Source

Bibliographic data

Ludlow, Helen; Clacherty, Glynis: Looking into the past, Standard 3 / Grade 5. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller Educational Publisher, 1995, 62–65.

"Europeans come to the cape"


[p. 62]

2. Europeans come to the Cape

[Illustration of a girl giving an instruction to the pupils]

First look at the drawings from 1 to 4. Then read the words below.

[At the left scene number 1 of the cartoon with two Khoikhoi seen from the back. Both Khoikhoi are observing the vessel at the sea and the arriving dinghies.]

[Khoikhoi A] ?
[Khoikhoi B]I never saw anything like that before!

[At the right scene number 2 of the cartoon. Perspective has changed: A dinghy with five men has arrived at the beach. The Khoikhoi with their cattles inspect the arrivals]

[Khoikhoi A] These are strange men with clothes that cover all of their bodies!
[Khoikhoi B] Hey! Who are you!

Bartholomew Dias meets the Khoikhoi

In 1488 a sailor called Bartholomew Dias landed in Mossel Bay at the Cape in a big sailing ship. (Find Mossel Bay on the map on pages 58 to 59.)

Bartholomew Dias came from a country called Portugal, which is in Europe. (Find Portugal on the world map on pages 4 to 5.) He and his men were on their way to find India. In India they wanted to buy spices and other goods to take back to Europe. (Find India on the world map on pages 4 to 5. It is in Asia.)

The ship stopped in Mossel Bay. Bartholomew Dias and his men landed on the beach in small boats. They were looking for water to drink.

On the beach they saw Khoikhoi herders who were looking after their cattle.

[Illustration of a boy giving an instruction to the pupils] Now look at what Bartholomew Dias wrote in his diary. He was writing about the Khoikhoi herders he found on the beach at Mossel Bay.

[p. 63]

[At the left scene number 3 of the cartoon, showing the Khoikhoi trembling in front of the European Bartholomew Dias]

[Dias]!* #…@! x-x …? * !! … @*?-!-?

[Khoikhoi B]They speak no language one can understand.

[At the right scene number 4 of the cartoon, close-up view of the Khoikhoi running away]

[Khoikhoi A]Run, run! They must be dangerous!

[Illustration: A fictitious source: handwritten letter]

1488. We saw land in a Bay. We called it Angra do Vaquieros. These are Portugues words that mean Bay of Cowherders because of the many cows we saw there, watched by herders.

The herders had no language that we could understand. So we could not speak with them.

The herders seemed very frightened of us. They ran away and drove their cattle inland. And so we could learn no more about them.

1. Imagine you are Khoikhoi herders on the beach when the strange Europeans land in their boats. What do you tell your family when you get home? You can act this out in groups.
2. Look at this little map. With your finger, trace the way you think a sailing ship would travel to go from Portugal to Mossel Bay to India .

[Illustration: A fictitious source: Map including Europe, Asia, Africa; Portugal, Mossel Bay, India]

[p. 64]

Other Europeans meet the Khoikhoi

After Bartholomew Dias there were many more travellers and settlers from Europe who came to the Cape and met the Khoikhoi.

Many of these Europeans wrote about the Khoikhoi. They also drew pictures of them.

Here is a picture of a European who is drawing what he sees in a Khoikhoi village.

[Illustration: A person drawing some Khoikhois]

[p. 65]

We can use the drawings and the writings of the Europeans to tell us about the way that the Khoikhoi lived.

Here is a drawing done by a European. It shows the Khoikhoi hunting.

[At the left: Detail of a historic print, showing a hunting scene]

[At the right, authortext with a task, text in a red frame] Thinking about evidence

When strangers come to a new place, they do not always understand life in the new place. The Europeans were strangers in Africa. When they wrote about the Khoikhoi, they sometimes made mistakes and wrote things that were not true. Sometimes they drew pictures to impress people back home in Europe. Do you think that the drawing of the Khoikhoi hunt on this page is true ?

[At the bottum of the page: Icon for a task, text in a blue frame]

1. Imagine that you are from a city and you have never been to a farm before. What things would you find strange?
OR
Imagine that you are from a farm and you have never been in a city before. What things would you find strange?
2. Write down, or act out in class, the things that you would find strange.

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