South Africa A Century Ago PDF Download

Excerpt from South Africa a Century Ago: Letters Written From the Cape of Good Hope (1797-1801) The sixteenth century saw the coming of the sailing-ship and the great voyages of discovery. The Catholic countries of Europe, Spain and Portugal, led the way; and in 1494 the "Pope's line" sought to divide between them the newly discovered regions. But such a division could not last. Other nations - England and Holland, then France - were determined to have their share of treasure and trade; and the failure of the Armada broke the naval power of Spain. By the eighteenth century the struggle for predominance at sea and in the new lands had narrowed down to the rivalry between England and France, the France which rose to preeminence and power under Louis XIV. By 1760 Britain was in control of India and North America; but the struggle between the two nations went on - with intervals for recovery - for over fifty years. The decision inevitably determined the fate of South Africa as well; for the Cape was on the main sea-route to the East, and must fall a prize to the strongest power at sea. Holland became involved in the conflict, when she followed France in supporting the American colonists, during the War of Independence. Britain was hard pressed then; and the result was a French garrison at the Cape from 1781 to 1783, in which year peace was declared between the new "United States" and Britain. It is well known that about this time the burghers of the Cape were by no means happy under the rule of the Dutch East India Company. Poverty and distress were rife; and there was trouble in the East between the more distant Dutch settlers and the Natives. It was the period of the French Revolution, and the men of Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet decided to have little republics of their own. Even in Cape Town there was a republican party: they called themselves "Patrioten" in imitation of the "Patriot" party in Holland. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.