1.
Dutch Cape Colony
–
The Cape Colony was between 1652 and 1691 a Commandment, and between 1691 and 1795 a Governorate of the Dutch East India Company. Jan van Riebeeck established the colony as a re-supply and layover port for vessels of the Dutch East India Company trading with Asia. As the only permanent settlement of the Dutch East India Company not serving as a trading post, as these farms were labour-intensive, Vryburghers imported slaves from Madagascar, Mozambique and Asia, which rapidly increased the number of inhabitants. Due to the rule of the Company some farmers tried to escape the rule of the company by moving further inland. In order to avoid collision with the Bantu peoples advancing south and west from east central Africa, in 1795, after the Battle of Muizenberg in present-day Cape Town, the British occupied the colony. Renewed Dutch control did not last long, however, as the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars invalidated the Peace of Amiens, in January 1806 the British occupied the colony for a second time after the Battle of Blaauwberg at present-day Bloubergstrand. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Great Britain, traders of the Dutch East India Company, under the command of Jan van Riebeeck, were the first people to establish a European colony in South Africa. The support station gradually became a community, the forebears of the Afrikaners. At the time of first European settlement in the Cape, the southwest of Africa was inhabited by San people, the local Khoikhoi had neither a strong political organisation nor an economic base beyond their herds. They bartered livestock freely to Dutch ships, as Company employees established farms to supply the Cape station, they began to displace the Khoikhoi. Conflicts led to the consolidation of European landholdings and a breakdown of Khoikhoi society, military success led to even greater Dutch East India Company control of the Khoikhoi by the 1670s. The Khoikhoi became the source of colonial wage labour. There they contested still wider groups of Khoikhoi cattle herders for the best grazing lands, by 1700, the traditional Khoikhoi lifestyle of pastoralism had disappeared. The Cape society in this period was thus a diverse one, by the time of British rule after 1795, the sociopolitical foundations were firmly laid. In 1795, France occupied the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and this prompted Great Britain to occupy the territory in 1795 as a way to better control the seas in order stop any potential French attempt to get to India. The British sent a fleet of nine warships which anchored at Simons Town and, following the defeat of the Dutch militia at the Battle of Muizenberg, the Dutch East India Company transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, and ceased to exist in 1799. Improving relations between Britain and Napoleonic France, and its state the Batavian Republic, led the British to hand the Cape Colony over to the Batavian Republic in 1803. In 1806, the Cape, now controlled by the Batavian Republic, was occupied again by the British after their victory in the Battle of Blaauwberg
2.
Zacharias Wagenaer
–
Zacharias Wagenaer was a clerk, illustrator, merchant, member of the Court of Justice, opperhoofd of Deshima and the only German governor of the Dutch Cape Colony. In 35 years he traveled over four continents, Zacharias was the son of a Saxonian judge and a painter. In 1633 he traveled from Dresden via Hamburg to Amsterdam, there he worked for Willem Blaeu. Within a year he enlisted as a soldier in the forces of the Dutch West India Company to serve in New Holland in 1634. Three years later, he was hired as a writer by the newly arrived governor of the colony, there are pictures of the Smooth Hammerhead, Cutlassfish, slender filefish, Serranidae, and Cirripedia. In 1641, he left Dutch Brazil, and traveled back to Dresden, after four months he returned already to the Netherlands, and took a position with the Dutch East India Company. In 1642 he sailed for the Indies as a midshipman, in the next year he became an assistant for the governors Antonie van Diemen and Cornelis van der Lijn, in 1646 he became under-merchant and in 1651 merchant. Three times he became a member of the Court of Justice at Batavia, in 1653 he went on a mission to Canton to open up again trade relations, which proved fruitless, due to a civil war after the Fall of the Ming Dynasty. In 1657 he rose to the rank of opperhoofd of the Dutch East India Company at the island in Nagasaki bay in the Japanese island of Kyushu. He traveled to the capital Edo in a mission and escaped from a burning city. In 1659, as one of the first opperhoofden, he ordered a dinner service, Wagener made the design of this Japanese porcelain, according to the European taste white and blue, with many flowers. In 1660 Wagner was involved in the negotiations with the sultan of Makassar. The port had about 2.000 Portuguese traders and for years threatened the Dutch spice trade on the Moluccas, the next year he was head of the Public Works in Batavia. In 1662 he went to Cape of Good Hope with his family, five slaves. He followed Jan van Riebeeck as a governor on 6 May, in December 1663 he asked Batavia to send him some pottery from Persia. He negotiated with the Hottentots about cattle for the Company, by abstaining from further expeditions Wagener could pursue his policy to refrain from an interference in tribal disputes, and to keep strictly neutral. After five years studying the German student Georg Friedrich Wreede wrote a compendium of the Dutch, Wagener was one of the five people laying the foundation of the Castle of Good Hope, which was started in August 1665. He constructed a waterbasin, supplying the ships fresh water, a hospital, a school
3.
Culemborg
–
Culemborg is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands. The city is situated just south of the Lek River, the cities of Utrecht and s-Hertogenbosch can be reached easily by train. It received city rights in 1318, in Joan Blaeus map of 1649, Culemborg remains entirely enclosed by walls behind its city moat-like encircling canals. The moated castle stands outside the city walls, houses present a united front along streets and the two canals that cut the city in three sections, but they all face gardens behind, and market gardens are plentiful within the city walls. In 1995, Culemborg was one of the cities which was evacuated because of the risk of flooding. Culemborg is served by Culemborg railway station, which trains to Utrecht 4x per hour and 2x per hour to Breda. The railway station provides a bus hub, offering buses to the various neighbouring cities and villages. Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Culemborg, June 2015 Dough processing company Rademaker BV, founded in 1977, moved to Culemborg in 1981, there are two traditional windmills in Culemborg, De Hoop and Johanna. The base of a mill, De Koornvriend, also survives
4.
Holy Roman Empire
–
The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
5.
Batavia, Dutch East Indies
–
Batavia was the name of the capital city of the Dutch East Indies and corresponds to the present-day city of Jakarta. The establishment of Batavia at the site of the city of Jayakarta by the Dutch in 1619 led to the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. Batavia became the center of the Dutch East India Companys trading network in Asia, monopolies on nutmeg, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon were augmented by non-indigenous cash crops like coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco, rubber, sugar and opium. To safeguard their commercial interests, the company and the colonial administration, Batavia lies on the north coast of Java, in a sheltered bay, over a flat land consisting of marshland and hills, and crisscrossed with canals. Batavia was a city for about 320 years until 1942 when the Dutch East Indies fell under Japanese occupation during World War II. During the Japanese occupation and again after Indonesian nationalists declared independence on August 17,1945, the period started with the founding of the walled city of Batavia by the Dutch East India Company following the destruction of the port city of Jayakarta. The period ends with the dissolution of the Dutch East India Company, in 1595, merchants from Amsterdam embarked upon an expedition to the East Indies archipelago. Under the command of Cornelis de Houtman, the expedition reached Bantam, capital of the Sultanate of Banten, in 1602, the English East India Companys first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh and sailed on to Bantam. There he was allowed to build a trading post that became the center of English trade in Indonesia until 1682, in 1602, the Dutch government granted a monopoly on Asian trade to the Dutch East India Company. In 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Bantam, in 1610, Prince Jayawikarta granted permission to Dutch merchants to build a wooden godown and houses on the east bank of the Ciliwung River, opposite to Jayakarta. This outpost was established in 1611, as Dutch power increased, Jayawikarta allowed the British to erect houses on the west bank of the Ciliwung River, as well as a fort close to his customs office post, to keep the forces balanced. In December 1618, the relationship between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch escalated, and Jayawikartas soldiers besieged the Dutch fortress, containing the godowns Nassau. A British fleet of 15 ships arrived under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dale, after a sea battle, the newly appointed Dutch governor, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, escaped to the Moluccas to seek support. Meanwhile, the commander of the Dutch garrison, Pieter van den Broecke, along with five men, was arrested during negotiations. Later, Jayawikarta and the British entered into a friendship agreement, the Dutch army was on the verge of surrendering to the British when, in 1619, Banten sent a group of soldiers to summon Prince Jayawikarta. Jayawikartas friendship agreement with the British was without approval from the Bantenese authorities. The conflict between Banten and Prince Jayawikarta, as well as the relationship between Banten and the British, presented a new opportunity for the Dutch. Coen returned from the Moluccas with reinforcements on 28 May 1619 and razed Jayakarta to the ground on 30 May 1619, only the Padrão of Sunda Kelapa remained
6.
