Swellendam
Encyclopedia
Cape Dutch
Cape Dutch are people of the Western Cape of South Africa who descended primarily from Dutch and Flemish as well as smaller numbers of French, German and other European immigrants along with a percentage of their Asian and African slaves, who, from the 17th century into the 19th century, remained...
architecture.
Swellendam is situated on the N2, approximately 220 km from both Cape Town and George.
History
Early travellers and explorers who visited the Cape in the 16th century traded with the Khoikhoi people who lived on these shores. When the Dutch East India CompanyDutch 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...
established a replenishment station at the Cape in 1652, trade continued inland as far as Swellendam.
In 1743 Swellendam was declared a magisterial district, the third oldest in South Africa, and was named after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel and his wife, Helena Ten Damme. This outlying settlement soon became a gateway to the interior, and was visited by many famous explorers and travellers including François Le Vaillant
François Le Vaillant
François Levaillant or Le Vaillant was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist.-Biography:...
(1781), Lady Anne Barnard
Lady Anne Barnard
Lady Anne Barnard , née Anne Lindsay, eldest daughter of James Lindsay, 5th Earl of Balcarres was born at Balcarres House, Fife, Scotland. She was author of the ballad Auld Robin Gray and an accomplished travel writer, artist and socialite of the period...
(1798), William John Burchell
William John Burchell
William John Burchell was an English explorer, naturalist, traveller, artist and author. He was the son of Matthew Burchell, botanist and owner of Fulham Nursery, nine and a half acres of land adjacent to the gardens of Fulham Palace. Burchell served a botanical apprenticeship at Kew and was...
(1815) and Bowler (1860).
In time, a village was established opposite the Drostdy, where artisans including numerous wainwrights and traders settled. To travellers and explorers, the services of the village folk were indispensable, as Swellendam was the last outpost of civilization on the eastern frontier.
By 1795 maladministration and inadequacies of the Dutch East India Company caused the long-suffering burghers of Swellendam to revolt, and in 1795 they declared themselves a Republic. Hermanus Steyn was appointed as President of the Republic of Swellendam, he was the first to be appointed the title of President in South Africa. But the Republic was short-lived due to the occupation of the Cape by the Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
. With the arrival of British settlers in the early 19th century the Overberg boomed, and its capital, Swellendam, was soon the heart of the famous mercantile empire of Barry and Nephews, created by Joseph Barry.
By the middle of the 19th century, the eastern districts had been colonized by the British settlers and Swellendam was a thriving metropolis. The town served as a useful refreshment station on the long, slow journey up the coast. Today Swellendam is a flourishing agricultural area, and has many attractive and historic buildings which serve as a reminder of its exciting past.
The first known sketch of Swellendam was of the Drostdy, by Johannes Schumacher
Johannes Schumacher
Johannes Schumacher aka Johannes Schoemaker was a soldier at the Cape of Good Hope and official artist on a number of expeditions...
in 1776, when he accompanied the son of Governor Swellengrebel to the town. Today the Drostdy forms part of a museum complex that consist of several heritage sites.
In June 2011, the Swellendam Municipality area, which includes Barrydale, Suurbraak, Malgas, Infanta and Stormsvlei, re-declared itself a Republic. This republic is dedicated to the principles of the New South Africa, and celebrates rural life, racial harmony, respect for nature and wildlife, and aims to promote sustainability and an "unplugged" way of life for all to enjoy.
Famous pioneer families of Swellendam
Some of the well known families that settled in the region and have stayed for decades are the Barry family, the MoodieMoodie
Moodie may refer to:People:* Alma Moodie , Australian violinist* D. Aubrey Moodie* George Moodie* Graeme Moodie* Graham Moodie* Janice Moodie* Jason Moodie* John Moodie* Marion E. Moodie* Rob Moodie* Rob Moodie...
s from Scotland, the Steyns, the Streicher
Streicher
Streicher:* Streicher's, a police equipment and supply company founded in 1953 in Butler, Wisconsin* Johann Andreas Streicher , a German pianist, composer and piano maker...
family, the van Eedens, the Rothmann
Rothmann
Rothmann is surname of:* Bernhard Rothmann* Christoph Rothmann* Howard Rothmann Bowen* John Rothmann, a radio talk show host, an author of the "Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam with David G. Dalin...
s, the Tomlinson
Tomlinson
Tomlinson may refer to:*Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council, an English court case in Occupiers' LiabilityAs a surname, Tomlinson may refer to:*Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson, founder of the Church of God of Prophecy....
and the Dunn
Dunn
Dunn may refer to:Places* Dunn, Indiana * Dunn, North Carolina* Dunn, Texas* Dunn County, Wisconsin, county* Dunn, Dane County, Wisconsin, town* Dunn, Dunn County, Wisconsin, townPeople...
family
Demographics
Swellendam is 50.3% White, 39% Coloured, 1.8% Indian/Asian/Other and 9.0% Black African.90.1% of the town is Afrikaans speaking.
