Episode 10 – Coree the Khoekhoe learns English and Jan van Riebeeck the surgeon is dispatched to the Cape.

The Dutch have eclipsed the Portuguese Far East maritime trade and are looking to exploit the Indies as effectively as possible. Back in Southern Africa, the KhoeKhoe have no idea what this century will bring which includes the beginning of the destruction of their way of life in Table Bay as the first colonists arrive.

Despite the English and the Dutch now beginning to use Table Bay as a stop off point, St Helena was still the preferred route to the Indies for most of the 17th Century. As I explained previously, the currents off the African West Coast were treacherous, and the Portuguese had experienced a few disasters in southern Africa as they tried to enslave locals.

By 1620 the number of European ships anchoring in the shadow of Table Mountain had increased, but had not reached the flood of vessels that would characterize the period after the first colony setup by the Dutch VOC official, Jan van Riebeek in 1652.