1721 in South Africa

The following lists events that happened during 1721 in South Africa.

Incumbents

Governor of the Cape Colony - Maurits Pasques de ChavonnesRosenthal, Eric, Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Juta and Company Limited, Cape Town and Johannesburg, 1978.

Events

The VOC sends soldiers aboard the Gouda and Zeelandia to occupy Rio de Lagoa, or Delagoa Bay. At this time, the Tembe chiefdom controlled trade. Johan Cornelis d'Ableing, former acting Governor of the Cape, dies. Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes is promoted from Cape Colony Governor to Justice of India. Nicolaus Laubscher, founder of Oranjezicht, dies.Adolphe Linder, The Swiss at the Cape of Good Hope, 1652–1971 (Basel: Basel Afrika Bibliographien, 1997), pp. 64–69.Pieter van Breda's dates from C. C. de Villiers, Geslagsregisters van die ou Kaapse families / Genealogies of Old South African Families, rev. ed. by C. Pama, 3 vols. (Cape Town: Balkema, 1966), 1: 96. A slave trading operation is established in Rio de Lagoa, where the VOC trade about 25 slaves annually. Elephant herds disappeared from the Delagoa region, affecting the VOC ivory trade. Drought severely affects South East African gardening efforts, with temperatures too high and no consistent rainy season. The first barrel of blue beads arrives at Delagoa Bay for trade. Ivory is withheld until Dutch ships are prepared to leave, as the locals are suspecting a secret bead stash. There is a high mortality rate at the VOC post in Delagoa, as two-thirds of the 620 men die in six weeks.

References