The Enslaved people of Simons Town 1743-1843

Young, Joline

The Enslaved people of Simons Town 1743-1843

Master Thesis

2013

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Historical Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This thesis is a study of slavery and emancipation in Simon's Town for the period 1743 to 1843.Through the compilation of a slave database derived from VOC era wills and British colonial era slave registers, quantitative details pertaining to slave demography, religion, mortality, occupation, gender and levels of creolisation were recorded to monitor how the experience of slavery in Simon's Town changed over time. These details are attached in the form of a Slave Database CD. The use of magisterial and slave office correspondence afforded a qualitative enquiry of the society that existed in Simon's Town during this period and offered insights into how this was experienced by slaves. Two oral history interviews were also conducted. Significantly the data shows that slaveholders exerted their power through a combination of violence and differential treatment, intended to cause fear and division amongst slaves. Conversely, the data suggests that slaves derived agency through religion, ethnic group strength and random acts of 'slave justice'.Furthermore, it shows that the landscape of Simon's Town district provided unique opportunities for escape both by land and sea. In addition it shows that the arrival of the British Navy created opportunities for some slaves to transcend slavery by becoming wage earning crew members on its fleets. Significantly too it shows that the arrival of many working class British seamen into Simon's Town impacted on both male and female slaves in Simon's Town in ways that would see them re-evaluate and reject the institution of slavery. Pertinent findings are suggestions of ethnic awareness and ethnic spatial separation that existed in Simon's Town. These findings imply that theories derived by historians of Cape slavery that are informed by quantitative studies based on the Cape as a whole, do not necessarily match data within specific urban areas of the Western Cape.

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