Climate
The region has a predominantly Mediterranean climateMediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
. There are long summer days in January and February. During February and March, summer draws to a close, with prevailing South Easter winds. April and May are Autumnal months, with milder days and occasional showers. June and July bring the Cape Winter, with mild weather, rain and possible snow on the mountain tops. August and September are the start of spring.
Fauna and flora
Marloth Nature Reserve
Marloth Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Swellendam Local Municipality, Western Cape, South Africa. It conserves the central Langeberg mountains, between the towns of Swellendam, Ashton, Barrydale and Suurbraak...
, Sanbona Wildlife Reserve and Bontebok National Park
Bontebok National Park
Bontebok National Park is a species-specific national park in South Africa. It was established in 1961 to ensure the preservation of the bontebok...
. Bontebok National Park is where the rare Bontebok
Bontebok
The Bontebok is an antelope found in South Africa and Lesotho. The Bontebok has two subspecies; the endangered Bontebok , occurring naturally in the Fynbos and Renosterveld areas of the Western Cape, and the Blesbok occurring in the highveld.The Bontebok stands 80 to 100 cm at the shoulder and...
was protected when it was close to extinction. The population has increased from 17 individuals in 1931 to a sustainable number today.
The area is a botanist’s dream with an abundance of wild flowers and fynbos
Fynbos
Fynbos is the natural shrubland or heathland vegetation occurring in a small belt of the Western Cape of South Africa, mainly in winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate...
. The 250ha indigenous forest at Grootvadersbosch is the most noteworthy in the southwestern Cape. Woods like these are rare to find in the Cape this far west of the Knysna
Knysna
Knysna is a town with 76,431 inhabitants in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and is part of the Garden Route. It lies 34 degrees south of the equator, and is 72 kilometres east from the town of George on the N2 highway, and 25 kilometres west of Plettenberg Bay on the same road.-History:A...
forests.
Wildlife such as the endangered Bontebok and Cape Mountain Zebra
Cape Mountain Zebra
Cape mountain zebra, Equus zebra zebra, is a subspecies of the Mountain zebra found in the Western and Eastern Cape in South Africa. They mainly eat grass but if little food is left they will eat bushes...
abound: Bushbuck
Bushbuck
The bushbuck is the most widespread antelope in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is found in rain forests, montane forests, forest-savanna mosaics and bush savannaforest and woodland. Recently, genetic studies have shown that the bushbuck, is in fact a complex of two geographically and phenotypically...
, Klipspringer
Klipspringer
The Klipspringer, Oreotragus oreotragus, is a small species of African antelope.-Name:The word klipspringer literally means "rock jumper" in Afrikaans/Dutch...
, Grey Rhebuck, Cape Grysbok, Baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
, Mongoose
Mongoose
Mongoose are a family of 33 living species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also referred to as "mongooses" or "mongoose-like"...
, Genet
Genet
-Aircraft:*Armstrong Siddeley Genet, aircraft engine*Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major, aircraft engine-Animals and Plants:*Genet , a colony of plants, fungi or bacteria that come from a single genetic source....
and the occasional Leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
. As well as a species of ghost frog and a unique Forest Emperor Butterfly. Witsand
Witsand
Witsand is a small coastal town at the mouth of the Breede River in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is widely considered to be the whale nursery of the South African coastline. It also has a kitesurfing hotspot compliments of the summer South-Easter....
, a small coastal town about 50 km from Swellendam is one of the best whale viewing spots on the South coast as it is the largest whale nursery in South Africa.
Of the impressive 200 species of birds you stand a chance to spot: Waterfowl, Crowned eagle
Crowned Eagle
The Crowned Eagle or Crowned Hawk-eagle , is a very large, powerful, crested bird of prey found in sub-Saharan Africa; in Southern Africa it is restricted to suitable habitat in the eastern areas. It is the only extant member of the genus Stephanoaetus...
, the black eagle
Black Eagle
The Black Eagle is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus Ictinaetus. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical Asia and hunt mammals and birds, particularly at their nests...
, Narina Trogon
Narina Trogon
The Narina Trogon, Apaloderma narina, is a medium-sized , largely green forest bird in the Trogonidae family, the most widespread and catholic in habitat choice of three Apaloderma trogons...
, Paradise Flycatcher and the Knysna Woodpecker
Knysna Woodpecker
The Knysna Woodpecker is a species of bird in the Picidae family.It is endemic to South Africa.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, moist savanna, and subtropical or tropical moist shrubland....
.
The town is situated at the foot of the Langeberg
Langeberg
The Langeberg Mountain Range is a mountain range situated in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The range runs in a generally east-west direction and is approximately 170 km long. The Langeberg's most westerly point is located 35 km west of the town of Swellendam; the range ends some 30 km...
(Long mountain), and there are many hiking trails, ranging from day-walks to a 5 to 7 day trail.
Varia
May 2007 the Swellendam VORVHF omnidirectional range
VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...
SWV 114.4 MHz was permanently withdrawn.