Dutch East Indies
–
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony. It was formed from the colonies of the Dutch East India Company. During the 19th century, Dutch possessions and hegemony were expanded and this colony was one of the most valuable European colonies under the Dutch Empires rule, and contributed to Dutch global prominence in spice and cash crop trade in the 19th to early 20th century. The colonial social order was based on racial and social structures with a Dutch elite living separate from. The term Indonesia came into use for the location after 1880. In the early 20th century, local intellectuals began developing the concept of Indonesia as a nation state, Japans World War II occupation dismantled much of the Dutch colonial state and economy. Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Indonesian nationalists declared independence which they fought to secure during the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution, the word Indies comes from Latin, Indus. The original name Dutch Indies was translated by the English as the Dutch East Indies, the name Dutch Indies is recorded in the Dutch East India Companys documents of the early 1620s. Scholars writing in English use the terms Indië, Indies, the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands Indies, centuries before Europeans arrived, the Indonesian archipelago supported various states, including commercially oriented coastal trading states and inland agrarian states. The first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese in the late 15th century, following disruption of Dutch access to spices in Europe, the first Dutch expedition set sail for the East Indies in 1595 to access spices directly from Asia. When it made a 400% profit on its return, other Dutch expeditions soon followed, recognising the potential of the East Indies trade, the Dutch government amalgamated the competing companies into the United East India Company. The VOC was granted a charter to wage war, build fortresses, a capital was established in Batavia, which became the centre of the VOCs Asian trading network. Smuggling, the expense of war, corruption, and mismanagement led to bankruptcy by the end of the 18th century. The company was dissolved in 1800 and its colonial possessions in the Indonesian archipelago were nationalised under the Dutch Republic as the Dutch East Indies. From the arrival of the first Dutch ships in the late 16th century, to the declaration of independence in 1945, although Java was dominated by the Dutch, many areas remained independent throughout much of this time, including Aceh, Bali, Lombok and Borneo. Piracy remained a problem until the mid-19th century, finally in the early 20th century, imperial dominance was extended across what was to become the territory of modern-day Indonesia. In 1811, British forces occupied several Dutch East Indies ports including Java, Dutch control was restored in 1816. Under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the Dutch secured British settlements such as Bengkulu in Sumatra, in exchange for ceding control of their possessions in the Malay Peninsula, the resulting borders between British and Dutch possessions remain between Malaysia and Indonesia
7.
Jakarta
–
Jakarta /dʒəˈkɑːrtə/, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta, is the capital and most populous city of the Republic of Indonesia. Located on the northwest coast of the worlds most populous island of Java, Jakarta is the economic, cultural and political centre. The official metropolitan area, known as Jabodetabek, is the second largest in the world, established in the fourth century, the city became an important trading port for the Kingdom of Sunda. It was the de facto capital of the Dutch East Indies, today, the city has continued as the capital of Indonesia since the countrys independence was declared in 1945. Jakarta is listed as a city in the 2012 Globalization and World Cities Study Group. Based on the global metro monitor by the Brookings Institution, in 2014, Jakarta has grown more rapidly than Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, and Bangkok. Jakarta has been home to multiple settlements along with their names, Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta, Batavia, Djakarta. Its current name derives from the word Jayakarta, the origins of this word can be traced to the Old Javanese and ultimately to the Sanskrit language. Jayakarta translates as victorious deed, complete act, or complete victory, Jakarta is nicknamed the Big Durian, the thorny strongly-odored fruit native to the region, as the city is seen as the Indonesian equivalent of the US city of New York. In the colonial era, the city was known as Koningin van het Oosten, initially in the 17th century for the urban beauty of downtown Batavias canals, mansions. After expanding to the south in the 19th century, this came to be more associated with the suburbs, with their wide lanes, many green spaces. The area in and around modern Jakarta was part of the fourth century Sundanese kingdom of Tarumanagara, following the decline of Tarumanagara, its territories, including the Jakarta area, became part of the Hindu Kingdom of Sunda. From 7th to early 13th century port of Sunda was within the sphere of influence of the Srivijaya maritime empire. According to the Chinese source, Chu-fan-chi, written circa 1225, Chou Ju-kua reported in the early 13th century Srivijaya still ruled Sumatra, the source reports the port of Sunda as strategic and thriving, pepper from Sunda being among the best in quality. The people worked in agriculture and their houses were built on wooden piles, the harbour area became known as Sunda Kelapa and by the fourteenth century, it was a major trading port for Sunda kingdom. The first European fleet, four Portuguese ships from Malacca, arrived in 1513 when the Portuguese were looking for a route for spices, in 1527, Fatahillah, a Javanese general from Demak attacked and conquered Sunda Kelapa, driving out the Portuguese. Sunda Kelapa was renamed Jayakarta, and became a fiefdom of the Sultanate of Banten which became a major Southeast Asia trading centre, through the relationship with Prince Jayawikarta from the Sultanate of Banten, Dutch ships arrived in Jayakarta in 1596. In 1602, the English East India Companys first voyage, commanded by Sir James Lancaster, arrived in Aceh and this site became the centre of English trade in Indonesia until 1682
8.
Indonesia
–
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
9.
Maria van Riebeeck
–
Maria van Riebeeck was the first wife of Jan van Riebeeck, the Dutch colonial administrator and first commander of the settlement at the Cape. She was the daughter of Abraham de la Queillerie from Tournai, Belgium and she married Van Riebeeck on 28 March 1649 in Schiedam, Netherlands. The couple had eight children, of whom most died young, the couple arrived to the later Cape Town in South Africa in 1652. The first period, they lived in a tent, Maria acted as the hostess to guests, is said to have entertained with a clavicord, and was described as diplomatically gifted in the company of foreigners. She was from 1658 active as a lender to the colonists. She died in Malacca, Malaysia, on 2 November 1664, aged 35 and she has been referred to as the ancestral mother of the white Afrikaners. A statue of her by Dirk Wolbers was erected in Cape Town in 1952 on the three hundredth anniversary of their arrival in the Cape, the South African Navy submarine, the SAS Maria van Riebeeck, was named in her memory
10.
Abraham van Riebeeck
–
Abraham van Riebeeck was a merchant with the Dutch East India Company and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 to 1713. Abraham van Riebeeck was born on 18 October 1653 in the Dutch Cape Colony and his father was Jan van Riebeeck, commander of the Cape, and his mother was Maria van Riebeeck. When his father moved to Batavia in the Dutch East Indies in 1662, he sent Van Riebeeck and he studied law at Leiden University from 1673 to 1676. After his studies, he became a merchant with the Dutch East India Company and travelled on the ship De Vrijheyt to Batavia and he married Elisabeth van Oosten in 1678. They had six children, Johanna Maria, Johannes, Elisabeth and he was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 until his death in 1713. He was an explorer, who undertook several smaller and a few larger voyages in the Indies. After he became the first person to reach the summit of Tangkuban Perahu and he was unable to recover from the disease and died on 17 November 1713 in Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. Media related to Abraham van Riebeeck at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Dutch Empire
–
The Dutch Empire comprised the overseas colonies, enclaves, and outposts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies and subsequently, the Dutch Republic and the modern Netherlands. This was reflective of the fact that the network of the Dutch Empire was commercial exchange as opposed to sovereignty over a homogeneous landmass. The companies brief domination of global commerce contributed greatly to a commercial revolution, in their search for new trade passages between Asia and Europe Dutch navigators explored and charted vast regions such as New Zealand, Tasmania, and parts of the eastern coast of North America. Shortly after reaching its zenith, the Dutch Empire began to decline as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Wars, in which it lost many of its colonial possessions and trade monopolies to the British Empire. Nevertheless, some portions of the empire survived until the advent of global decolonisation following World War II, namely the East Indies, three former colonial territories—Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten—are retained as constituent countries within the Netherlands. In 1566, a Protestant Dutch revolt broke out against rule by Roman Catholic Spain, led by William of Orange, independence was declared in the 1581 Act of Abjuration. The revolt resulted in the establishment of an de facto independent Protestant republic in the north by Treaty of Antwerp, the coastal provinces of Holland and Zeeland had for centuries prior to Spanish rule been important hubs of the European maritime trade network. Their geographical location provided convenient access to the markets of France, Scotland, Germany, England, efficient access to capital enabled the Dutch in the 1580s to extend their trade routes beyond northern Europe to new markets in the Mediterranean and the Levant. In the 1590s, Dutch ships began to trade with Brazil and the Dutch Gold Coast of Africa, and towards the Indian Ocean, by attacking Portuguese overseas possessions, the Dutch forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from its attempt to quell Dutch independence. Thus began the several decade-long Dutch-Portuguese War, in 1594, the Compagnie van Verre was founded in Amsterdam, with the aim of sending two fleets to the spice islands of Maluku. The first fleet sailed in 1596 and returned in 1597 with a cargo of pepper, the second voyage, returned its investors a 400% profit. The success of these led to the founding of a number of companies competing for the trade. The competition was counterproductive to the interests as it threatened to drive up the price of spices at their source in Indonesia whilst driving them down in Europe. As a result of the caused by inter-company rivalry, the Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602. The directors of the company, the Heeren XVII, were given the authority to establish fortresses and strongholds, to sign treaties. The company itself was founded as a joint stock company, similarly to its English rival that had founded two years earlier, the English East India Company. The Spanish-Dutch War was for the Dutch part of their struggle for independence and religious freedom, the Netherlands became part of the domains of the Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty when Emperor Charles V divided the holdings of the Habsburg Empire following his abdication in 1555. From 1517, the port of Lisbon in Portugal was the main European market for products from India that was attended by other nations to purchase their needs
12.
