|
contents |
 |
Introduction to the Resolutions
of the Council of Policy of Cape of Good Hope
|
|
Place names in the Resolutions
It so happened that the West and the East both settled at the southern point of the African continent. By means of the Resolutions it is possible to become acquainted with places in the European sphere, such as Groot Brittaniën, Engeland, Vrankrijk, Deenemarken, Pruissche, and in the East, such as China, de Cust van Mallabar, Bengale, Malacca, Padang, the Ganges and Pattena, to read about islands, such as Ambon, Madagascar, Mauritius and Cocus, and places in Africa, such as Angola and Mozambiek.
The Resolutions are a most extensive and rich source for place name research and include names of towns, farms, regions, rivers and mountains locally and abroad. Apart from these categories there are hundreds of personal names of VOC officials, freemen, political exiles, and slaves who were mainly identified according to their place of origin. This is also of great importance for genealogy. On the TANAP website there is a map from the 1730s with the names of places and indigenous tribes of South Africa at that time.
Place names from the Resolutions such as Tafelberg, Saldanha Baij, Baaij fals, Ronde bosje, names of districts such as Stellenbosch, Draakensteijn, Land van Waveren, Swarte Land, the Colonie van Swellendam and other places such as Grootvadersbosch, Attaquas Cloof, Gourits Rivier, Sneeuwberg and the Caro – each having its own interesting story of origin – are still part of the South African names landscape. In the following discussion of place names the current spelling form is used, unless indicated otherwise.
Top
|