Knowledge and Colonialism

Eighteenth-Century Travellers in South Africa
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-90-04-17743-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 18, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 703 g

Reihe: The Atlantic World

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Huigen, Siegfried

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Europäische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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 François 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

Über Autor(innen)

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.