Slavery in South Africa between 1830s and 1850s

They called their slave Inboekselings

In those stormy years between 1830s and 1850s the majority of Voortrekkers in the Transvaal were involved in a reprehensible though highly profitable occupation: the kidnapping of African children. It was a practice that sparked waves of terror in African homesteads. READ MORE

Slavery at the Cape

Jan Van Riebeck set foot at the Cape on 6 April 1652. His instructions from the Dutch East India Company were clear: he was forbidden to enslave the indigenous people of the Cape. However, slaves from elsewhere were another matter and in May 1652, only weeks after arriving at Table Bay, he asked for slaves to be sent to help erect the fort and till the land. For the first five years the only slaves at the Cape were stowaways or gifts from the captains of passing ships. In 1658 there were 11 slaves, eight women and three men.(…)

Slavery – the imposition of enforced servitude by a powerful group on another group – inevitably breeds fear in both groups, and resentment in the oppressed. There was also tension among the whites, who constantly feared a mass rebellion and death at the hand of a slave. There was always the fear that slaves who had run away might return to rob and kill, and so large rewards were offered for their recapture. READ MORE