Overall History Notes.

Slavery (at the Cape)

A system in which people were treated as property and forced to work, having very limited freedom and being subject to being bought, sold, or separated from their families.

Enslaved person

A person forced into slavery; this wording recognises that slavery was imposed on them.

The Tulbagh Code (1754)

A set of rules introduced under Cape governor Ryk Tulbagh in 1754 to regulate and control enslaved people, restricting their movement, behaviour, and everyday life to protect the colonial slave system.

Manumission

The legal process by which an enslaver legally freed an enslaved person.

Apprenticeship period (1834–1838)

A four-year transitional period imposed on many formerly enslaved people in the Cape following the legal end of slavery in 1834 before full emancipation was completed in 1838.

Abolition

The act of officially ending a practice or system, such as slavery.

Indigenous

Originating in a place; referring here to communities living in southern Africa long before European colonial settlement.

Khoikhoi

An indigenous pastoralist community in southern Africa whose way of life centered on keeping livestock such as cattle and sheep, grazing land, and access to water.

Pastoralism

A way of life and economic system based on keeping and raising livestock, such as cattle and sheep.

Xhosa

Indigenous communities living mainly in the eastern parts of what is now South Africa who combined crop farming with livestock keeping.

Jan van Riebeeck

The Dutch East India Company official who arrived at the Cape in 1652 to establish a refreshment station for company ships.

1820 British settlers

Thousands of British settlers who arrived in the eastern Cape, partly to strengthen the British colonial presence near the frontier.

Missionary

A person who travels or works to spread their religion.

Mission station

A settlement or centre where missionaries lived and carried out religious and often educational work or schooling.

Genadendal

A Moravian mission station established in the Cape in the eighteenth century, whose name translates to 'Valley of Grace'.

Andries Stockenström

A Cape colonial official known for his approach to relations between the colonial government and Xhosa communities, associated with Ordinance 50 and the Treaty System.

Ordinance 50 (1828)

A law that removed certain discriminatory legal restrictions on Khoikhoi and other people of colour in the Cape, recognising greater freedom of movement and contract rights.

Treaty System

A policy supported by Andries Stockenström that sought to manage frontier relations and reduce conflict through diplomatic agreements with Xhosa leaders rather than relying solely on military force.

Frontier

A border region where expanding colonial settlement met other communities or territories.

The Frontier Wars

A series of separate armed conflicts spanning roughly from 1779 to 1879 between Xhosa communities and colonial forces along the eastern frontier of the Cape.

Resistance

Actions taken to oppose control, injustice, or occupation, ranging from day-to-day acts like disobeying orders to organized armed defense.

Ordinance

A law or official regulation.

Treaty

A formal agreement between groups, leaders, or governments.

1658 (Cape History)

The year the first enslaved people were brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company, including early arrivals from Angola and the Guinea coast.

1807 (British Empire)

The year Britain officially abolished the transatlantic slave trade, which ended the trade but did not immediately free all enslaved people.

1814 (Cape History)

The year British sovereignty over the Cape was formally confirmed following the wars with France and the Netherlands.