In 1658 negro slaves were introduced. This was a great mistake on the part of the colonists. In this move they but followed the example of all colonizing nations, who made of the negro merely a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. No doubt, the cause of all the subsequent troubles of the Dutch settlers with England was due to the establishment of a system of slavery.
Many of the first slaves were taken from a Portuguese slaver which had been captured at sea. Not long after, quite a number of slaves were brought by the vessels of the Company from the coast of Guinea. A few of these were sold to the burghers, but most of them were maintained by the government and employed at all kinds of rough labor.
In addition to negroes, the East India Company began the introduction of Asiatics into the settlement. They were chiefly natives of Malacca, Java, and the Spice Islands. These people were, for the most part, criminals banished to slavery for life or for a term of years by the court of justice at Batavia. South Africa was chosen as their place of banishment. These men were far more intelligent than the natives of Guinea or Mozambique. Many of them were employed by the settlers as masons, harness makers, coopers, and tailors.
Later, South Africa was made a place of banishment for political prisoners of high rank from India. These prisoners were often accompanied by their families. Many of them had numerous attendants, both male and female.
It was thus that the colony at the Cape was settled by three distinct varieties of the human family, and really peopled by four varieties, for we must include the native Hottentots.
Europeans, negroes, and the Javanese represented the original settlers, but various mixed races of every color soon populated the colony. Hence, it is doubtful if anywhere else in Africa could a greater diversity of hue and of features be found than in the Cape peninsula.
There are now five distinct governments represented in South Africa in the following divisions of territory: Cape Colony, Natal, and British Kaffraria,—all British possessions; the South African Republic, and the Orange Free State,—both independent republics. Of these divisions Cape Colony and the South African Republic, formerly known as the Transvaal, are the most interesting.
In addition to these divisions there are various dependencies, as British Bechuanaland, the British Protectorate, the German Protectorate, the British Chartered Company Territory, the Portuguese Possessions, and Swaziland.