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
)
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.
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.