Knowledge and Colonialism
Eighteenth-Century Travellers in South Africa
Published on 31. July 2009
Book
Hardback
324 pages
978-90-04-17743-7 (ISBN)
Description
The establishment of a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in the seventeenth century and an expansion of the sphere of colonial influence in the eighteenth century made South Africa the only part of sub-Saharan Africa where Europeans could travel with relative ease deep into the interior. As a result individuals with scientific interests in Africa came to the Cape. This book examines writings and drawings of scientifically educated travellers, particularly in the field of ethnography, against the background of commercial and administrative discourses on the Cape. It is argued that the scientific travellers benefited more from their relationship with the colonial order than the other way around.
Reviews / Votes
"This book shows that doing history is an ongoing interaction between reading, translating, and interpreting-which together further historiographical discourse." - Alette Fleischer, in: Isis 102.3 (September 2011), pp. 567-568"In documenting the changing views that reached Europe over the decades concerning the peo-ples of South Africa, notably the San, Khoikhoi, Xhosas, mixed-race Bastaards, and, not least, white settlers of Dutch origin, Huigen documents an important early chapter in the history of anthropology and ethnography. [...] The text is closely tied to and powerfully reinforced by this visual material [39 glossy color plates with 46 illustrations], much of it strikingly beautiful." - James E. McClellan III, in: Centaurus, European Journal for the History of Science 53.3 (August 2011), pp. 247-248
"...valuable overview of eighteenth-century scienti?c knowledge at the Cape [...]" - Saul Dubow, in: British Journal for the History of Science 43.3 (2010), pp. 490-491
"Siegfried Huigen zeigt auf, wie man ein solch spannendes Kapitel aus der Geschichte der Entstehung unseres europaeischen Wissens ueber eine fremde Region und ueber die dortige Bevoelkerung wissenschaftlich exact kategorisieren und analysieren kann. Das Buch leistet darueber hinaus einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Geschichte der geographischen Erforschung Sued-afrikas." - Ulrich van der Heyden, in: Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fuer Missiongeschichte, 28 (June 2010)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
46 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
703 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-17743-7 (9789004177437)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Siegfried Huigen is Associate Professor of Dutch Literature and Cultural History at the University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa. He publishes regularly on early modern representations of the extra-European world.
Content
Preface
List of illustrations
1. Wagon routes: an introduction
2. Peter Kolb's defence of the "Hottentots" (1719)
3. Expeditions from Fort Lijdsaamheijd: The VOC and the geography of southern Africa in the beginning of the eighteenth century
4. Trade and science: Reports of the VOC expedition by Hendrik Hop from 1751-1762
5. Xhosa and Khoikhoi "households": Representations of inhabitants of Southern Africa in the Gordon Atlas
6. The adventures of a Surinamese Frenchman in South Africa: The travel accounts of Francois le Vaillant
7. A 'Black Legend' of Dutch colonialism in the Travels (1801-1804) of John Barrow
8. Batavian colonial politics and travel accounts about South Africa
9. The first ethnographic monograph: De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika (1810) by Lodewyk Alberti
10. Conclusion: Knowledge and Colonialism
Annex 1. Independent Editions and Translations of Peter Kolb's Capvt Bonae Spei Hodiernvm in the Eighteenth Century
Annex 2. Structure of the Nieuwste en Beknopte Beschryving van de Kaap der Goede-Hoop
Sources and Bibliography
Index
Illustration Section
List of illustrations
1. Wagon routes: an introduction
2. Peter Kolb's defence of the "Hottentots" (1719)
3. Expeditions from Fort Lijdsaamheijd: The VOC and the geography of southern Africa in the beginning of the eighteenth century
4. Trade and science: Reports of the VOC expedition by Hendrik Hop from 1751-1762
5. Xhosa and Khoikhoi "households": Representations of inhabitants of Southern Africa in the Gordon Atlas
6. The adventures of a Surinamese Frenchman in South Africa: The travel accounts of Francois le Vaillant
7. A 'Black Legend' of Dutch colonialism in the Travels (1801-1804) of John Barrow
8. Batavian colonial politics and travel accounts about South Africa
9. The first ethnographic monograph: De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika (1810) by Lodewyk Alberti
10. Conclusion: Knowledge and Colonialism
Annex 1. Independent Editions and Translations of Peter Kolb's Capvt Bonae Spei Hodiernvm in the Eighteenth Century
Annex 2. Structure of the Nieuwste en Beknopte Beschryving van de Kaap der Goede-Hoop
Sources and Bibliography
Index
Illustration Section