1710s in South Africa

| 1710s in South Africa |

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1690s 1700s « 1710s » 1720s 1730s
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List of years in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during the 1710s in South Africa.

## Events

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### 1711

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* 28 December - Willem Helot is appointed acting Governor of the Cape Colony

### 1713

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* Governor of the Cape Colony - Louis van Assenberg[1]
* 16 March - A smallpox epidemic broke out at the Cape Colony. A smallpox outbreak kills 25% of the White Cape population and devastates the Cape Khoikhoi. The Khoikhoi, due to a lack of immunity, have their population nearly wiped.[2][3][4] 90% of the Khoikhoi population ends up being killed in the smallpox epidemic.[5][6][7]
* Cape slaves flee but are captured and punished. Thomas van Bengalen is hanged, and the leader Tromp van Madagascar is sentenced to impalement but commits suicide.[8] Other Cape captives have their Achilles tendons severed or feet broken on the wheel.
* A Cape labour shortage follows, land becomes "ownerless" and is taken by colonial cattle farmers.[9][10][11]

### 1714

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* 28 March - Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes is appointed Governor of the Cape

### 1715

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* The Trek Boers raid Khoikhoi cattle near Saldanha Bay.[12][13]
* A list of all the free men at the Dutch Cape Colony is compiled for 1715. It is divided into three districts; the Cape of Good Hope, Stellenbosch and the Drakenstein.[14]
* A new lease renewal condition is introduced. Leases had to be renewed one month after expiration, with penalties for each emission.[15]
* Khoisan in Land van Waveren attack the European farmers, stealing 200 cattle and several thousand sheep.[16]
* The Constantia estate is sold after the Dutch government orders the confiscation of the Van der Stel lands.[17]
* Abraham de Villiers acquires the Boschendal farm estate.[18]
* The Lady of Good Hope is introduced to the coat of arms of the Cape Colony.[19]
* The Isle de France in the Indian Ocean becomes a French colony.[20]

### 1717

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* The system of freehold title to land in the Cape ends

## Deaths

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* 27 December 1711 - Louis van Assenburgh, Governor of the Cape, dies
* 24 June 1712 - Simon van der Stel, Governor of the Cape, died at his estate in Constantia, Cape Colony

## References

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1. ^ admin (2014-01-11). "The Dutch in South Africa, 1652-1795 and 1802-1806". Colonial Voyage. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
2. ^ "Smallpox Epidemic Strikes at the Cape | South African History Online". sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
3. ^ Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds) (1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, 4, p. 378.
4. ^ africanaunty (2015-07-13). "Smallpox At The Cape | Ancestors Research South Africa". Retrieved 2025-03-01.
5. ^ Ross, Robert. "Smallpox at the Cape of Good Hope in the Eighteenth Century". ScholarlyPublications. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
6. ^ See G. McC. Theal (ed.), Records of the Cape Colony (36 vols-, London, 1897-1905), XXIV, 440.
7. ^ Viljoen, Russel S. (1995). "Disease and Society: VOC Cape Town, Its People, and the Smallpox Epidemics of 1713, 1755, and 1767," Kleio 27
8. ^ "General South African History Timeline: 1700s | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
9. ^ Theals History of the Cape, Standard Encyclopaedia of South Africa
10. ^ Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story. Reader's Digest.
11. ^ "South Africa - History". www.mongabay.com. Retrieved 2025-03-01.
12. ^ "General South African History Timeline: 1700s | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 2025-03-02.
13. ^ Ahjum, S., ‘The Law of the (White) Father: Psychoanalysis, “Paternalism”, and the Historiography of Cape Slave Women’, in G. Campbell, S. Miers and J. C. Miller (eds.), Women and Slavery, Volume 1: Africa, the Indian Ocean World, and the Medieval North Atlantic (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2007), 83–108.
14. ^ "South African Records Transcribed - Cape Muster Roll 1715/16 - Free Men". www.eggsa.org. Retrieved 2025-03-02.
15. ^ Gie, M.C. (23 November 1810). "Letter from M. C. Gie, Esqre., to Deputy Secretary Bird" (PDF). ia801206.us.archive.org. Retrieved 2 March 2025.
16. ^ Green, Erik (2022). Creating the Cape Colony: The Political Economy of Settler Colonization. Bloomsbury Academic. doi:10.5040/9781350263215. ISBN 978-1-350-25823-5.
17. ^ Noble, John (1875). DESCRIPTIVE HANDBOOK OF THE CAPE COLONY: ITS CONDITION AND RESOURCES. California, Los Angeles: THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES.
18. ^ "A Valley Emergent: Groot-Drakenstein", by Eric Lloyd Williams, published by Anglo American Corporation.
19. ^ A proclamation issued in 1715 made Hope the hallmark for silverware assayed at the Cape.
20. ^ "Republic of Mauritius".

See Years in South Africa for list of references.