Simon van der Stel
Encyclopedia
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
.
, an official of the Dutch East India Company
(VOC, Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie), and Maria Lievens, daughter of a freed India
n slave woman known as Monica of the Coast of Goa
, or Monica da Costa. Simon was therefore a Eurasian
. He is seen by some historians as a Creole
, though technically he was not a Creole as he was not born in Mauritius or Cape Colony. Although, being born in Mauritius waters he is, recognised as the First Registered birth in the island's history.
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.
Adriaan's 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.
They had six children. Simon seems to have been involved in making wine in Muiderberg.
In 1679, he was appointed "Commander" of the VOC's colony at the Cape of Good Hope, through the growing influence of his relative, Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen
.
Van der Stel and his wife, Johanna Jacoba Six, for some reason or other did not enjoy a very good relationship and her sister Cornelia accompanied her husband to the Cape. Perhaps she was too great a lady, perhaps she was timid and feared the formidable sea journey. Whatever the reason van der Stel never saw her again, though he remained devoted to her and frequently sent her money. Johanna Jacoba remained in Holland, and sent the furnishings and works of art required to fit out the governor's Residence at Groot Constantia.
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 and camphor trees were destroyed by the ambitious son of Rijckloff van Goens
.
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 unfinished painting by Simon de Vlieger
"The Fisherman".
Every one of his four sons was at one time or another with him in South Africa. Willem Adriaan, after being magistrate of Amsterdam, succeeded his father as Governor of the Cape; Frans "de jonker" became a farmer at the Cape; Adrian became governor of Amboina (1706–1720); Cornelis was one of the 352 shipwrecked in the Ridderschap in 1694.
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.{http:/southafricaarchive.org.za}
, SAS Simon van der Stel was also named for him, in 1952.
Effectively he was the first Coloured
Governor of the Cape Colony. This was something never acknowledged in South African history during the apartheid era.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
, in his Discourse on Inequality
, refers to Governor van der Stel by name in a story about a Hottentot
raised by the Dutch who chooses to "return to his equals" rather than remain in civilized society. According to Rousseau, van der Stel himself raised the Hottentot from birth "in the principles of the Christian religion and in the practices of European customs." The frontispiece
of the Discourse features van der Stel and the Hottentot above the phrase, Il retourne chez fes Egaux.
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
, the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
settlement at the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Background
Simon was the son of Adriaan van der StelAdriaan van der Stel
Adriaan van der Stel was opperhoofd of Mauritius from 1640? to 1645. He was succeeded by Jacob van der Meersch.Adriaan Van Der Stel succeeded Governor Cornelius Gooyer. He landed on the island with seventy men, of whom forty were invalids. the latter thought that they would recover their health....
, an official of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(VOC, Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie), and Maria Lievens, daughter of a freed India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n slave woman known as Monica of the Coast of Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, or Monica da Costa. Simon was therefore a Eurasian
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
. He is seen by some historians as a Creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
, though technically he was not a Creole as he was not born in Mauritius or Cape Colony. Although, being born in Mauritius waters he is, recognised as the First Registered birth in the island's history.
Adriaan was appointed the first Dutch governor of Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
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.
Adriaan's governorship ended after five years, and after a few more years, Adriaan left Mauritius for Dutch Ceylon
Dutch period in Ceylon
Ceylon was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company between 1658 and 1798 on the island currently known as Sri Lanka.In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and the Sinhala kingdom, who were constantly battling each other...
. Adriaan was murdered in Ceylon and Maria also died. Simon went on to Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. Simon remained in Batavia until he was 20 years of age.
Career
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 Willem's daughter, Johanna Jacoba Six (1645–1700).They had six children. Simon seems to have been involved in making wine in Muiderberg.
In 1679, he was appointed "Commander" of the VOC's colony at the Cape of Good Hope, through the growing influence of his relative, Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen
Joan Huydecoper II
Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen II was the eldest son of burgomaster Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen I and the brother-in-law of the collector Jan J. Hinlopen and the sheriff Jacob Boreel. He was mayor of Amsterdam for 13 terms between 1673 and 1693...
