The following lists events that happened during 1654 in South Africa.
Events
Dutch East India Company establishes the Cape as a halfway house for ships and a penal settlement for convicts and political exiles. The first Cape-based slave expedition is sent to Madagascar and Moçambique, but the ship gets wrecked along the coast of Madagascar. Jan van Riebeeck announces that the second anniversary of his arrival at the Cape will be observed as a prayer and thanksgiving day. A few Malays of Batavia, brought by the Dutch into the Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, are possibly the first Muslims to arrive in South Africa. The first Asiatics, arriving on the ship Haaselt, are part of a group of exiles whose descendants are now an important element of Cape Town's population. Four Asiatics are sentenced to banishment and hard labor for life in Batavia, after preaching insurrection against Dutch rule. The Redoubt Duijnhoop fortification is built at the mouth of the Salt River. The settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony place all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island. Dutch settlers release rabbits on the island to provide a ready source of meat for passing ships.
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