Jan van Riebeeck
Jan Anthoniszoon van Riebeeck ( Afrikaans jɑn ɑnˈtʊə̯nəsʊə̯n fɑnˈribiə̯k, jɑn ɑnˈtʊə̯nəsʊə̯n fɑ̃ˈribiə̯k ; born April 16, 1619 in Culemborg , Netherlands ; † January 18, 1677 in Batavia, today Jakarta ) was a Dutch ship's doctor and merchant. He founded the Cape Colony .
Life
Van Riebeeck initially worked as a doctor from 1639 to 1648 ("chirurgijn" = surgeon : in the Netherlands until around 1800 the name of a doctor because he also performed operations for lack of specialists) in East Asia, including Deshima in Japan .
Van Riebeeck was the leader of an expedition to South Africa in 1651 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company . The ships reached the Cape of Good Hope and landed in Table Bay on April 6, 1652 . Van Riebeeck's people were supposed to set up a base to ensure the supply of food to the trading company's ships. They built the Fort de Goede Hoop at the foot of Table Mountain and began growing fruits and vegetables and trading with the locals. In a relatively short time, because it was located at a strategically important point, the city of Cape Town developed from it , the first permanent European settlement on South African soil.
Van Riebeeck administered the Cape Colony until 1662. Then he went back to the Dutch East Indies , where he held several offices until he died in 1677.
On December 17th, 1652 he was the first European to discover a comet from South African soil, the comet C / 1652 Y1.
On November 20, 2002 the asteroid (9239) van Riebeeck was named after him.
See also
literature
- Robert O. Collins: Central and South African history. Topics in world history . M. Wiener Publishing, New York NY 1990, ISBN 1-55876-017-2 .
- John Hunt, Heather-Ann Campbell: Dutch South Africa. Early settlers at the Cape, 1652-1708 . Matador Leicester 2005, ISBN 1-904744-95-8 .
- Jan van Riebeeck: The secret letters of Jan van Riebeeck . Translated into English and edited by Robert Kirby. Penguin Books, London 1992, ISBN 0-14-017765-5 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Riebeeck, Jan van |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Riebeeck, Jan Anthoniszoon van (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch doctor and businessman; Founder and first administrator of the Cape Colony |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 16, 1619 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Culemborg , the Netherlands |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1677 |
| Place of death | Batavia |