Episode 16 – Krotoa aka Eva and the Khoekhoe disputes of the 1660s

This is episode 16 and its about de Kaap and the Peninsular in the 1660s. As we’ve heard, the trading with the Khoe at the Cape is not going as well as the Dutch hoped and Jan Van Riebeeck the fort commander had decided to lay out his formal frontier albeit a tiny start to what would become a major immigration. And it would start with a tree called the Bitter Almond which considering what was to happen to the Khoe over the next century, is a pretty accurate name. But first, some domestic news. Remember van Riebeeck had arrived in 1652 with his whole family – his wife Maria de la Quellerie was a relatively strong person of 22 when she landed on the shores of Table Bay as one of the six European women joining the 80 odd men. The other five were all married to various officials living at the Fort. Maria and Jan had arrived with a child of their own as well as two orphaned nieces. She was sickly and pregnant almost every year while at the Cape – having one miscarriage after another. The van Riebeeck’s had arrived with a son and two adopted daughters but their attempt at having a fourth child appeared to be doomed. Living with the van Riebeecks was a really interesting Khoe woman called Krotoa. As Patric Mellet points out in his work, the lie of 1652, Krotoa was a key figure in the struggle between the Khoe and the Dutch. From various descriptions, Krotoa is likely to have been fathered by a European traveler with her Khoe mother who left Krotoa’s upbringing to her brother Autshumao. Basically her mother disowned her it appears but that didn’t stop the youngster from developing into quite a force at the Dutch fort.