Dutch people
–
The Dutch, occasionally referred to as Netherlanders—a term that is cognate to the Dutch word for Dutch people, Nederlanders—are a Germanic ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a culture and speak the Dutch language. The high degree of urbanization characteristic of Dutch society was attained at an early date. During the Republic the first series of large scale Dutch migrations outside of Europe took place, despite the small size of the Netherlands, the Dutch left behind a legacy in excess of their mere numbers. The traditional art and culture of the Dutch encompasses various forms of music, dances, architectural styles and clothing. Internationally, Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh are held in high regard, the dominant religion of the Dutch is Christianity, although in modern times the majority is no longer religious. Significant percentages of the Dutch are adherents of humanism, agnosticism, atheism or individual spirituality, as with all ethnic groups the ethnogenesis of the Dutch has been a lengthy and complex process. The text below hence focuses on the history of the Dutch ethnic group, for Dutch national history, for Dutch colonial history, see the article on the Dutch Empire. Following the end of the period in the West around 500, with large federations settling the decaying Roman Empire. In the Low Countries, this began when the Franks, themselves a union of multiple smaller tribes. Eventually, in 358, the Salian Franks, one of the three main subdivisions among the Frankish alliance settled the areas Southern lands as foederati, Roman allies in charge of border defense. On a political level, the Frankish warlords abandoned tribalism and founded a number of kingdoms, however, the population make-up of the Frankish Empire, or even early Frankish kingdoms such as Neustria and Austrasia, was not dominated by Franks. Though the Frankish leaders controlled most of Western Europe, the Franks themselves were confined to the Northwestern part of the Empire, the current Dutch-French language border has remained virtually identical ever since, and could be seen as marking the furthest pale of gallicization among the Franks. The medieval cities of the Low Countries, which experienced major growth during the 11th and 12th century, were instrumental in breaking down the already relatively loose local form of feudalism, as they became increasingly powerful, they used their economical strength to influence the politics of their nobility. While the cities were of political importance, they also formed catalysts for medieval Dutch culture. The various city guilds as well as the necessity of water boards in the Dutch delta and it is also around this time, that ethnonyms such as Diets and Nederlands emerge. This process marked a new episode in the development of the Dutch ethnic group, as now political unity started to emerge, consolidating the strengthened cultural, despite their linguistic and cultural unity, and economic similarities, there was still little sense of political unity among the Dutch people. However, the centralist policies of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th centuries, at first violently opposed by the cities of the Low Countries, had a profound impact and changed this
13.
Cape Town
–
Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
14.
Dutch East India Company
–
It is often considered to be the worlds first truly transnational corporation and the first company in history to actually issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was officially the first publicly traded company of the world, the company was also considered by many to be the very first major and the greatest corporation in history. Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in international trade for almost 200 years of existence. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, the VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the city of Jayakarta. Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory and it remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Around the world and especially in English-speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the Dutch East India Company, the name ‘Dutch East India Company’ is used to make a distinction with the East India Company and other East Indian companies. The abbreviation VOC stands for Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Dutch, the VOC monogram was possibly the first globally-recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital V with an O on the left and it appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the conducting the operation was placed on top. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, the flag of the company was orange, white, and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a centre in northern Europe. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to supply to satisfy growing demand. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a rise in pepper prices. These three factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the secret Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. The stage was set for Houtmans 1595 four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java. Houtmans expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu, half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit
15.
Schiedam
–
Schiedam is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is part of the Rotterdam metropolitan area, the city is located west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south it is connected with the village of Pernis by the Beneluxtunnel and this was the towns main industry during the early Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th century, a dark period to which it owed its former nickname Zwart Nazareth or Black Nazareth. Furthermore, the city is known for Saint Lidwina, one of the most famous Dutch saints, in 1247, Lady Adelaide of Holland married John I, Count of Hainaut. As dowry she received him the eastern part of the dam together with the adjacent polder. The dam attracted many trade activities because goods for and from the hinterland had to be transhipped, a small town developed swiftly around the dam and its activities. In the year 1275 Schiedam received city rights from Lady Adelaide, this in her capacity as sister of William II and she ordered the building of a castle near the Schie, which is known till today as the Castle Mathenesse. Remnants of a donjon, which were part of the castle, are still visible today in the centre of Schiedam. As a young settlement Schiedam soon got competition from surrounding towns and cities, in 1340, Rotterdam and Delft also were allowed to establish a connection between the Schie and the Meuse. From the 15th century on the city flourished as a place of pilgrimage on the devotion around Saint Lidwina, the city gained subsequently significance by fishing for herring. In 1428 a great city fire swept through Schiedam, thereby destroying large parts of the wooden city. The 18th century was Schiedams Golden Age, when the gin industry flourished, the standstill drink imports from France made the emergence of the Schiedamse distillery possible. From dozens of distilleries Schiedam jenever was exported throughout the world, the gin industry gave the city its nickname Black Nazareth. This industry is now largely gone, in one of the former factories at the Lange Haven the National Jenever Museum is established. On 10 August 1856 the first major accident in the Netherlands happened near the Schiedam railway station. On 4 May 1976 the Schiedam train disaster took place near the station which caused 24 deaths. At the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century, in 1941, the ancient municipalities Kethel en Spaland were merged with Schiedam which made large expansions of the city possible with residential areas in the north. At the end of the 20th century the shipbuilding industry largely disappeared, the city of Schiedam is located in the Dutch province of South Holland
16.
Malacca
–
Malacca, dubbed The Historic State, is a state in Malaysia and located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. The state is bordered by Negeri Sembilan to the north and west, the exclave of Tanjung Tuan also borders Negeri Sembilan to the north. This historical city centre has listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 7 July 2008. Although it was the location of one of the earliest Malay sultanates, the head of state is the Yang di-Pertua Negeri or Governor, rather than a Sultan. Before the arrival of the first Sultan, Malacca was a village inhabited by local Malays known as Orang Laut. Malacca was founded by Parameswara, also known as Iskandar Shah or Sri Majara and he found his way to Malacca around 1400 where he found a good port—it was accessible in all seasons and on the strategically located narrowest point of the Malacca Straits. According to a legend, Parameswara was resting under a tree near a river during a hunt. In self-defence, the mouse deer pushed the dog into the river, impressed by the courage of the deer, and taking it as a propitious omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided then and there to found an empire on that very spot. He named it Melaka after the tree where he had just taken shelter at, prominent Malaysian artist Syed Thajudeen visually depicted the epic tale of the founding of Malacca on canvas. The Beginning, a 4 panel painting measuring 183 x 512 cm is now a permanent collection at Galeri Petronas, because of its strategic location, Malacca was an important stopping point for Zheng Hes fleet. Her attendants married locals and settled mostly in Bukit Cina, the Chinese Emperor also ordered the Malaccans to raise soldiers and fight back with violent force if the Vietnamese attacked them again. In April 1511, Alfonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships and they conquered the city on 24 August 1511. After seizing the city Afonso de Albuquerque spared the Hindu, Chinese and Burmese inhabitants but had the Muslim inhabitants massacred or sold into slavery and it soon became clear that Portuguese control of Malacca did not also mean they controlled Asian trade centred there. Their Malaccan rule was severely hampered by administrative and economic difficulties, rather than achieving their ambition of dominating Asian trade, the Portuguese had disrupted the organisation of the network. The centralised port of exchange of Asian wealth had now gone, trade was now scattered over a number of ports among bitter warfare in the Straits. The Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier spent several months in Malacca in 1545,1546, the Dutch launched several attacks on the Portuguese colony during the first four decades of the seventeenth century. The first attack took place in 1606 under the command of Dutch Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge who laid siege to the town with the help of his Johor allies and he engaged the Portuguese armada which had been sent from Goa to offer armed relief to the besieged port. In 1641, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in an effort to capture Malacca, the Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798 but they were not interested in developing it as a trading centre, placing greater importance to Batavia on Java as their administrative centre
17.
East Indies
–
The East Indies or Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, the name Indies is derived from the river Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence. The East Indies may also include the former French-held Indochina, former British territories Brunei and Singapore and it does not, however, include the former Dutch New Guinea western New Guinea, which is geographically considered to be part of Melanesia. In colonial times they were just natives, however, the peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single ethnic group. The major languages in this area draw from a variety of language families, and should not be confused with the term Indic. The extensive East Indies are subdivided into two sections, archaically called Hither India and Further India, the first is the former British India, the second is Southeast Asia. Historically, the king of Abyssinia was identified with Prester John of the Indies, exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century and early 16th century led by the Portuguese explorers. The Portuguese described the region they discovered as the Indies. Eventually, the region would be broken up into a series of Indies, the East Indies, which was also called Old Indies or Great Indies, consisting of India, and the West Indies, also called New Indies or Little Indies, consisting of the Americas. The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the Indies by explorer Christopher Columbus, later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the West Indies, while the original Indies came to be called the East Indies. Greater India History of the Americas Indian Spanish West Indies
18.
