and Riebeeck’s instructions were to keep the Cape establishment as
confined and small as possible.”

“His main problem was finding labor to work on the farms, particularly
since the indigenous Khoikhoi and San peoples were not interested in such
work. He advocated the importation of slaves, although these were not
brought into the colony until later.”

“Riebeeck tackled the problem by releasing men from their company
employment to farm as free burghers. This practice created the class of
independent farmers who became known as Afrikaners, or Boers.”

In 1662 Riebeeck was transferred to Malacca, after repeated requests to be
moved.”

“By then the Cape settlement was well established and included a hospital,
several workshops, a mill, a corn granary, houses, stables, and vegetable
and fruit gardens. A jetty had also been built, making it possible for
passengers to disembark straight onto land.” (Encarta)

It would later become a place for religious refuges from Europe
(Wikipedia),

“Simon van der Stel, who arrived as Governor in 1679, was destined to
exercise marked influence on the Colony for the next 20 years. He
enlarged and beautified van Riebeeck's garden and built a slave lodge
(today the Cultural History Museum) at the entrance. It was during Simon
van der Stel's governorship that the Huguenots, who had been driven from
France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, arrived from Holland.”
(Discover the Cape)

Kapstadt.org

“He was appointed to the post of commander by the Dutch East India
Company.” (Encarta)

“Van der Stel encouraged agriculture and forestry and developed a
scientific approach to the production of wine at the Cape.” (Encarta)

“He founded new settlements inland, away from Cape Town, although he
imposed harsh penalties on settlers who moved outside the colony’s
boundaries in search of better grazing land or to barter.” (Encarta)

“From 1688 onwards he was successful at integrating French Huguenot
refugee settlers at the Cape, thereby establishing a pattern under which
other non-Dutch settlers could be accommodated in the colony.” (Encarta)

“Between 1652 and 1657, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to obtain
men from the Dutch East Indies and from Mauritius.”
http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/5.htm

“In 1658, however, the VOC landed two shiploads of slaves at the Cape, one
containing more than 200 people brought from Dahomey (later Benin), the second
with almost 200 people, most of them children, captured from a Portuguese slaver
off the coast of Angola. Except for a few individuals, these were to be the only
slaves ever brought to the Cape from West Africa.” http://countrystudies.us/southafrica/5.htm

“Thereafter, all the slaves imported into the Cape until the British stopped the
trade in 1807 were from East Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South and
Southeast Asia. Large numbers were brought from India, Ceylon, and the
Indonesian archipelago.” http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/5.htm

“ Prisoners from other countries in the VOC's empire were also enslaved. The
slave population, which exceeded that of the European settlers until the first
quarter of the nineteenth century, was overwhelmingly male and was thus
dependent on constant imports of new slaves to maintain and to augment its size.”
http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/5.htm


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V6Q_T-EyXs
Cape of Good Hope Video
“Echoes of Slavery”
Women who are "ugly" are sent out to work with their fathers or sold
and women who are "handsome" are kept for their owners own
personal use.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the effects and consequences this
might have on women who are slaves and being labeled as either ugly
or beautiful?
Considering that a slave typically had to earn their freedom through
years of service or be bought by a family member to be freed, we then
see that religion becomes another chance at protection. Religion,
particularly marriages and baptisms, take on different meanings for
slaves than free people. Religion offered some protection, as we see in
The Slave Book; "A slave could now marry and lodge a complaint. A
Christian slave couldn’t be sold" (Jacobs 11).
At the end of Chapter Two in Echoes of Slavery, we learn Wesleyan
Methodist leaders were being driven away from preaching at the
Parade (the main hub area for trade). Why do you think the slaves
were against the Methodist leaders being there?
"Social death" or the hopeless alienation that slaves felt, although
briefly mentioned it is something that really needs to be considered.
Given the fact that many slaves were torn away from their families
and never saw them again, the effects of being isolated with people
who aren’t your family would be devastating. The book points out this
is especially difficult for those who are in rural areas because they
don’t get the social interaction the urban slaves do.
"Readers may find it difficult to picture a society where men , women
and children were bought, mortgaged, sold, transferred, bequeathed,
or even rented out as commodities" (Loos 12).
In our previous class, the importance of land was brought up. Not only
are people being denied the right to go to places that should be public,
but even back then their overall living environment was toxic and
extremely polluted. Cape Town’s problem with waste ranged from
feces to carcasses, this reflects something important about society at
that time. The summer winds blew the rubbish and miasmas out to
sea while the winter rains flushed out canals, if it wasn’t for these
climate occurrences it is safe to say living situations would have been
even worse for people.
What can be said about the overall lack of keeping Cape Town clean?
Do you feel it was mainly reasons like poverty and indifference that
this pollution occurred?
Peter Cavana
ENG 465
Notes – Presentation, The Slave Book
Vocabulary to be discussed, not necessarily defined:
-Slave Lodge
-Leg Irons
-“Nine hundred rix dollars”
-Malays, Mozambiquans, Madagascans
-Boers
-Hottentots
-Kleinnooi
Considered questions (to be discussed):
1) What is the effect of language between the slaves and their owners?
2) Is there such a thing as culture, or one that can be defined amongst the salves;
how do they retain it?
3) Why were valuable or skilled slaves auctioned?
4) Why couldn’t Christian slaves be sold?
5) What did the slaves’ impending emancipations mean for the estate/slave owners?
6) What is the significance of using Frederick Douglas’ quote in the beginning of the
book (considering he was an American ex-slave)?
7) Why was it significant to split up slave families (a family unit functioning as
insubordinates)?
8) What did it mean to wash slaves after they were bought (as it relates to power,
possession, and inhuman treatment)?
9) How is power gained, shifted, and retained so far in this book?