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Summaries · Grade 7 History › The VOC settlement: the Haerlem, the fort and the Castle
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The VOC settlement: the Haerlem, the fort and the Castle

The VOC settlement: the Haerlem, the fort, the Castle, Robben Island and the urge to trek. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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The settlement

  • The Castle was built because the fort was weak and war was feared; bastions let defenders fire from many angles.
  • The Company’s Garden grew vegetables and fruit for passing ships. Free burghers’ farms on the Liesbeek took Khoikhoi grazing.
  • The Hottentots-Holland mountains were the natural eastern boundary. The Huguenots came in 1688, persecuted for their faith.
  • Robben Island: a prison and a place to keep sheep; in the Second World War guns were placed there to defend Table Bay.
1652: the VOC’s ships in Table Bay.
1652: the VOC’s ships in Table Bay.
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The interior

The Karoo is poor for crops: low rainfall and poor soil. Trekboers seldom visited Cape Town, because it was far over the mountains. The quagga and the bluebuck became extinct partly because of hunting.

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Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • VOC = Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; it traded mainly in spices from the East.
  • The Haerlem was wrecked in Table Bay in 1647; survivors said there was water, good soil and trade.
  • Scurvy comes from too little vitamin C; hence a refreshment station. Van Riebeeck arrived in 1652.
  • The first fort was clay, soil and wood; the Castle (1666–1679) is a pentagon with five bastions named after the Prince of Orange’s titles.
  • Trekgees: the urge to keep moving further inland.

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Memory trick

From clay to stone: first a clay fort (1652), then the five-pointed Castle (1666–1679).

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Important words

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Test yourself · Part 2

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