This painting by Charles Bell is undoubtedly the most famous depiction of Jan van Riebeeck, ship’s surgeon and the man sent by the Dutch East India Company to set up a revictualling station at the Cape of Good Hope. Olden-day sailing ships were like small towns: they had to have a carpenter, an iron smith, doctor of course (scurvy, rickets and the like being the scourge of long voyages), tinker, tailor soldier and sailor; also butcher, baker and candlestick maker.
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In order to start a new settlement you’d need all of these and more, but even more than all of them they would have soldiers, lots of soldiers to build a fort and if not exactly to subdue the local inhabitants, then at least to intimidate them and gain the upper hand in the balance of power.
They’d also need gardeners to get going with the fruit and vegetable garden that was the focus of the undertaking. There’s an old saffron pear tree the Company Gardens in Cape Town that is, still bearing fruit some 350 years later, believed to be the oldest cultivated tree in South Africa.
The balance of power at the Cape was sorted out in 1713 when sailors brought with them an unhealthy dose of smallpox. The local Khoi populace had no immunity to this new disease and was all but wiped out. Those who survived were forced into servitude and virtual slavery.
Charles Davidson Bell recreated the scene of Van Riebeecks’s arrival around 200 years after the event. Bell was Scottish-born, arrived at the Cape at age 17 and soon became a traveller, explorer and artist. Later he became the first Surveyor-General of the Cape and designer of flags, coats of arms, medals, stamps and much more (he designed the famous Cape of Good Hope Triangular stamp). He went on to found the Old Mutual insurance and investment company (Bellville was named after him).
Some people pack so much into one life! Take Van Riebeeck for example: before arriving at the Cape at age 33 he had served in Dejima in Japan, in Tonkin, Vietnam and Batavia (Indonesia). After departing the Cape he went back to serve the company back in Batavia till he died there, never seeing Holland since he left to grow a garden at the base of Table Mountain.
Stay in Cape Town
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Portfolio Collection has a stunning selection of handpicked Cape Town city accommodation - B&Bs, guest houses and boutique hotels, such as Cape Riviera Guest House in trendy Oranjezicht. Situated at the foot of Table Mountain Cape Riviera offers luxurious accommodation for the discerning guest.
Cape Town is a vibrant city centre. While visiting this world renowned coastal city, take time to stroll through the historic Company Gardens - watch artists paint, or feed the tame squirrels. Iziko museums and galleries are also located in these lush gardens.
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