Tonkin
–
Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is in the Red River Delta Region of northern Vietnam. Tonkin is a corruption of Đông Kinh, the name of Hanoi during the Lê Dynasty, locally, Tonkin is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning Northern Region. The name was used in 1883 for the French colonial Tonkin protectorate and it is south of the Northeast Region of Vietnam, and of Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces of China, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Located in the delta area of the Red River, Tonkin is rich in rice production. The area was called Văn Lang by Vietnamese ancestors from around 2000−100 BCE, evidence of the earliest established society in northern Vietnam, along with the Đông Sơn culture, was discovered in the Cổ Loa Citadel area, the core of the ancient city of Cổ Loa. Its site is located near the city of Hà Nội and present-day Hanoi. According to Vietnamese myths the first Vietnamese peoples descended from the Dragon Lord Lạc Long Quân, Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ had 100 sons before they decided to part ways. 50 of the children went with their mother to the mountains, the eldest son became the first in a line of earliest Vietnamese kings, collectively known as the Hùng kings. The Hùng kings called the country, which was located on the Red River delta in present-day northern Vietnam. The people of Văn Lang were referred to as the Lạc Việt, Lê Lợi, a notable land owner in the Lam Kinh region, had a following of more than 1,000 people before rising up against the Chinese Ming dynasty. Following his victory he mounted the throne and established himself in the city of Thang Long, Thang Long was also called Đông Kinh, meaning Eastern Capital. During the 18th and 19th century, Westerners commonly used the name Tonkin to refer to northern Vietnam, then ruled by the Trịnh lords was used to refer to Vietnam as a whole). During in the Sino-French War, Tonkin, then considered a crucial foothold in Southeast Asia and it was colonized as the French protectorate of Tonkin, and was gradually separated from the French protectorate of Annam, with Vietnam being effectively separated into three parts. During French colonial rule within French Indochina, Hanoi was the capital of Tonkin protectorate, French colonial administration ruled until 9 March 1945, with 1941-1945 during the World War II Japanese occupation of Vietnam. French administration was allowed by the Japanese as a puppet government, japan briefly took full control of Vietnam in March 1945, as the Empire of Vietnam. Tonkin became a site of the Vietnamese Famine of 1945 during this period, after the end of World War II, French rule returned over French Indochina. Northern Vietnam became a stronghold for the communist Viet Minh, Hanoi was later reoccupied by the French and conflict between the Viet Minh and France broke out into the First Indochina War. In 1949 it came under the authority of the State of Vietnam, after the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in western Tonkin in 1954, the communist nation of North Vietnam was formed, consisting of Tonkin and northern Annam
19.
Jan van Elseracq
–
Jan van Elseracq, also known as Jan van Eserack, was a merchant/trader and official of the Dutch East India Company. Van Elseracq was the VOC opperhoofd starting 1 November 1641 and ending 29 October 1642, during this period, there were about 20 men at the VOC factory. He was in Edo from December 4,1641 to March 12,1642 and he was also head of the VOC trading post from 8 November 1643 to 24 November 1644. He was in Edo for a time in December 1643. Van Elseracq was in Japan when sailors from the Dutch ship Breskens were imprisoned by the Tokugawa shogunate and he played an important role in negotiating their release
20.
Dejima
–
Dejima, in old Western documents latinized as Decima, Desjima, Dezima, Disma, or Disima, was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634 by local merchants. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade. Dejima was built to constrain foreign traders as part of sakoku, originally built to house Portuguese traders, it was used by the Dutch as a trading post from 1641 until 1853. Covering an area of 120 m ×75 m or 9,000 m2, in 1922, Dejima Dutch Trading Post was designated a Japanese national historic site. In 1543, the history of contacts between Japan and Europe began with the arrival of storm-blown Portuguese merchants on Tanegashima. Six years later the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima, at first Portuguese traders were based in Hirado, but they moved in search of a better port. In 1570 daimyō Ōmura Sumitada converted to Catholicism and made a deal with the Portuguese to develop Nagasaki, in 1580 Sumitada gave the jurisdiction of Nagasaki to the Jesuits, and the Portuguese obtained the de facto monopoly on the silk trade with China through Macau. The shogun Iemitsu ordered the construction of the island in 1634, to accommodate the Portuguese traders living in Nagasaki. This was one of the many edicts put forth by Iemitsu between 1633 and 1639 moderating contact between Japan and other countries, however, in response to the uprising of the predominantly Christian population in the Shimabara-Amakusa region, the Tokugawa government decided to expel the Portuguese. This left the Dutch employees of the Dutch East India Company as the sole Western nation with access to Japanese trade, since 1609, the Dutch had run a trading post on the island of Hirado. For 33 years they were allowed to relatively freely. At its maximum the Hirado trading post covered a large area, in 1637 and 1639 stone warehouses were constructed within the ambit of this Hirado trading post. Christian-era year dates were used on the stonework of the new warehouses, in 1639, the last Portuguese were expelled from Japan. Dejima had become an investment and without the annual trading with Portuguese ships from Macau. From 1641 on, only Chinese and Dutch ships were allowed to come to Japan, on the administrative level, the island of Dejima was part of the city of Nagasaki. The 25 local Japanese families who owned the land received a rent from the Dutch. Dejima was an island,120 by 75 metres, linked to the mainland by a small bridge. It contained houses for about twenty Dutchmen, warehouses, and accommodation for Japanese officials, the Dutch were watched by a number of Japanese officials, gatekeepers, night watchmen, and a supervisor with about fifty subordinates
21.
Charles Davidson Bell
–
Charles Davidson Bell FRSE was the Surveyor-General in the Cape Colony, an artist, heraldist, and designer of Cape medals and stamps. Born on 22 October 1813 at Newhall, Crail, Fife, Scotland, he was educated locally at St Andrews University. Bell left Scotland and sailed to South Africa, landing at the Cape of Good Hope in 1830 and through his uncle Sir John Bell and he was appointed as expedition artist on Dr. Andrew Smiths two-year journey north as far as the Limpopo in 1834. He went from Acting Clerk of the Legislative Council in 1838, to Assistant Surveyor-General in 1843, in 1851, he designed a silver gallantry medal for Cape governor Sir Harry Smith to present to troops during the 8th Frontier War. This is often referred to as the first South African medal and his design of rectangular stamps remained in use until 1902. The return of many of his paintings from England to South Africa in 1978, gave art historians a fresh appreciation of his work, recurrent colonial encounters influenced the way in which artists, engravers, travel writers and colonial observers represented the Khoikhoi people. Against this backdrop, the colonial artist Charles Davidson Bell had produced a few sketches of Khoikhoi men and women, Bell also made an important contribution to heraldry in South Africa. The book did not see the light of day, but he gave the manuscript, the drawings. Krynauw built up his own collection, and after his death. The material in the Bell-Krynauw Collection was eventually published in Cornelis Pamas Die Wapens van die Ou Afrikaanse Families, and his later heraldry books. Bell designed the arms of the South African College, and the three anchors badge of the South African Mutual Life Assurance Society, of which he was chairman at one time. Both emblems are still in use, and may well be the oldest academic arms, Bell was a founder member and chairman of the South African Mutual Life Assurance Society. He was awarded a medal in 1851 for his oil painting depicting the Landing of van Riebeeck at the Cape of Good Hope. A large number of his originals hang in the Library of Parliament in Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersrand, the book Travels in the Interior of South Africa by James Chapman, was illustrated by Bell. His Reports of the Surveyor-General, Charles D, Bell Esq. on the copper fields of Little Namaqualand was written after a three-month visit to the area. He gave his name to the town of Bellville in the Cape, and Bell, John Bell was a traveller and the eldest son of Charles Davidson Bell. Between 1861 and 1862 he accompanied Henry Samuel Chapman from Cape Town to Walvis Bay, through Hereroland to Lake Ngami and back to the Cape Colony via Shoshong, Kuruman and he was married to Margaret Roome in 1865 and died in 1878 in England. Charles Bell was a friend of Andrew Geddes Bain and was a pall-bearer at his funeral in 1864
22.
