Biographies – Colour Dots

Bartolomeu Dias

carynkaleido — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:15:12 +0000

Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias changed world history in 1488 when he became the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa. His voyage around the Cape of Good Hope proved that a sea route between Europe and Asia existed, paving the way for future explorers such as Vasco da Gama.

The post Bartolomeu Dias appeared first on Colour Dots.

Adam Kok

carynkaleido — Thu, 03 Jul 2025 14:35:28 +0000

Adam Kok I is remembered as the founding father of the Griqua people and the first in a lineage of influential leaders who played a crucial role in South African history. While multiple narratives surround his origins, some verifiable facts provide insight into his life and legacy. These facts come from oral traditions, interviews, and colonial records, and they collectively sketch the life of a man who emerged from slavery and marginalisation to become a respected leader. Early Life and Origins One widely accepted account, recorded in 1835 by Dr Andrew Smith during an interview with Adam Kok II, suggests that Adam Kok I’s father was enslaved in the early Cape Colony. He may have later been emancipated, meaning that Adam Kok, I might have been born free. Another version holds that he was the son of Cornelius Jacobz, a Dutch East India Company (VOC) employee, and an enslaved woman who named him “Adam” after the Cape’s Eden-like landscape. The surname “Kok” may have originated from his occupation as a cook (kok in Dutch), a practical role that may have marked his earliest social identity. By the early 1740s, Adam Kok I was working as a Free Black labourer, or knecht, for a free burgher named Nicolaas Laubser on the farm Selderyrivier. He left this post in 1743 and took up elephant hunting, a lucrative occupation on the colonial frontier. It was through this work that he formed ties with the Xarixuriqua (also known as Gariguriqua) Khoe people near Piketberg. His hunting success earned him cattle and land, which enhanced his status, and he was appointed chief by Xarixuriqua leader Koos Kleinman before the latter’s death. Formation of a Community Adam Kok I’s rise was solidified through his partnership with Klaas Barends, another Free Black elephant hunter. The two men shared similar experiences and ambitions, and their families eventually united through marriage. This alliance laid the groundwork for the Bergenaar Baster community, a mixed-race group formed from Khoe, slave, and settler ancestry. These beginnings would later evolve into the Griqua people, a name and identity that would become formalised in the next generation. In 1751, Adam Kok I secured a loan farm and grazing rights from the VOC at Stinkfontein near Piketberg. He held this land until 1771, when it was seized by the authorities and granted to a white settler, despite Adam’s documented ownership. At the age of 61, Kok, his family, and followers were forced to leave. They trekked north through the harsh Knersvlakte and eventually settled in Kammieskroon and later at Pella. Conflict and Resistance During this period of displacement, Adam Kok I and his community became entangled in growing tensions between the VOC and the Orlam Afrikaner clan, led by Oude Ram Afrikaner. These black Afrikaners were accused of inciting rebellion against white settlers in the frontier districts. VOC official Van Schoor viewed them as a threat and arrested some family members, although Oude Ram and his son Klaas were released. After Oude Ram’s death, his sons, including the infamous Jager Afrikaner, built a mobile force of mounted fighters who operated along the Gariep (Orange) River. With the Orlam threat subsiding, another danger emerged. Trekboers, nomadic white farmers, began moving onto Adam Kok’s land. A family from Helpmakaar, the Venters, raided the Kok settlement, killed a herder, and stole cattle. Adam appealed to the colonial authorities in Cape Town for justice, but his complaints were ignored. Instead, the same farm, Stinkwater, was formally granted to the Venters. Social Leadership and Legacy Despite such injustices, Adam Kok I provided leadership and refuge. He had married Donna, daughter of the Xarixuriqua chief, further strengthening his legitimacy. At Stinkwater, he gave sanctuary to Khoe youth fleeing forced labour, as well as to drosters, runaway slaves and soldiers. A community flourished under his guidance, but when the farm was lost, they followed him north into Little Namaqualand. By the time of his death in 1795, near the Kai! Gariep (Orange River), Adam Kok, I had established a resilient, mobile community rooted in kinship, resistance, and cultural survival... The Rise of the Griqua Adam Kok I was succeeded by his son, Cornelius Kok I, who became the leader of the Baster community. In 1805, leadership passed to Adam Kok II, his grandson, who would play a key role in shaping the identity of the Griqua people. In 1813, under the guidance of Scottish missionary Reverend John Campbell, the community decided to reject the name “Baster”, seen as derogatory, and adopt the name “Griqua” instead. This change was not merely symbolic. Under Adam Kok II, the Griqua established a constitution, laws, courts, and a governing council. Their settlement, previously known as Klaarwater, was renamed Griqua Town (Griquastad). The Griqua nation, born of hardship and survival, emerged with a distinct identity, a product of frontier resistance, strategic alliances, and visionary leadership. Conclusion Adam Kok I’s life tells a story of transformation: from possible enslavement to community leadership, from colonial dispossession to the founding of a new nation. His descendants, particularly through the line of Adam Kok II and III, would carry forward the legacy he began, a legacy that reflects resilience, adaptability, and the struggle for dignity and autonomy. The story of Adam Kok I and the early Griqua continues to resonate as part of South Africa’s diverse and complex heritage. Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Adam Kok appeared first on Colour Dots.

