Afrikaans: a language where ideology and linguistics meet

This paper summarizes the discussion about the origin and the status of Afrikaans. Two schools appear to be opposed to each other: the philological school and a creolistic view. The philological school tried to demonstrate with meticulous research of sources that Afrikaans is a full daughter of 17th century Dutch, which set foot ashore with van Riebeeck in 1652 at the Cape of Good Hope. Linguists who thought of a pattern of creolization in the formation of Afrikaans point to the influence of the languages of slaves brought to South Africa and to the influence of the original inhabitants, the Khoi and the San. This contribution mainly outlines the ideological background of these two schools of thought. For the philological school this is the system of Apartheid, while for the Creolist view the emphasis is more on decolonization.

The Dutch slavery and colonization DNA. A call to engage in self-examination

This article answers the question whether there is a Dutch slavery and colonisation DNA. After all, the Netherlands has centuries of experience (approximately three and a half centuries) with colonisation (including occupation, wars and genocide, rearrangement of land and population, plundering and theft), trade in enslaved people (the Atlantic route: Europe, Africa, North and South America) and trade in the products of these enslaved people. The Netherlands has colonised large parts of the world. This was a large part of Asia, including the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, Ceylon, Taiwan and New Guinea, large parts of the continent Africa, including Madagascar, Mozambique, Cape of Good Hope, Luanda, Sao Tome, Fort Elmina etc., and North (New York) and South America (including Brazil, Dejima, Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles). It is a fact that human conditions and circumstances influence the human DNA that is passed on to posterity. This goes through the mechanism of methylation. This mechanism is used by cells in the human body to put genes in the "off" position. Human conditions and circumstances are abstractly formulated, poverty, hunger, disasters and wars. These are also horrors that accompanied slavery and colonisation. The Dutch, as slave traders, plantation owners, occupiers of lands, soldiers, merchants, captains and sailors, and administrators and their staff, have had centuries of experience with practising atrocities. Because those experiences are translated into the DNA of posterity, it is understandable that Dutch authorities misbehave towards immigrants and refugees. Those institutions are political leaders, governmental institutions, such as the tax authorities and youth welfare, and also companies that do their utmost to avoid taking on immigrants. This behaviour is called institutional colour and black racism.

La decisión de Elcano.

La decisión de regresar de las Molucas hacia occidente fue lo que convirtió la expedición a la Especiería en la que dio la primera vuelta al mundo. Volver por el cabo de Buena Esperanza contravenía las órdenes recibidas por los expedicionarios porque invadía el territorio portugués que establecía el tratado de Tordesillas. Tres fueron las principales motivaciones: a) partir cuanto antes hacia Sevilla para informar que habían descubierto un paso al mar del Sur y que era posible llegar a las Molucas por territorio castellano; b) evitar ser apresados por los portugueses, y c) el monzón que soplaba en ese momento del NE, dificultándoles el regreso por América y por el Indico norte. El regreso por el oeste se acordó por todos expedicionarios pero la decisión de Elcano fue determinante para volver por esta ruta, arrostrar las penalidades que sufrieron y dar la vuelta al mundo. The decision to return from the Moluccas to the west was what turned the expedition to the Spice into the first trip around the world. Returning through the Cape of Good Hope contravened the orders received by the expedition members because they invaded the Portuguese territory established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The main motivations were three: a) to leave as soon as possible to Seville to report that they had discovered a passage to the South Sea and that it was possible to reach the Moluccas through Castilian territory; b) avoid being captured by the Portuguese, and c) the monsoon that was blowing at that time from the NE, making it difficult for them to return through America and the North Indian Ocean. The return to the west was agreed by all expedition members but Elcano's decision was decisive to return along this route, face the hardships they suffered and go around the world.