Khoikhoi
–
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, spelled Khoekhoe in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography, are a group of Khoisan people native to southwestern Africa. Unlike the neighbouring hunter-gatherer San people, the Khoikhoi traditionally practised nomadic pastoral agriculture, when European immigrants colonised the area after 1652, the Khoikhoi maintained large herds of Nguni cattle in the Cape region. The Dutch settlers labelled them Hottentots, in imitation of the sound of the sounds that are characteristic of the Khoekhoe language. The Khoikhoi, originally part of a culture and language group to be found across Southern Africa. Southward migration of the group was steady, eventually reaching the Cape approximately 2,000 years ago. Khoikhoi subgroups include the Namaqua to the west, the Korana of mid-South Africa, advancing Bantu in the 3rd century AD encroached on the Khoikhoi territory, forcing movement into more arid areas. There was some intermarriage between migratory Khoi bands living around what is today Cape Town and the San, however the two groups remained culturally distinct as the Khoikhoi continued to graze livestock and the San to subsist on hunting-gathering. The Khoi first encountered Portuguese explorers and merchants around AD1500, the ongoing encounters were often violent. Local population dropped when the Khoi were exposed to smallpox by Europeans, warfare against Europeans flared when the Dutch East India Company enclosed traditional grazing land for farms. Over the following century, the Khoi were steadily driven off their land, Khoikhoi social organisation was profoundly damaged and, in the end, destroyed by colonial expansion and land seizure from the late 17th century onwards. As social structures broke down, some Khoikhoi people settled on farms and became bondsmen or farm workers, others were incorporated into existing clan, like many Khoikhoi and mixed-race people, the Griqua left the Cape Colony and migrated into the interior. Responding to the influence of missionaries, they formed the states of Griqualand West, by the early 1800s, the remaining Khoi of the Cape Colony suffered from restricted civil rights and discriminatory laws on land ownership. The more cynical motive was probably to create a buffer-zone on the Capes frontier, the settlements thrived and expanded, and Kat River quickly became a large and successful region of the Cape that subsisted more or less autonomously. The people were predominantly Afrikaans-speaking Gonaqua Khoi, but the settlement also began to attract other Khoi, Xhosa, the Khoi were known at the time for being very good marksmen, and were often invaluable allies of the Cape Colony in its frontier wars with the neighbouring Xhosa. In the Seventh Frontier War against the Gcaleka Xhosa, the Khoi gunmen from Kat River distinguished themselves under their leader Andries Botha in the assault on the Amatola fastnesses. However harsh laws were implemented in the Eastern Cape, to encourage the Khoi to leave their lands in the Kat River region. The growing resentment exploded in 1850, when the Xhosa rose against the Cape Government, large numbers of Khoi for the first time joined the Xhosa rebels. However, this principle was eroded in the late 1880s by a literacy test
23.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
–
Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of nine National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africas six different biomes, prior to 1 September 2004, the institute was known as the National Botanical Institute. When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the unique flora. Kirstenbosch places an emphasis on the cultivation of indigenous plants. The garden includes a large conservatory exhibiting plants from a number of different regions, including savanna, fynbos, karoo, outdoors, the focus is on plants native to the Cape region, highlighted by the spectacular collections of proteas. Kirstenbosch enjoys great popularity with residents and visitors, from the gardens several trails lead off along and up the mountain slopes and these are much used by walkers and mountaineers. One of the trails, up a ravine called Skeleton Gorge, is an easy and this route is also known as Smuts Track after Prime Minister Jan Smuts who used this route regularly. On the slopes above the cultivated parts of the garden a contour path leads through forests to Constantia Nek to the south. The same contour path can be followed to the north for many kilometres and it will take the hiker past the Rhodes Memorial to the slopes of Devils Peak, Kirstenbosch regularly exhibits Zimbabwean stone sculptures in the gardens. Many of the artists are associated with Chapungu Sculpture Park in Zimbabwe, in summer, a popular series of outdoor concerts are held in the gardens on Sunday evenings. In 1660, by order of Jan van Riebeek, a hedge of Wild Almond, sections of this hedge, named Van Riebeeks Hedge, still exist in Kirstenbosch. The hedge is a Provincial Heritage Site, the area of the botanical garden was used for the harvesting of timber during this period. The Kirsten part of the name is believed to be the surname of the manager of the land, J. F. Kirsten, the bosch part of the name is a Dutch word for forest or bush. The handover of ownership of the colony to Britain in 1811 wrought changes in the use of the Kirstenbosch area, two large land grants were made, with a Colonel Bird building a house, planting chestnut trees, and probably establishing a bath fed by a natural spring. The Ecksteen family acquired the land in 1823, and it came into the possession of the Cloete family. It was under their stewardship that the area was farmed more formally, being planted with oaks, fruit trees, the land was thereafter purchased by Cecil John Rhodes in 1895. After this point, the area became run-down, with groups of pigs feeding on the acorns. The famous Camphor Avenue was planted in 1898, the land now occupied by the Kirstenbosch Gardens was bequeathed to the Nation by Cecil Rhodes, who died in 1902
24.
Brabejum
–
Brabejum is a genus of a single species of large evergreen tree, Brabejum stellatifolium in the ], commonly called wild almond, bitter almond or ghoeboontjie. It is restricted in the wild to South Africas Western Cape Province, the plant is of botanical interest as being Africas only member of the large grevilleoid subfamily. It is a small tree with branches widely at ground level. Leaves to 6 in long, narrow and bluntly toothed, appear at intervals along the branches, in summer, the plant bears white flowers densely crowded on spikes arising from rusty buds at the leaf axils. The fruits to 2 in long, magenta to reddish brown, similar to an almond, the nut is too bitter to eat, however, in earlier times it was boiled, roasted, and ground to make a coffee drink. This tree has special significance in Cape Towns heritage, as it was used to make Van Riebeecks Hedge - the Capes first formal boundary, parts of this original hedge can still be seen growing today at Kirstenbosch. Despite its common name, this tree is not a member of the almond family and it acquired the name wild almond simply because its fruits vaguely resemble almonds. The part-Khoi local name ghoeboontjie also refers to the fruit kernels, the origin of the trees genus name is uncertain, but its species name stellatifolium is a reference to the star-shaped whorls in which its leaves grow. This is sufficiently unusual among tree species, that its whorled phyllotaxis is the most conveniently diagnostic characteristic of Brabejum stellatifolium in regions where the tree is common, the Brabejum is a spreading, multi-stemmed, well-shaped evergreen tree. It may grow as tall as 15 meters, but has wide spreading branches, the smooth bark is pale greyish-brown and attractively mottled. The green, leathery leaves are toothed and lance-shaped and they appear in whorls of about six, at intervals along the stems, radiating out from the branch like a star. Young leaves are soft, velvety and golden, the tiny, white, sweetly scented, bisexual flowers appear in summer, in dense racemes. The nut-like fruits look similar to almonds and grow in clusters at the tips of branches and they are densely covered with chocolate-brown velvety hairs. The young fruits are an attractive magenta or lilac-purple colour and mature to the typical brown later in the summer, the fruits are short-lived, germinate quickly and are often dispersed by rivers. The leaves of Brabejum are frequently disfigured by small knobs and these bubbles are the residences of tiny symbiotic mites. They do not harm the tree, but affected branches can be removed if they are found to be unsightly, the natural range of these trees is confined to the fynbos biome of the Cape, South Africa. Here they are often a component of the local Afro-montane forests and they prefer moist areas, and commonly occur near streams in sheltered gorges and on lower mountain slopes. In Cape Town they are abundant on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain
25.
Fort de Goede Hoop
–
The Fort de Goede Hoop was the first military building to be erected in what is now Cape Town. It was built in 1652, and was in use until 1674 when it was superseded by the Castle of Good Hope. The Fort was built by the Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie, when it established a replenishment station under Jan van Riebeeck on the shore of Table Bay in 1652, constructed of earth and timber, it was square, with a pointed bastion at each corner. The bastions were named Drommedaris, Walvisch, Oliphant, and Reijger, the bastions were named after the ships in Van Riebeecks fleet. Within the Fort were living quarters, kitchens, a chamber, a sick bay, workshops. Cannons were placed on the ramparts, a nearby stream was diverted and channeled to form a moat around the fort. Being built of earth, the Fort needed frequent maintenance and repairs, in January 1666, work began on a stone fortress to replace the Fort. It took eight years to build, and it was not until 1674 that it was ready for occupation. On 2 May 1674, the council resolved to demolish the Fort, except for some stores which were retained for a while longer, until their contents had been moved into the Castle. Nowadays, for reason, the Fort is sometimes confused with the Redoubt Duijnhoop. Castle of Good Hope Fortifications of the Cape Peninsula Redout Duijnhoop List of Castles and Fortifications in South Africa Emms, ras, A. C. Die Kasteel en Ander Vroëe Kaapse Vestingwerke. Fortifications of the Cape Peninsula 1647-1829
26.