Anton Anreith

carynkaleido — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 10:11:51 +0000

One of South Africa’s greatest artists.

The post Anton Anreith appeared first on Colour Dots.

Antonie Van Angola

carynkaleido — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 15:50:19 +0000

Antonie Van Angola is an unlikely character, but an interesting supposed anomaly in the history of South Africa as we have been told it. The farms in the Jonkershoek Valley, called Lanzerac, Old Nectar, and Klein Gustrouw (previously ‘Leef op Hoop’), are successful wine farms today. They were first established in 1683 and passed through several owners’ hands. A reregistration process was instituted in 1692 when Lt Isaq Schrijver registered his farm. However, the initial farms were an all-black pioneering effort. The farms were started by a group of African, Bengali and Sri Lankan manumitted (emancipated) slaves, namely, Antonie Van Angola, Manuel van Angola, Lijsbeth van Angola, and Susanna van Bombasa. There was also a farm owned by Louis van Bengal, and another owned by Marquart van Ceylon and Jan ‘Luij’ van Ceylon. The manumitted slave, Evert van Guinea, relocated from his Table Bay market garden to Stellenbosch. Here he was, the first of the early Free Black pioneer farmers. He started another farm project and named it Welgelegen. Antonie van Angola first named his farm Angola. He and his neighbouring Free Black farmers enjoyed a decade on their own in the valley, until in 1692, when Lieutenant Isaq Schrijver settled among them in the Valley. Schrijver is incorrectly recorded as the first pioneering farmer. His farm, named Schoongezicht, was only established in 1692, almost a full decade after the first farms were established in the area. Antonie Van Angola as an example D’Zwarte Antonie van Angola is considered a principal pioneer among other significant farmers drawn on a map of the South Western Cape in 1688/90. He and his partner on the farm, Manuel of Angola, were granted almost 58 morgens. Antonie was the harder-working and more consistent of the two farmers. He became very successful. In the 1688 records, he is noted as the owner of horses, 18 cattle, 196 sheep, fields of wheat and rye and 600 vines. By 1692 he had increased his vineyard to 4,000 vines. When he died in 1696, he left a solvent estate. On the farm east of Antonie’s farm was Leef-op-Hoop, about 29 morgens, farmed by Louis van Bengal, who acquired it in 1683. After the deaths of the pioneer Free Black farmers, Schrijver, encouraged by his wife Anna Hoeks (widow Hasselaar), bought up these farms, and they were attached to his farm. Schoongezicht. It was Antonie’s farm combined with Schoogezich, which was renamed Lanzerac. Lanzarac got a romanticised French makeover in 1914. Today, these farms are among the great winelands’ attractions, but the real history of the farms has been airbrushed out of the story. Antonie was born in Angola in 1645 and died at the Cape on his farm, Angola, at Jonkershoek in 1696. Pioneering black farmers started many of the best farms across Stellenbosch and the Drakenstein. These farms existed long before the arrival of the French Huguenots. Source: Camissa Museum Anthea P Daniels Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Antonie Van Angola appeared first on Colour Dots.