New Local Publications

Local Publications: Children of Hope / Sandra Rowoldt Shell Nottinghamshire: Settlers and Locations in the Eastern Cape of Good Hope / Rob Smith 1820 Settlers and other early British Settlers to the Cape Colony / edited by John Wilmot Cock tales on the Kowie / Sue Laburn Gordon in association with Ed Cock

THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACT REVISITED – SOME CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL REFLECTIONS ON LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE CENTENARY OF THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA IN 1910

Just over a hundred years ago South Africa became a politically united state governed by the South Africa Act of 1909, which constituted the first constitution for a territory comprised of the four erstwhile British colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony. This article revisits this historic constitution and attempts to revaluate its cardinal characteristics in the light of our subsequent constitutional and political development. This article also examines the constitutional and political configuration of the South Africa Act and how it came into being through a so-called National Convention and the part played by the prominent politicians and role players of the day. It examines the constitutional precedents that were available at the time. The crucial issues relating to the nature of the state that was to be established and why a unitary model and not a federation was adopted,are explained. It also considers the vexed question of the franchise and how a compromise was reached in this regard. Other important issues on which decisions had to be taken such as, inter alia, language, native and Indians affairs, are examined and evaluated. The article attempts to address certain important constitutional and political lessons that can be learnt from such an evaluation.

The Scientific Age

Scientific study of giraffes depended on the scientists of Europe being able to study specimens. The first of those specimens was sent to Europe not long after the establishment of a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in 1652. Obtaining the specimens was difficult because the nearest giraffes were to be found along the Gariep (Orange) River on the northern border of South Africa with Namibia, about 1,000 km from the Cape, across arid and inhospitable terrain. The first specimens were collected by Robert Jacob Gordon and William Paterson and were sent to Holland and England, respectively. Their arrival attracted zoologists and others to southern Africa, and further specimens became available for study. In the early 1800s establishment of zoos in Europe meant that living giraffes could be studied, and the first of these were taken to France and England. Among the prominent scientists who studied giraffes were Etienne Geoffroy St.-Hilaire in Paris and Richard Owen in London. Their studies established the scientific basis for the study of giraffes.

Global Mapping of Seaport Operability Risk Indicators Using Open-Source Metocean Data

Seaport operability is key to the economic viability of ports. Metocean conditions (e.g., wind, short waves, and infragravity waves) affect this operability when certain thresholds are exceeded. This paper describes a method for the global mapping of seaport operability risk indicators using open-source metocean data. This global-scale assessment provides a geographic overview of operability risks and first-order insights into the most relevant metocean risk indicators at each location. The results show that locations around the equator and inland seas have lower operability risk than locations farther away from the equator. “Hotspots” are mainly located along the southern capes (Cape of Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn), around the ‘Roaring Forties’, and at exposed locations along the oceans. Of the metocean parameters considered, short waves are found to be the most critical risk indicator for port operability at most locations. Using (the insights of) this study, port authorities, operators, and designers can prepare for metocean risks at an early stage and effectively respond with mitigation measures and layout adjustments to improve port operability.

The Classics at World’s End.

The Dutchman Johannes Willem van Grevenbroek (1644-circa 1726) was secretary of the Dutch East India Company’s Council of Policy at the Cape from 1684 to 1694. In the years that had passed since Jan van Riebeeck’s landing at the Cape in 1652, marking the first permanent European settlement in modern-day South Africa, regular expeditions had been launched into its hinterland. A year after his retirement from VOC service, Grevenbroek wrote a letter in Latin about the Cape’s native inhabitants: Elegans et accurata gentis Africanae circa Promontorium Capitis Bonae Spei vulgo Hottentotten Nuncupatae Descriptio Epistolaris (An Elegant and Accurate Account of the African Race Living Round the Cape of Good Hope, Commonly Called Hottentots). In this paper, I consider Grevenbroek’s engagement with ancient (Greek and Roman) antiquity in his framing of the Khoi. Ancient times had left early modern Europe with an authoritative literature on the world’s geography and history, descriptions about its then-known people, and suppositions about the ways of life of its many un-known people in yet to be discovered realms. In his letter, Grevenbroek returns to the Classical sources to meaningfully recapture the Cape native people and thus renegotiate the popular contemporary European image about them.