Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/156





CAPE COLONY AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.

APE COLONY extends officially over an area more than double as large as that which it comprised in 1870. But within its narrower limits, as defined before that period, it constitutes a well-marked physical region, with perfectly distinct geographical and historical outlines. Occupying the entire southern extremity of the con- tinent, the territory has for its natural limits the ocean and the course of the Orange River on three sides, while towards the east it is separated from the Kafir domain by the little river Tees, an affluent of the Orange, and by the valleys of the Indwe and Great Kei, which flow to the Indian Ocean. Its superficial area is about exactly the same as that of France, but notwithstanding the somewhat rapid annual increase of the population, it is still forty times less than that of the same region.

Over one hundred and fifty years ensued after the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope before any Europeans succeeded in obtaining a permanent footing in the country. A few marines landed from time to time, but soon left again. In 1620 the English even took formal possession in the name of King James I., but never followed up this act by any practical steps. Robben Island, in Table Bay, which has since been nearly always a place of banishment or a convict station, was also occasionally occupied by British or Portuguese immigrants, either free settlers or exiles.

But the pioneers of colonisation at the southern extremity of the continent did not present themselves till 1652. Van Riebeck, the first governor sent by the "Dutch East India Company," lauded in that year with his family and about a hundred soldiers at the foot of Table Mountain, where he immediately began to build a fort. The first bumble dwellings were grouped on the site where now rise the buildings of Cape Town, and their occupants began forthwith to cultivate a few fields and garden plots. Despite the great difficulties attending this first attempt the Company succeeded in its main object, which was to facilitate the re-victualling of Dutch vessels plying between Holland and the East Indies. The military station