OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN MONUMENTS

 

AFRIKAANS LANGUAGE MONUMENT (TAALMONUMENT)

 

The Afrikaans Language Monument, erected in 1975 to honour the Afrikaans Language, a language unique to South Africa. In the Cape it was inevitable that, from the original Dutch spoken by the first settlers, people such as the Khoikhoi and slaves from Malaya, Indonesia, Madagascar and West Africa would evolve a colloquial form of the Dutch language. These diverse peoples all needed to communicate and a modified version of Dutch, with many words from the other languages, was used as a language common to all. It developed further as Huguenot settlers added words and altered the sound of other words.

 

The monument set on the Paarl Mountain in the Cape, overlooking the towns of Paarl and Stellenbosch. The Monument's design has specific meanings: Three linked columns symbolize the contribution of the Western world to Afrikaans, three rounded shapes represent the contribution of Africa, and a wall for the contribution of the Malaysian people. A fountain symbolizes new ideas and a pillar soaring 57 meters above the fountain represents the growth of  the language. The pillar is hollow, and light from above pours down it, illuminating the fountain. A second pillar represents the political development of South Africa and its close associations with the growth of Afrikaans.

 

 

FIGURE1:  The Afrikaans Language Monument.

(http://www.places.co.za/html/afrikaans.html

)

 

RESOURCES

 

South African Places

http://www.places.co.za/html/afrikaans.html

  (7 February 2003)

 

Origin of the Afrikaans Language Museum

http://members.tripod.com/~boostdam/origin.html

  (7 February 2003)

 


 

 

CONCENTRATION CAMPS

 

HISTORY

In September 1900 the establishment of concerntration camps was officially sanctioned. Soon after all women, children and men not fighting in the Anglo-Boer were removed into the camps. By the end of the war in May 1902 there were more than 40 camps (including Irene and Bloemfontein), accommodating 116 000 white people. The holding of Boer families in the British camps was a military measure aimed inducing the Boer fighters to end their resistance and surrender.

The conditions in the camps varied form camp to camp depending on the situation of the camp and the superintendent of the camp. The poor accommodation provided in the camps, mostly tents, combined with unsuitable diets, insufficient bedding and unhygienic sanitary conditions resulted in outbreaks of measles, pneumonia which spread rapidly through the camps as a result of the density and close proximity of the people.

From the winter of 1901 deaths occurred at an alarming rate, although conditions improved towards the end of the war, it was too late. Altogether 27 972 Boers, mostly women and children died and 14 000 black people (who were kept in separate camps) perished in their camps.

NATIONAL WOMEN’S MONUMENT (NASIONALE VROUEMONUMENT)

The National Women's Monument in Bloemfontein commemorates the death of 26,000 Boer women and children who died in the Bloemfontein concentration camp during the Anglo-Boer War. This obelisk of 34 meters at its base is a sculpture, by Anton van Wouw, which brings to mind the suffering of those women and children who died of illness and hunger in the British concentration camps, the statue is surrounded by the ‘whispering wall’.

Emily Hobhouse arrived in South Africa in 1901, from England where she had organised protests against the treatment of Boer families. In 1900 she launched the South African Women and Children Distress fund. During 1901 she visited concentration camps throughout the Cape and Orange River colonies. She not only tirelessly gave her sympathy and kindness but also distributed clothes and food to those suffering in the concentration camps. She was instrumental in instituting reforms within the camps.

Emily Hobhouse’s ashes are buried in the National Women’s Monument. Other national hero's General Christiaan de Wet, President and Mrs. M.T. Steyn and J.D. Kestell were also buried at the foot of the memorial monument.

 

 

 

IRENE CONCENTRATION CAMP

The Irene concentration camp opened on 2 November 1900. The population of the camp increased rapidly resulting in poor conditions due to a lack of supplies and accommodation. In April 1901 it was recorded that the camp accommodated 3 703 of which 317 were sick and 49 had perished and by the end of 1901 more than 800 people had died.

The Irene Primary School adjacent to the camp’s cemetery began in September 1901 for the education of the Boer children in the concentration camp. The cemetery now serves as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Irene concentration camp.

                          

FIGURE 1: Photograph of the Irene cemetery.    FIGURE 2: Photograph of memorial plaques.                          

The camp later extended creating a second camp, know as Nylstroom. By the end of 1902 there were about 5 400 people in the two camps. Although peace was declared in May1902 the camps were only officially closed during 1903.

 

RESOURCES

CAMERON, T. 1986. An Illustrated History of South Africa. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers.

 

Bloemfontein concentration camp:  26 000 Boer women and children died

http://www.myarkpark.com/decampcourant/bloemfontein.htm#English                       (8 February 2003)

 

Brochure provided at the Irene concentration Camp Memorial.

 

 

 
CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE

 

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest surviving building in South Africa. Built between 1666 and 1679, this pentagonal fortification replaced a small clay and timber fort built by Commander Jan van Riebeeck upon establishing a maritime replenishment station at the Cape of Good Hope for the Dutch East India Company, better known as the VOC ( Verenigde Oos-Indische Compagnie). On 26 April 1679 the five bastions were named after the main titles of Willem, the Prince of Orange. The Western bastions was named Leerdam; followed in clockwise order by Buuren, Catzenellenbogen, Nassau and Orange.

 

In 1936 the Castle was declared a National Monument. As a result of an extensive, ongoing restoration and conservation programme launched in the 1980's, the Castle of Good Hope remains the best preserved of its kind built by the VOC in regions where it had interests.

 

The main entrance to the Castle bears many reminders of the nearly one and a half centuries of VOC presence at the Cape. This entrance is a unique example of 17th century Dutch classicism. The bell, cast in 1697 by Claude Fremy in Amsterdam, still hangs in the tower from its original wooden beams. The Castle of Good Hope was built in accordance with 17th century European principles of fortification comprising strong bastions from which the outside walls could be protected by crossfire.

 

RESOURCES

HARTDEGEN, P. 1988.  Our Building Heritage: An Illustrated Guide. Halfway House: Ryll’s Publishing Company. 


 

DIAS CROSS

In 1487 the explorer Bartolomeu Dias set sail from Portugal to find a sea route to the riches of the East. With a fleet of three ships he sailed down the west coast of Africa, but before reaching the Cape he was caught in a storm and driven from the shore. When the storm abated they sailed east believing they would again sight the west coast. However after sailing for several days and not sighting land they turned north and made landfall at the Gouritz river mouth on the east coast on February 3, 1488. They had unwittingly rounded the Cape of Good Hope - the first Europeans on record to do so. On his return he landed at Hout Bay.

It was a full 10 years later that Vasco da Gama set sail from Portugal, rounded the Cape and reached India, making him the first person to open the sea route from Europe to the East and proving that rounding the Cape of Good Hope did indeed provide hope of reaching the riches of the East.

Commemorative crosses have been erected to honour Dias (Figure 1) and Da Gama at Bordjiesrif and near Platboom, respectively, in the Cape of Good Hope. Ever since, the Cape of Good Hope has been an important landmark for mariners and Table Bay at the foot of the majestic

FIGURE 1: Dais Cross.

(home.intekom.com/african_lioness/ Dias%20cross.jpg)

 

RESOURCES

 

CAMERON, T. 1986. An Illustrated History of South Africa. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers.