Imagine, if you will, a time when the bay of Cape Town was nothing but an unspoilt coast line. The land dotted with great yellow wood forests, luscious wetlands and colourful fynbos. The only humans around are the gentle nomadic hunter/gatherer Khoisan. What a strange and all together foreign sight for them then, where the great billowing sails of a Portuguese galleon rounded the coast. This strange looking wooden craft and its even stranger looking inhabitants must have caused quite a stir. What an interesting conversation must have been had around the fire that night, as they pondered what sort of creature this was, and if at that point they had any idea what their arrival meant to them and the land around them.
And why had these Portuguese sailors left the comforts of home to sail into uncharted waters, to face danger, terribly inhospitable conditions and possibly even death? Well, it all started with pepper.
Since immemorial spices have played an important role in society. Primarily used to add a little zing to food, they also have a number of preserving qualities, including for human embalming in the case of the Egyptians, and can be used for in a number medicinal applications. Ancient civilisations have been trading these fragrant plants for millennia and the power to control how and when these edible gems where collected and distributed was coveted by many but had by the few.
Marco Polo's epic trek across to China in the 13th Century sparked renewed interest in finding better ways to bring the much sought after commodity to Europe. By early in the 15th Century pepper had become so valuable it was dubbed “Black Gold” with Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Cloves followed closely behind. Kings, Queens and governments began sponsoring a myriad of explorers, including Magellan, Columbus and Vasco Da Gama, on long sea quests in an attempt to secure better and quicker trade routes.
When Captain Bartholomew Dias landed on the fertile shores of the Cape in 1488 he must have realised what this great find meant to his country, he had found what he believed to be the key to the spice trade. Unfortunately he had landed during one of its turbulent winters so he dubbed the place the “Cape of Storms” a name which has stuck even though it was later changed to “The Cape of Good Hope” by King John II of Portugal.
For a time, Portugal ruled this lucrative condament trade but by the early 1600's their stronghold had been wrestled from them by the Dutch. The Vereenigde Oooste Indische Compange (VOC) or the Dutch East India Company, set about securing the Cape as a dedicated refreshment station to service their fleets. With this in mind in 1652 they sent Jan van Riebeek to be the first Commander of the Cape to get things started.
And as he sailed into Table Bay did he realise that his legendary ships the Dromedaris, De Goede Hoop and the Reijer, would be ushering in the promise of things to come? To build his clay and wood fort called “Redout Duijnhoop” Van Riebeek chose a site some 50 km north off the bay. The iconic Castle of Good Hope replaced the fort after it was severely damaged in a storm. The Castle was begun in 1666 and completed in 1679 and can still be seen today.
As part of Van Riebeek's mandate from the VOC he began planting fresh produce to replenish the passing ship stores. What is now the popular botanical site The Company's Garden at the top of Adderley Street, started as a food garden. For fresh meat he traded with the local Khoisan for livestock and a portion of the hunt. The station expanded rapidly and the need for more labourers soon become evident. This resulted in Van Riebeek bringing in of slaves from various other countries starting in 1657 and then in 1687 Dutch Huguenots farmers who where fleeing religious percussion where sponsorsed by the VOC to come and farm the land in the Cape. The attempt to foster a better form of communication between the non Dutch speaking slaves and their Dutch-only speaking masters forms the basis of the Afrikaans language.
For over 200 years the refreshment station was the main point of contact to and for the rest of world. Ships could dock, after any long journey and fill up with fresh water from the reservoir Jan built, and load fresh produce before continuing on their way. In all this this time despite the increased traffic, it remained a small outpost. This was largely due to the inhospitable conditions of the sea with ships that docked in the bay either being buffeted by South Easterly winds during the summer months or wrecked against the coast during winters North Western Gale.
But the VOC was shaken from its complacency when in 1737 one such storm caused the loss of 205 lives, 9 ships and an immense amount of cargo. A plan to build a form of breakwater at Mouille Point came into affect in 1743 when construction began. To keep costs down every farmer who'd unload produce at the market had to go and pick up a load of stone from the quarry and dump it into the breakwater. But in 1747 all work ground to a halt when a swarm of locusts wiped out the farmers crops.
Although the harbour building was at a standstill at this point, the industries it supported continued to grow. In 1679 Simon van der Stel had been appointed as the last VOC commander, and the first governor, of the Cape. His passion for wine made him a leading pioneer in the Cape's wine industry. His large estate, Groot Constantia was the first vineyard to produce a South African wine, called Vin de Constance. It was said to be Napoleon's favourite tipple.
Seeing the potential for growth van der Stel motivated for the VOC to pay the passage of a number of French Huguenots, they where all experienced wine farmers. Settling in the Franchoek area they began a tradition from which the Cape's internationally renown wine industry was born.
By 1795 the wine and agricultural lands had become so well established that the importance of such a port caught the attention of the latest rising power in East Indian spice trade, the British.