Castle of Good Hope
–
The Castle of Good Hope is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland, in 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest existing building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed from clay and timber, two redoubts, Redoubt Kyckuit and Redoubt Duijnhoop were built at the mouth of the Salt River in 1654. During 1664, tensions between Britain and the Netherlands rose amid rumours of war and that same year, Commander Zacharias Wagenaer, successor to Jan van Riebeeck, was instructed by Commissioner Isbrand Goske to build a pentagonal fortress out of stone. The first stone was laid on 2 January 1666, work was interrupted frequently because the Dutch East India Company was reluctant to spend money on the project. On 26 April 1679, the five bastions were named after the titles of William III of Orange-Nassau, Leerdam to the west, with Buuren, Katzenellenbogen, Nassau. In 1682 the gated entry replaced the old entrance, which had faced the sea and it was used to announce the time, as well as warning citizens in case of danger, since it could be heard 10 kilometres away. It was also rung to summon residents and soldiers when important announcements needed to be made, the fortress housed a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops, and cells, among other facilities. The yellow paint on the walls was chosen because it lessened the effect of heat. The original was built in 1695, but rebuilt in its current form between 1786 and 1790, from the balcony, announcements were made to soldiers, slaves and burghers of the Cape. The balcony leads to the William Fehr collection of paintings and antique furniture, during the Second Boer War, part of the castle was used as a prison, and the former cells remain to this day. Fritz Joubert Duquesne, later known as the man who killed Kitchener, the walls of the castle were extremely thick, but night after night, Duquesne dug away the cement around the stones with an iron spoon. He nearly escaped one night, but a large stone slipped and pinned him in his tunnel, the next morning, a guard found him unconscious but alive. In 1936, the Castle was declared a monument, the first site in South Africa to be so protected. Extensive restorations were completed during the 1980s making the Castle the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. The Castle acted as headquarters for the South African Army in the Western Cape. The Castle is also the home of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, fortifications of the Cape Peninsula History of Cape Colony Pre-1806 Noon Gun List of castles and fortifications in South Africa Lalou Meltzer
27.
Roelof de Man
–
Roelof de Man was a Dutch colonial administrator in South Africa. He was born in Culemborg, Netherlands in 1634 and grew up in the walled village and era as Dutch Explorers/Founders Jan van Riebeek. Roelofs ancestors and family held prominent positions in the Culemborg community such as Alderman, Mayor, Roelof went on to become Second-In-Charge of the new colony. He was one of the witnesses at the baptism of Krotoa on 3 May 1662, former 20th Century South African President F. W. de Klerk is a claimed descendant of Krotoa. Between 1893 and 1898 one hundred and seventy-five 46 Tonner 0-6-4T tank steam locomotives were placed in service by the Netherlands-South African Railway Company in the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, the Roelof de Man was built in 1898 and carried Works Number 2950 with NZASM number 235. Picture shows Works Number 2945 NZASM number 230 Jan Wintervogel that was part of the build order
28.
Comet
–
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to evolve gasses, a process called outgassing. This produces an atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of radiation and the solar wind acting upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred metres to tens of kilometres across and are composed of collections of ice, dust. The coma may be up to 15 times the Earths diameter, if sufficiently bright, a comet may be seen from the Earth without the aid of a telescope and may subtend an arc of 30° across the sky. Comets have been observed and recorded since ancient times by many cultures, Comets usually have highly eccentric elliptical orbits, and they have a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from several years to potentially several millions of years. Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, long-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort cloud, a spherical cloud of icy bodies extending from outside the Kuiper belt to halfway to the nearest star. Long-period comets are set in motion towards the Sun from the Oort cloud by gravitational perturbations caused by passing stars, hyperbolic comets may pass once through the inner Solar System before being flung to interstellar space. The appearance of a comet is called an apparition, Comets are distinguished from asteroids by the presence of an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere surrounding their central nucleus. This atmosphere has parts termed the coma and the tail, however, extinct comets that have passed close to the Sun many times have lost nearly all of their volatile ices and dust and may come to resemble small asteroids. Asteroids are thought to have a different origin from comets, having formed inside the orbit of Jupiter rather than in the outer Solar System, the discovery of main-belt comets and active centaur minor planets has blurred the distinction between asteroids and comets. As of November 2014 there are 5,253 known comets, however, this represents only a tiny fraction of the total potential comet population, as the reservoir of comet-like bodies in the outer Solar System is estimated to be one trillion. Roughly one comet per year is visible to the eye, though many of those are faint. Particularly bright examples are called Great Comets, the word comet derives from the Old English cometa from the Latin comēta or comētēs. That, in turn, is a latinisation of the Greek κομήτης, Κομήτης was derived from κομᾶν, which was itself derived from κόμη and was used to mean the tail of a comet. The astronomical symbol for comets is ☄, consisting of a disc with three hairlike extensions. The solid, core structure of a comet is known as the nucleus, cometary nuclei are composed of an amalgamation of rock, dust, water ice, and frozen gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia. As such, they are described as dirty snowballs after Fred Whipples model
29.
Java
–
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of over 141 million or 145 million as of 2015 Census released in December 2015, the Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is located on western Java. Much of Indonesian history took place on Java and it was the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies. Java was also the center of the Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 1940s, Java dominates Indonesia politically, economically and culturally. Formed mostly as the result of eruptions, Java is the 13th largest island in the world. A chain of mountains forms an east–west spine along the island. Three main languages are spoken on the island, Javanese, Sundanese, of these, Javanese is the dominant, it is the native language of about 60 million people in Indonesia, most of whom live on Java. Furthermore, most residents are bilingual, speaking Indonesian as their first or second language, while the majority of the people of Java are Muslim, Java has a diverse mixture of religious beliefs, ethnicities, and cultures. Java is divided into four provinces, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Banten, the origins of the name Java are not clear. One possibility is that the island was named after the plant, which was said to be common in the island during the time. There are other sources, the word jaú and its variations mean beyond or distant. And, in Sanskrit yava means barley, a plant for which the island was famous, Yawadvipa is mentioned in Indias earliest epic, the Ramayana. Sugriva, the chief of Ramas army dispatched his men to Yawadvipa and it was hence referred to in India by the Sanskrit name yāvaka dvīpa. Java is mentioned in the ancient Tamil text Manimekalai by Chithalai Chathanar that states that Java had a kingdom with a capital called Nagapuram, another source states that the Java word is derived from a Proto-Austronesian root word, Iawa that meaning home. The great island of Iabadiu or Jabadiu was mentioned in Ptolemys Geographia composed around 150 CE Roman Empire, Iabadiu is said to mean barley island, to be rich in gold, and have a silver town called Argyra at the west end. The name indicate Java, and seems to be derived from Hindu name Java-dvipa, Java lies between Sumatra to the west and Bali to the east. Borneo lies to the north and Christmas Island is to the south and it is the worlds 13th largest island. Java is surrounded by the Java Sea to the north, Sunda Strait to the west, Java is almost entirely of volcanic origin, it contains thirty-eight mountains forming an east–west spine that have at one time or another been active volcanoes
30.
South Africa
–
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
31.
Afrikaners
–
Afrikaners are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They traditionally dominated South Africas agriculture and politics prior to 1994, Afrikaans, South Africas third most widely spoken home language, is the mother tongue of Afrikaners and most Cape Coloureds. It evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland, incorporating words brought from the Dutch East Indies, very rapidly one European power followed another, all eager to trade along this route. The Portuguese landed in Mossel Bay in 1500, explored Table Bay two years later, and by 1510 had started raiding inland, shortly afterwards the Dutch Republic sent merchant vessels to India, and in 1602 founded the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie. Furthermore, the exigencies of supplying local garrisons and passing fleets compelled the administration to confer free status upon employees, encouraged by the success of this experiment, the Company extended free passage from 1685 to 1707 for Hollanders wishing to settle at the Cape. In 1688 it sponsored the immigration of 200 French Huguenot refugees forced into exile by the Edict of Fontainebleau, the terms under which the Huguenots agreed to immigrate were the same offered to other VOC subjects, including free passage and requisite farm equipment on credit. They were augmented by VOC soldiers returning from Asia, predominantly Germans channeled into Amsterdam by the Companys extensive recruitment network, despite their diverse nationalities, the colonists used a common language and adopted similar attitudes towards politics. The attributes they shared came to serve as a basis for the evolution of Afrikaner identity, Afrikaner nationalism has taken the form of political parties and secret societies such as the Broederbond in the twentieth century. In 1914 the National Party was formed to promote Afrikaner economic interests, the term was in common usage in both the Boer republics and the Cape Colony by the late nineteenth century. At one time, burghers merely denoted Cape Dutch, settlers who were influential in the administration, able to participate in urban affairs, Boers often referred to the settled European farmers or nomadic cattle herders. During the Batavian Republic, burgher was popularised among Dutch communities both at home and abroad as a revolutionary form of address, or citizen. In South Africa, it remained in use as late as the Second Boer War, the first recorded instance of a colonist identifying as an Afrikaner occurred in March 1707, during a disturbance in Stellenbosch. Biebouw was flogged for his insolence and later banished to Jakarta and it is believed that Afrikaner in question initially indicated Cape Coloureds or other groups claiming mixed ancestry. Biebouw himself had numerous half-caste siblings and may have identified with Coloureds socially, in 1902, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became the earliest English author to use Africander in reference to the Boers eastward expansion from the Cape. From the VOCs perspective, there was little incentive to regard the region as anything more than the site of a strategic victualing centre. Furthermore, the Cape was unpopular among VOC employees, who regarded it as a barren, in time they came to form a class of vrijlieden, also known as vrijburgers, former VOC employees who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts. The vrijburgers were to be of Dutch birth, married, of good character, in March 1657, when the first vrijburgers started receiving their farms, the white population of the Cape was only about 134. Although the soil and climate in Cape Town were suitable for farming, willing immigrants remained in short supply and included a number of orphans, refugees, and foreigners accordingly
32.