Cecil John Rhodes

carynkaleido — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 14:25:08 +0000

Cecil John Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes was the son of a vicar and was born in Hertfordshire, England in July 1853. When he was 17, he was sent to South Africa as he had been a sickly child and it was hoped the African climate would benefit him. At age 1,8, with funding from Rothschild and Co, he set about buying up diamond mines and over the next 17 years he managed to consolidate a monopoly. The De Beers consolidated mines were set up in 1888 and are still the dominant diamond company today. When he was 27, he entered the Cape parliament and by 1890 he had worked his way up to the position of prime minister. As such, he used his influence and power to expropriate lands from its African owners by way of the Glen Grey Act, which created a labour tax that forced Xhoza men into employment on farms or in industry. Rhodes believed that black people needed to be removed from the land to “stimulate them to labour” and to change their habits. (Obviously to suit the needs of the British Empire) He also disenfranchised large groups of people by tripling the wealth requirement for voting. This effectively banned black people from voting. He further controlled people by promulgating educational reform and he introduced a “hut tax’ that further impoverished indigenous people. . Rhodes quoted that” In future nine-tenths of them (blacks) will have to spend their lives in manual labour and the sooner that is brought home to them the better“ He also argued that the “Native is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise” and “We must adopt a system of despotism such as works in India in our relations with the barbarism of South Africa” Another bad Idea Cecil-john-rhodes frequently disagreed with the policies of the Transvaal government, which he found were not advantageous to mining interests. He believed that he had the power to overthrow the South African Republic of Paul Kruger and the disastrous Jameson raid was planned. When it went horribly wrong, he was forced to resign. His career never recovered and his health also deteriorated. He died in 1902 and was buried in Zimbabwe, which was formerly called Rhodesia, named after himself. Other schemes that Cecil John Rhodes devised In the 1880s there was a severe outbreak of Phylloxera that damaged vineyards and decimated much of the wine industry. Rhodes financed “The Pioneer fruit growing company together with the shipping magnate Percy Molteno, son of Sir John Charles Molteno. He invested in refrigerated export containers to transport fruit to Europe. He bought farms in Stellenbosch and Wellington. The operation grew and he developed Rhodes fruit farms that still operate today. While Rhodes was at college, Cecil John Rhodes was initiated into Freemasonry, it is believed this is what led him to create his own secret society with the aim of bringing the whole world under British rule. A British empire gaining mineral rights from indigenous chiefs was his main goal. He was also devoted to creating a Cape to Cairo railway through British territory. Cecil Rhodes was a staunch imperialist who believed in the superiority of the Englishman and in British rule. He saw it as his duty to expand the British Empire for the benefit of all. At 24, he declared his lifelong mission: to defend and extend the Empire, believing that it ensured liberty, property, and fair play for all under its rule. He saw British expansion as a force for global good, convinced it was the greatest platform for human progress and happiness. His vision, shaped early in life, drove his relentless pursuit of imperial dominance. He never married and had no heirs. In his will, he left his home and properties in the Cape to the public. He also left a large trust that funds the Rhodes scholarships. It grants 102 of these each year. Groot Schuur residence Rhodes Memorial Groot Schuur Zoo Rhodes Cottage Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Cecil John Rhodes appeared first on Colour Dots.

Emily Hobhouse

carynkaleido — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 09:04:54 +0000

Emily Hobhouse Emily Hobhouse was born in England in April 1860. She was a welfare campaigner, feminist, and pacifist who brought the attention of the British public to the horrific conditions in the British concentration camps where Boer women and children were kept captive. She died in Kensington in 1926. While she is regarded as a heroine in South Africa, her death went unreported in the British press. Her ashes were put into a niche in the National Women’s Monument in Bloemfontein. As the heroine she was to South Africans, she is commemorated in several places. A town in the Free State is called Hobhouse. A Submarine in the SA Navy and the oldest residence of the Free State University is named after her. In 1990, a film directed by Dirk de Villiers called That Englishwoman: An Account of the Life of Emily Hobhouse. Veronica Lang played Emily. Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Emily Hobhouse appeared first on Colour Dots.

Jan Van Riebeek

carynkaleido — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 12:23:43 +0000

