Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795

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dc.contributor.authorGroenewald, Gerald Jacobusen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-08T09:43:28Z
dc.date.available2014-10-08T09:43:28Z
dc.date.issued2009en_ZA
dc.description.abstractIn 1657 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) released fourteen employees from its service who settled as free burghers at the Cape of Good Hope. By 1795 their number had grown to almost fifteen thousand. The original free burghers shared the same sociocultural background and were uniformly poor. Yet in the course of the eighteenth century they developed into a stratified society with a clearly identifiable elite. Hitherto this development had been ascribed to capital accumulation in the form of land and slaves, with a focus on the settled arable farmers. This thesis challenges these arguments by applying the theoretical concept of entrepreneurship to the history of the 198 individuals who served as alcohol pachters (lease holders) in Cape Town between 1680 and 1795. The thesis argues that a study of their economic and social activities leads to greater conceptual clarity and a better understanding of the way in which social mobility operated. This study reveals how intertwined economic success was with social factors; and traces the changing uses and functions of kinship and social capital in VOC Cape Town. It demonstrates the importance of the urban free burghers to the Cape economy and the ways in which this group was linked to the rural free burghers. The first chapter treats the origins and operation of the alcohol pacht (lease) system and its contribution to the Cape economy. This is followed by a prosopographical analysis of all 198 of the alcohol pachters. Chapter three presents the biography of Hendrik Oostwald Eksteen as a vehicle with which to present the theoretical concepts attended on entrepreneurship, which are employed in the rest of the thesis. Chapter four illustrates the importance of social capital and kinship to what was still a largely immigrant society in the 1730s, while chapter five traces the changes which had occurred by the 1770s. These two chapters also demonstrate the ways in which the urban and rural elites coalesced over time. The final chapter shows to what extent the economic success of pachters was translated into other forms of power.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationGroenewald, G. J. (2009). <i>Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8260en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationGroenewald, Gerald Jacobus. <i>"Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8260en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGroenewald, G. 2009. Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Groenewald, Gerald Jacobus AB - In 1657 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) released fourteen employees from its service who settled as free burghers at the Cape of Good Hope. By 1795 their number had grown to almost fifteen thousand. The original free burghers shared the same sociocultural background and were uniformly poor. Yet in the course of the eighteenth century they developed into a stratified society with a clearly identifiable elite. Hitherto this development had been ascribed to capital accumulation in the form of land and slaves, with a focus on the settled arable farmers. This thesis challenges these arguments by applying the theoretical concept of entrepreneurship to the history of the 198 individuals who served as alcohol pachters (lease holders) in Cape Town between 1680 and 1795. The thesis argues that a study of their economic and social activities leads to greater conceptual clarity and a better understanding of the way in which social mobility operated. This study reveals how intertwined economic success was with social factors; and traces the changing uses and functions of kinship and social capital in VOC Cape Town. It demonstrates the importance of the urban free burghers to the Cape economy and the ways in which this group was linked to the rural free burghers. The first chapter treats the origins and operation of the alcohol pacht (lease) system and its contribution to the Cape economy. This is followed by a prosopographical analysis of all 198 of the alcohol pachters. Chapter three presents the biography of Hendrik Oostwald Eksteen as a vehicle with which to present the theoretical concepts attended on entrepreneurship, which are employed in the rest of the thesis. Chapter four illustrates the importance of social capital and kinship to what was still a largely immigrant society in the 1730s, while chapter five traces the changes which had occurred by the 1770s. These two chapters also demonstrate the ways in which the urban and rural elites coalesced over time. The final chapter shows to what extent the economic success of pachters was translated into other forms of power. DA - 2009 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2009 T1 - Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795 TI - Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8260 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8260
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationGroenewald GJ. Kinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Historical Studies, 2009 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8260en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Historical Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherHistorical Studiesen_ZA
dc.titleKinship, Entrepreneurship and Social Capital: Alcohol Pachters and the Making of Free-Burgher Society in Cape Town, 1652-1795en_ZA
dc.typeDoctoral Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoral
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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