South African rand
–
The South African rand is the currency of South Africa. The rand is subdivided into 100 cents, unlike the US dollar, the decimal separator between a rand and cent is expressed by a comma. The ISO4217 code is ZAR, from Dutch Zuid-Afrikaanse Rand, the rand is the currency of the Common Monetary Area between South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Namibia. Historical users of the South African rand included South West Africa, the rand takes its name from the Witwatersrand, the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africas gold deposits were found. The cent and rand was introduced in the then Union of South Africa on 14 February 1961, a Decimal Coinage Commission had been set up in 1956 to consider a move away from the denominations of pounds, shillings, and pence, submitting its recommendation on 8 August 1958. It replaced the South African pound as legal tender, at the rate of 2 rand to 1 pound, the government introduced a mascot, Decimal Dan, the rand-cent man. This was accompanied by a jingle, to inform the public about the new currency. By February 1985, it was trading over R2 per dollar, by the time that State President PW Botha made his Rubicon speech on 15 August 1985, it had weakened to R2.40 per dollar. The currency recovered somewhat between 1986–88, trading near the R2 level most of the time and even breaking beneath it sporadically. The recovery was short-lived, however, and by the end of 1989, a host of local and international events influenced the currency after that, most notably the 1994 democratic election which had it weaken to over R3. This sudden depreciation in 2001 led to an investigation, which in turn led to a dramatic recovery. By the end of 2002, the currency was trading under R9 to the dollar again, the currency softened somewhat in 2005, and was trading around R6.35 to the dollar at the end of the year. At the start of 2006, however, the currency resumed its rally, however, during the second and third quarters of 2006, the rand weakened significantly. In sterling terms, it fell from around 9. 5p to just over 7p, late in 2007, the rand rallied modestly to just over 8p, only to experience a precipitous slide during the first quarter of 2008. This downward slide could be attributed to a range of factors, South Africas worsening current account deficit, the rand depreciation was exacerbated by the Eskom electricity crisis, which arose from the utility being unable to meet the countrys rapidly growing energy demands. By the end of 2014, the rand had weakened to R15.05 per dollar, the rapid drop in value was stemmed when the President back-tracked and announced that the better-known previous Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, would instead be appointed to the post. By mid-January, economists were speculating that the rand could expect to see further volatility for the rest of 2016, by 29 April, it reached its highest performance over the previous 5 months, exchanging at a rate of 14. Coins were introduced in 1961 in denominations of 1⁄2,1, 2 1⁄2,5,10,20, in 1965, 2-cent coins replaced the 2 1⁄2-cent coins
33.
South African Reserve Bank
–
The South African Reserve Bank is the central bank of South Africa. The SARB was only the central bank established outside the United Kingdom and Europe. The earliest suggestions for the establishment of the Central Bank in South Africa date back to 1879, the select committee, consisting of the ten members of Parliament was established on 31 March 1920 to examine the benefits to the national interest of the establishing of the central bank. Following on the recommendations of the committee, the South African Reserve Bank opened for business on 30 June 1921, the first banknotes were issued to the public by the Bank on 19 April 1922. Unlike the Bank of England, which provided the model for establishing the SARB, SARB has a board of directors consisting of a Governor, three Deputy Governors, and eleven Directors. The Governor, and Deputy governors are appointed for five-year terms by the President of the Republic of South Africa in consultation with the Minister of Finance, four of the directors are also appointed by the President for terms of three years. The remaining seven directors are appointed by the Shareholders of the Bank, the Reserve Bank is privately owned, with 2 million issued shares. The only limitation on shareholding is that no single shareholder may own more than 10,000 shares individually, currently there are more than 660 shareholders owning shares in the South African Reserve Bank. Shareholders are entitled a dividend of not more than 10 South African cents per share per annum, with the remaining profits being paid to the South African government
34.
Fauna
–
Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora, flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a collection of animals found in a specific time or place. Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. Fauna comes from the Greek names Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, all three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and panis is the Greek equivalent of fauna. Fauna is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner, the term was first used by Carl Linnaeus from Sweden in the title of his 1745 work Fauna Suecica. Cryofauna are animals that live in, or very close to, cryptofauna are the fauna that exist in protected or concealed microhabitats. Infauna are benthic organisms that live within the substratum of a body of water, especially within the bottom-most oceanic sediments. Bacteria and microalgae may also live in the interstices of bottom sediments, epifauna, also called epibenthos, are aquatic animals that live on the bottom substratum as opposed to within it, that is, the benthic fauna that live on top of the sediment surface at the seafloor. Macrofauna are benthic or soil organisms which are retained on a 0.5 mm sieve, studies in the deep sea define macrofauna as animals retained on a 0.3 mm sieve to account for the small size of many of the taxa. Megafauna are large animals of any region or time. Meiofauna are small invertebrates that live in both marine and fresh water environments. The term Meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size, larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna, one environment for meiofauna is between grains of damp sand. In practice these are metazoan animals that can pass unharmed through a 0.5 –1 mm mesh but will be retained by a 30–45 μm mesh, but the exact dimensions will vary from researcher to researcher. Whether an organism passes through a 1 mm mesh also depends upon whether it is alive or dead at the time of sorting, mesofauna are macroscopic soil invertebrates such as arthropods or nematodes. Mesofauna are extremely diverse, considering just the springtails, as of 1998, microfauna are microscopic or very small animals. Other terms include avifauna, which means bird fauna and piscifauna, which means fish fauna
35.
Flora
–
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animal life is fauna, Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the gut flora or skin flora. The word flora comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, the distinction between vegetation and flora was first made by Jules Thurmann. Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately, plants are grouped into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be geographically distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland, floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments, Native flora, the native and indigenous flora of an area. The plants that are grown by humans. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants regarded as undesirable, many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various ecosystems. The flora of an area or time period can be documented in a publication also known as a flora. Floras may require specialist botanical knowledge to use with any effectiveness, traditionally they are books, but some are now published on CD-ROM or websites. It is said that the Flora Sinensis by the Polish Jesuit Michał Boym was the first book that used the name Flora in this meaning, however, despite its title it covered not only plants, but also some animals of the region. A published flora often contains diagnostic keys, often these are dichotomous keys, which require the user to repeatedly examine a plant, and decide which one of two alternatives given best applies to the plant
36.
Riebeek-Kasteel
–
Riebeek-Kasteel is one of the oldest towns in South Africa, situated at 80 km north-east of Cape Town in The Riebeek Valley together with its sister town Riebeek West. During 1661 Commander Jan van Riebeeck initiated an inland discovery expedition under the leadership of Pieter Cruythoff and they set off in the direction of Paardeberg and on 3 February 1661 they ascended a lonely mountain and came upon the fertile vista of the Riebeek Valley. They named it Riebeek Kasteel, in honor of the Commander, in the 19th century both Jan Smuts and Daniel Malan were born on the outskirts of neighbouring Riebeek West, both later becoming prime ministers of the country. Subsequently farmers established themselves in the valley and during 1900 the town was out in and around its existing church and its neighbor The Royal Hotel. The town also serves as a satellite, a settlement for Paarl, Malmesbury. The other two finalists were Stellenbosch and Clanwilliam
37.
Riebeek West
–
Riebeek West is a small town situated about 75 km north-east of Cape Town and 5 km north of its twin town Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland area of the Western Cape, South Africa. The Riebeek Valley would have known to indigenous Khoi people. In translation from Dutch to Afrikaans the letter c in Riebeeck was dropped, the first settlers arrived in the area in the early 18th century. Riebeek West was established as a parish of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1858, small as it was, Riebeek West became the birthplace and cradle of two successive South African Prime Ministers. General Jan Christiaan Smuts was born on the farm Bovenplaats, two km north of Riebeek West on 24 May 1870. He served two stints as Prime Minister, from 1920 to 1924 as head of the South African Party, with the general election of 1948, Riebeek West became a political hotbed with the leaders of the two main contesting parties both being from the village. Daniel François Malan had been born on the farm Allesverloren, which abuts the town on the southern side, in 1948 his National Party defeated the incumbent United Party under Smuts and Malan became Prime Minister until 1954. Today there is a cement factory on Bovenplaats, but the house in which Smuts grew up is preserved as a national monument, Allesverloren has become a renowned wine estate with a restaurant. The Riebeek Valley is known for its wheat, wines and more recently olives and it is popular for rural tourism, arts and crafts, and retirement. The Olive Festival is held early in May and the Berg River Canoe Marathon passes there in July. The form Riebeek-Wes is preferred for official purposes, experience the magic of the Riebeek Valley A tourism guide to Riebeek West
38.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
39.