.
Van der Stel and his wife, Johanna Jacoba Six, for some reason or other did not enjoy a very good relationship and her sister Cornelia accompanied her husband to the Cape. Perhaps she was too great a lady, perhaps she was timid and feared the formidable sea journey. Whatever the reason van der Stel never saw her again, though he remained devoted to her and frequently sent her money. Johanna Jacoba remained in Holland, and sent the furnishings and works of art required to fit out the governor's Residence at Groot Constantia.
In 1685 he was visited by Hendrik van Rheede
Hendrik van Rheede
Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein was a military man and a colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company and naturalist. Between 1670 and 1677 he served as a governor of Dutch Malabar and employed 25 people on his book Hortus Malabaricus, describing 740 plants in the region...
with whom he shared in great interest in tropical botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
. To prevent competition anywhere else in the world, young cinnamon-, cloves and camphor trees were destroyed by the ambitious son of Rijckloff van Goens
Rijckloff van Goens
Rijckloff van Goens was Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1678-1681. He wrote extensively about his travels to Ceylon and India....
.
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
Groot Constantia
Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and national monument in the suburb of Constantia in Cape Town, South Africa."Groot" in Dutch and Afrikaans translates as "great" in English.-History:...
was well furnished with fine paintings including the unfinished painting by Simon de Vlieger
Simon de Vlieger
Simon de Vlieger was a Dutch designer, draughtsman, and painter, most famous for his marine paintings.-Life:...
"The Fisherman".
Every one of his four sons was at one time or another with him in South Africa. Willem Adriaan, after being magistrate of Amsterdam, succeeded his father as Governor of the Cape; Frans "de jonker" became a farmer at the Cape; Adrian became governor of Amboina (1706–1720); Cornelis was one of the 352 shipwrecked in the Ridderschap in 1694.
An expedition under Willem de Vlamingh
Willem de Vlamingh
Willem Hesselsz de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia in the late 17th century.- Vlamingh and the VOC :...
was sent out to look for survivors on islands in the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
or on the coast of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
.
Simon van der Stel retired in 1699 and was succeeded by his son Willem Adriaan van der Stel
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...
. In retirement, Simon devoted himself to his estate at Constantia
Constantia, Cape Town
Constantia is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, situated about 15 kilometres south of the centre of Cape Town. The Constantia Valley lies to the east of and at the foot of the Constantiaberg mountain. Constantia Nek is a low pass linking to Hout Bay in the west.-History:Constantia is...
, where he died in 1712. François Valentijn
François Valentijn
François Valentijn was a Dutch minister, naturalist and author who wrote for his Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën , a book about the history of the Dutch East India Company and the countries of the Far East....
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.{http:/southafricaarchive.org.za}
Legacy
The town of Stellenbosch (founded in 1679) was named after him and Simons Town is also named after him. An early ship of the South African NavySouth African Navy
The South African Navy is the navy of the Republic of South Africa.-Formation:The South African Navy can trace its official origins back to the SA Naval Service, which was established on 1 April 1922....
, SAS Simon van der Stel was also named for him, in 1952.
Effectively he was the first Coloured
Coloured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
Governor of the Cape Colony. This was something never acknowledged in South African history during the apartheid era.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
, in his Discourse on Inequality
Discourse on Inequality
Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men , also commonly known as the "Second Discourse", is a work by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
, refers to Governor van der Stel by name in a story about a Hottentot
Khoikhoi
The Khoikhoi or Khoi, in standardised Khoekhoe/Nama orthography spelled Khoekhoe, are a historical division of the Khoisan ethnic group, the native people of southwestern Africa, closely related to the Bushmen . They had lived in southern Africa since the 5th century AD...
raised by the Dutch who chooses to "return to his equals" rather than remain in civilized society. According to Rousseau, van der Stel himself raised the Hottentot from birth "in the principles of the Christian religion and in the practices of European customs." The frontispiece
Book frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
of the Discourse features van der Stel and the Hottentot above the phrase, Il retourne chez fes Egaux.