The cattle trade was the first market in the valley’s story. From 1652 the Dutch East India Company needed fresh meat for its ships, and bartered for Khoekhoe cattle and sheep [IC]. No money changed hands. The company paid in goods: iron, copper, beads, tobacco, and brandy [IC]. For the Khoekhoe of the Overberg, the trade began as an exchange between equals and ended with most of their herds, and their land, in colonial hands [IC]. See Money and Land.
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from the institution’s own records, histories, or statements, or from one community’s own sources. It has not been checked against sources that do not depend on them.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
At a glance
| When | From 1652; in the Overberg from 1657, and at its height from 1662 to 1713 [IC] |
| Who | The company and the Chainoqua and Hessequa [IC] |
| What was traded | Cattle and sheep, for iron, copper, beads, tobacco, and brandy [IC] |
| How it worked | Barter, without money [IC] |
How the trade worked
Khoekhoe wealth was held in cattle, and before the Dutch came Khoekhoe traders already carried goods far into the interior [IC]. The Dutch first met the Chainoqua on 14 November 1657, and regular trading expeditions into the Overberg followed [IC]. In 1661 the Chainoqua leader Soeswa visited Jan van Riebeeck and agreed a cattle trade [IC]. From 1662 to 1713 the Chainoqua and Hessequa were the company’s largest suppliers of cattle and sheep [IC]. From 1679 to 1693 the Chainoqua leader Dorha acted as the company’s go-between [IC]. Company expeditions travelled far to trade. In 1689 Ensign Isaq Schrijver’s expedition returned with about a thousand head of cattle [IC].
The company kept cattle posts in the Overberg to hold the animals it bartered [IC]. It tried to keep the trade for itself, and colonists who traded with the Khoekhoe on their own account were breaking its rules [TBV].
What the trade did
The trade took breeding animals out of Khoekhoe herds faster than the herds could grow [TBV]. At the same time, colonists took the grazing land and water that the herds depended on [IC]. Historians describe the Khoekhoe as undermined by “the incessant Dutch demands for their cattle and encroachment on their grazing lands and waterholes” [IC]. After the smallpox epidemic of 1713, the trade faded, and many Khoekhoe who had lost their herds went to work on colonial farms [IC].
What is still open
- What a cow or sheep fetched in the Overberg trade, and how prices changed.
- What the Chainoqua did with the goods they received.
- How much of the trade in the valley was carried on outside the company’s rules.
Related
References
- Britannica. Southern Africa: European and African interaction. The goods bartered, Khoekhoe traders, and the effect of the trade.
- The Digging Stick, volume 6, number 3 (November 1989). Archaeological Society of South Africa. First contact with the Chainoqua and the trade of 1662 to 1713.
- Wikipedia. Isaq Schrijver. The expedition of 1689.
- CapeNature. Riviersonderend Complex Protected Area Management Plan 2021 to 2031, section 2.5. Soeswa’s trade agreement, Dorha, and the cattle posts.