South Africa

The Castle of Good Hope: A Dutch Fort in South Africa

Castle of Good Hope (Kasteel de Goede Hoop), Cape Town, South Africa. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The Castle of Good Hope (Kasteel de Goede Hoop) is the oldest building in South Africa, it was built by the Dutch East India Company (VOC, Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) between 1666 and 1679; it was built in stone in substitution of a first wooden fort which was built in 1652 ...

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The Dutch in South Africa, 1652-1795 and 1802-1806

Castle of Good Hope (Kasteel de Goede Hoop), Cape Town, South Africa. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The Dutch settlement history in South Africa began in March 1647 with the shipwreck of the Dutch ship Nieuwe Haarlem. The shipwreck victims built a small fort named “Sand Fort of the Cape of Good Hope”. They stayed for nearly one year at the Cape. Finally they were rescued by ...

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The Dutch Heritage in South Africa: the Afrikaans Language and the Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) symbol it's still at the entrance gate of the Castle of Good Hope (Kasteel de Goede Hoop), Cape Town, South Africa. Author and Copyright Marco Ramerini

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. THE AFRIKAANS LANGUAGE Afrikaans is a language of Dutch origin and structure similar to Flemish; it’s also influenced by various African languages and by Portuguese, German, French and Malay. Afrikaans was declared an official tongue of South Africa besides English in 1925. Afrikaans is not only spoken by the White ...

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