Jan van Riebeek was born in Culemborg on 21 April 1619, and he grew up in Schiedam. At the age of 30, he married a 19-year-old Maria de la Queillerie. The couple had 8 children but most of them did not survive infancy. However, their son Abraham, who was born at the Cape, later became Governor General of the Dutch East Indies. At the age of 20, Jan Van Riebeek joined the VOC (Dutch East India Company). He served several posts including assistant surgeon in Batavia, in the steps of his father, who had also been a surgeon. He headed the VOC trading post in Indochina but was dismissed in 1645 due to some insider trading. However, soon afterwards, after having spent a couple of weeks at The Cape on his return voyage to Holland, he began to advocate for a refreshment station to be established there. Support for the idea increased after a VOC ship was marooned at the Cape and was able to survive in a temporary fortress. A report was drafted, and a Dutch presence was recommended. The VOC requested Jan Van Riebeek to undertake the command of the first Dutch settlement. The voyage departed from Texel on 24 December 1651. Two ships (The Drommedaris and Goede Hoop) landed at Table Bay on 6 April 1652. A third ship, the Reijger, arrived the next day. The group of sailors and staff consisted of 82 men and 8 women, including Van Riebeek’s wife, Maria. The original convoy consisted of 5 ships. The Walvis and the Oliphant arrived late due to a large number of the crew having died, On arrival, Van Riebeeck began to fortify the settlement and to create the way station that the Cape was to become. He went about building a fort and improving the natural anchorage at Table Bay. The group planted cereals, fruit, and vegetables, and bartered livestock from the indigenous Khoi people. Van Riebeeck was Commander of the Cape for 10 years. The original fort was built of wood and clay; it had four bastions. The fort was replaced by the Castle of Good Hope, which was built between 1666 and 1679, some time after van Riebeeck had left the Cape. During his tenure, Jan Van Riebeek established an impressive range of useful plants in the Cape Peninsula. This changed the natural environment forever. The varieties included grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples, and citrus. This had an important and lasting influence on the societies and economies of the region. In 1659, Jan Van Riebeek established a vineyard to produce red wine. The daily diary entries that he kept throughout his time at the Cape, which was a VOC policy provided the basis for future exploration in the region. He died in Batavia on 18 January 1677. Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Jan Van Riebeek appeared first on Colour Dots.

John Charles Molteno Jr.

carynkaleido — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 18:26:00 +0000

John Charles Molteno Jr. John Charles Molteno Jr. was born on March 4, 1860, in Beaufort West, as the son of Sir John Charles Molteno, the Cape’s first Prime Minister. From a young age, he served as his father’s secretary, helping manage the family’s businesses and extensive Karoo farms. He and his brothers later established a successful export business in Elgin, achieving Southern Africa’s first successful fruit export to Europe and they dominated the industry for many years. In 1889, Molteno Jr. became a member of parliament. A staunch anti-imperialist, he denounced the British policies that led to the Boer War and was a strong advocate for civil rights for Black Africans. He believed in their inclusion in South Africa’s political landscape and was outspoken in support of Black political empowerment. John Charles Molteno Jr. was also deeply concerned with the welfare of agricultural communities and was recognised as an expert in rural development. Initially, he was a friend and business associate of Cecil John Rhodes, but they had a public falling out due to Rhodes’ imperialist and discriminatory policies against Black Africans and his stance on the Boer Republics. He supported John X. Merriman’s party, which advocated for extending equal political rights to Black Africans across southern Africa. However, he struggled to gain widespread support from the white population for Black suffrage. Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post John Charles Molteno Jr. appeared first on Colour Dots.

Lady Anne Barnard

carynkaleido — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 10:11:17 +0000

A socialite at the Cape of Good Hope

The post Lady Anne Barnard appeared first on Colour Dots.

Lady Smith

carynkaleido — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:33:53 +0000

The town of Ladismith in the Western Cape was named for Lady Juana Smith who was the wife of Captain Harry Smith, of the 95th Rifles Regiment. She was born into an old Spanish noble family and was a descendant of Juan Ponce de León. When she was fourteen, she and her sister were orphaned. Badajoz, their home town, was besieged during the Peninsular War, the siege ended with a bloody but ultimately successful storming by the British and Portuguese troops. The sisters looked for protection and found shelter with some British Army officers whom they found camping outside the city walls. One of these happened to be Captain Harry Smith whom she married a few days later. She did not agree to be sent home to her husband’s family, instead remaining with him for the rest of the war. Lady Smith, brave and intrepid She travelled on the baggage train and slept in the open. She even rode with the troops. Her beauty and courage endeared her to the troops and officers, including The Duke of Wellington who referred to her as Juanita. She accompanied Sir Harry ( who had been knighted) in all his deployments. Sir Harry served as Governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. Lady Smith was given a pension of £500 by Parliament on 5 December 1848 in recognition of her husband Sir Harry Smith’s services to the country. Legend says that it was Lady Smith who introduced the spanspek (cantaloupe) to South Africa in Afrikaans, which means ‘Spanish bacon. However, the OED shows that the term ‘Spanish bacon’ has been in use for 250 years. There is a town, Lady smith in KwaZulu-Natal. The name is for the same person but it is differentiated with one letter. The town in the Western Cape is spelled with an i. Colourdots is an independent regional information resource for the Western Cape. Learn more about the project HERE

The post Lady Smith appeared first on Colour Dots.