Cornelis van Quaelberg
–
Cornelis van Quaelberg, also written as van Quaelbergen or van Quaalberg was the third commander of the Dutch Cape Colony from 1666 to 1668. Van Quaelberg began his career in the service of the Dutch East India Company in Masulipatam, India and he was transferred to the Cape in 1666. Two years later he fell out of favour and was fired in 1668 after lending help to a French fleet which he did not know was an enemy because news of the outbreak of war spread slowly. His good name was restored and he was promoted to Governor of Banda in East India. Van Quaelberg died on 3 February 1687 in Batavia
40.
Johan Bax van Herenthals
–
Agriculture developed during his term and he is recognized as contributing to the development of Botany and Ethnobiology. He declared two wars with the Khoikhoi, Johan Bax was probably the grandson of Joan Bax, governor of Heusden and Muiden. His father Willem Maurits, a captain in the Dutch States Army under Willem Ripperda, in 1631 Willem moved to Amsterdam, and according to François Valentijn, Johan Bax was born in 1637 in s-Hertogenbosch. He started his service with the Dutch East India Company around 1656, the following year he arrived in Batavia with Hendrik van Rheede and Isaac de lOstal de Saint-Martin. In 1663 he was involved in the attack on the Malabar coast under Rijckloff of Goens, in 1669 at the age of 32, Johan Bax married Aletta Hinloopen, the daughter of Jacob Fransz Hinlopen in Batavia. This made Joan Huydecoper II his uncle, Bax served as the successor to Van Rheede in Colombo and Galle. There he and Aletta had a daughter who died within a year and he sent his uncle a mango, an acacia, a coconut, a civet and a Negombo devil. Bax was governor of the Dutch Cape Colony for two years, during which the status of the Cape Colony was reduced by the Dutch East India Company. Bax sent many specimens in to his uncle Huydecoper such as a herbarium, bulbs and seeds, as well as canaries, parakeets, a monkey, Huydecoper sent Bax a gardener from Maarssen. He was named governor of Dutch Ceylon on 25 October 1678 and he was buried on 4 July 1679 in Cape Town. Due to a shortage of slaves in the Dutch Cape Colony, De kroniek van het geslacht Backx. Een episode uit den strijd tegen Spanje, * Bijgevoegd, Registers op de geslachtnamen voorkomende in Th. A. Boeree De kroniek van het geslacht Backx, Wageningen 1943. Heraldische wapens in de Nederlanden - Bax, De grafzerken van de Sint-Jan te s-Hertogenbosch,35
41.
Simon van der Stel
–
Simon van der Stel was the last Commander and first Governor of the Cape Colony, the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Simon was the son of Adriaan van der Stel, an official of the Dutch East India Company, Adriaan was appointed the first Dutch governor of Mauritius in 1639. Simon was born at sea while his father was en route to Mauritius to take up his new posting, Adriaan had a long tenure in Mauritius, and Simon spent seven years there. His mother was Maria Lievens, daughter of a freed Indian slave woman known as Monica of the Coast of Goa, adriaans governorship ended after five years, and after a few more years, Adriaan left Mauritius for Dutch Ceylon. Adriaan was murdered in Ceylon and Maria also died, Simon went on to Batavia, Dutch East Indies. Simon remained in Batavia until he was 20 years of age and he then went to the Netherlands, where he associated with the most important members of the VOC, such as Willem Six. In 1663 he married Willems daughter, Johanna Jacoba Six, in 1679, he was appointed Commander of the VOCs colony at the Cape of Good Hope, through the growing influence of his relative, Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen. Simon was involved in making wine in Muiderberg, when he left the country he handed the vineyards over to Hendrik van Rheede. Van der Stel and his wife, Johanna Jacoba Six, did not enjoy a good relationship. Van der Stel never saw his wife again, though he remained devoted to her, Johanna Jacoba remained in Holland, and sent the furnishings and works of art required to fit out the governors Residence at Groot Constantia. These included several art works including The Fisherman, a painting by Simon de Vlieger. The painting came up for sale at the auction of van der Stels estate in 1716, in 1685 he was visited by Hendrik van Rheede with whom he shared in great interest in tropical botany. To prevent competition anywhere else in the world, young cinnamon-, cloves, in 1691, the VOC replaced the office of Commander with Governor, and van der Stel was promoted to the new position. His house Groot Constantia was well furnished with fine paintings including the painting by Simon de Vlieger The Fisherman. Every one of his four sons was at one time or another with him in South Africa, an expedition under Willem de Vlamingh was sent out to look for survivors on islands in the Indian Ocean or on the coast of Western Australia. Simon van der Stel retired in 1699 and was succeeded by his son Willem Adriaan van der Stel, in retirement, Simon devoted himself to his estate at Constantia, where he died in 1712. François Valentijn visited Frans at Constantia in March 1714, the estate was split up and sold 1716, the auction took four days and was very well attended. The town of Stellenbosch was named after him and Simons Town is also named after him, an early ship of the South African Navy, SAS Simon van der Stel was also named for him, in 1952
42.
Willem Adriaan van der Stel
–
Willem Adriaan van der Stel was appointed as extraordinary Council of the Dutch Indies, and Governor of the Cape Colony, a way station for the Dutch East India Company, from January 23,1699 to 1707. He was dismissed after a revolt and was exiled to the Netherlands, van der Stel was the eldest of six children of Simon van der Stel and Johanna Jacoba Six, who were prominent members of the Dutch merchant world. His paternal grandfather had been the governor of Mauritius, and his grandmother a mestizo and his mother was related to Jan Six, involved in the silk trade and a friend of Rembrandt. Willem Adriaan was fifteen when he went to the Cape in 1679, around 1684 he returned to Holland where he married Maria de Haze, with whom he would have five children. Willem Adriaan van der Stel lorded over Nieuw and Oud-Vossemeer on the island Tholen, in 1691 became an schepen of Amsterdam. He did not return to the Cape until January 1699 when he was appointed to succeed his father as Governor of the colony, van der Stel displayed an interest in horticulture and agriculture and conducted extensive farming experiments. He sent quite a few Aloe to the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam and he was the author of one of South Africas earliest gardening almanacs. Van der Stel expanded the VOCs gardens and sent expeditions towards the north to explore the rest of the country and he established the Land van Waveren, now known as Tulbagh and laid the cornerstone for the Groote Kerk in Cape Town. Van der Stel’s legacy is however stained by his apparent greed, during his rule, van der Stel was viewed as corrupt and dictatorial. Van der Stel owned an estate, Vergelegen, which is the origin of the present day Somerset West. The land was granted to him in 1700, and he spent much of the VOC resources on its development and this allowed him an unfair advantage and led to strained relationships with the local “free burghers”. Some 63 burghers signed the document and it was sent to the VOC headquarters in Amsterdam, the petition was at first rejected. Van der Stel had Tas arrested, tried and imprisoned—in the Black Hole an infamous dungeon at the Castle of Good Hope, because 31 of the signatories were Huguenots, and since the Netherlands was at war with France, the failed petition continued to cause concern in Amsterdam. Fearing that the discontent might cause some burghers to become spies for the French, the VOC dismissed van der Stel and he left the colony in 1708 and returned to the Netherlands where he spent the rest of his life in exile. Subsequently, no VOC employees were allowed to own land in the colony, louis van Assenburgh became his successor. Three years after his dismissal, Vergelegen was sold and divided into four farms. There is some disagreement regarding van der Stels legacy, some point to the scale of his plans and activities in agriculture and horticulture as evidence indicating a man of great vision and imagination. Others note his role in the development of the unique Cape Dutch architecture, History of Cape Town Vergelegen History
43.
Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes
–
Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes was governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1714 till 1721. Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes was born in The Hague in 1654 and he was the youngest son of Jeanne de Savornin and Pierre Pasques de Chavonnes, whose father, Joachim Pasques, marquis de Chavonnes, fled from France after the St. Bartholomews Day massacre in 1572. He married Bathazarina Kien in 1689 and later had two children, Anna Magdalena Pasques de Chavonnes and Pieter Rochus Pasques de Chavonnes and he trained as a soldier and progressed to lieutenant colonel of the States-General of the Netherlands. Mauritz de Chavonnes was in charge of the regiment in the army of the Dutch Republic during the War of the Spanish Succession. Furthermore, the farmers had to pay tithes of all their harvests to the Dutch East India Company and he contributed to the development of the Cape and was promoted to Justice of India in 1721. This company, together with others, took turns in the watch of the companys barracks. He died on 8 September 1724 in the Cape after an illness and was buried with military honours on 14 September
Media related to Jan van Riebeeck at Wikimedia Commons
