Willem Adriaan van der Stel

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Willem Adriaan van der Stel (b. 1665 Haarlem - d. 1720 Amsterdam) was Governor of the Cape Colony, a way station for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), from January 23, 1699 to 1707. He was dismissed after a revolt and was exiled to the Netherlands.

1 Early Life
2 Rule as Governor
3 Revolt and dismissal
4 Alternate views on van der Stel's legacy
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Early Life

Van der Stel was the oldest son of Simon van der Stel (1639-1712) and Johanna Jacoba Six (1645-1700), who were prominent members of the Dutch merchant world. His paternal grandfather had been the governor of Mauritius, and his maternal grandfather was mayor of Amsterdam. He was in his mid-teens when he went to the Cape with his father in 1679. Five years later he returned to Holland where he spent the formative years of his young adulthood. He did not return to the Cape until 1699 when he was appointed to succeed his father as Governor of the colony.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Rule as Governor

Van der Stel displayed an interest in horticulture and agriculture and conducted extensive farming experiments. He was the author of one of South Africa's earliest gardening almanacs.^[3] Van der Stel expanded the VOC's gardens and sent expeditions towards the north to explore the rest of the country. He established the "Land van Waveren", now known as Tulbach^[4] and laid the cornerstone for the Grootte Kerk in Cape Town.^[5]

Van der Stel’s legacy is however stained by his apparent greed and extravagance^[6]. During his rule, van der Stel was viewed as corrupt and dictatorial.^[7]

[edit] Revolt and dismissal

Van der Stel owned a private estate, Vergelegen, which is the origin of the present day Somerset West and its wine route. The land was granted to him in 1700, and he spent much of the VOC resources on its development. This allowed him an unfair advantage and led to strained relationships with the local “free burghers” (independent farmers).^[8]

His unilateral actions determining who could participate in the monopoly of wine and meat^[9] triggered a revolt amongst the farmers, and in 1706 Adam Tas and Henning Husing drew up a petition objecting to Van der Stel's activities. Some 63 (out of 550) burghers signed the document and it was sent to the VOC headquarters in Amsterdam.

The petition was at first rejected. Van der Stel had Tas arrested, tried and imprisoned - in the "Black Hole" an infamous dungeon at the Castle of Good Hope.

Because 31 of the signatories were Huguenots, and since the Netherlands was at war with France, the failed petition continued to cause concern in Amsterdam. Fearing that the discontent might cause some burghers to become spies for the French, the VOC dismissed van der Stel, and ordered his return to the Netherlands (April 23, 1707).^[10] He left the colony in 1708 and returned to the Netherlands where he spent the rest of his life in exile. Subsequently no VOC employees were allowed to own land in the colony.^[11]

Three years after his dismissal, Vergelegen was sold and divided into four separate farms, and the homestead was ordered to be demolished.^[12]

[edit] Alternate views on van der Stel's legacy

There is some disagreement regarding van der Stel's legacy. Although most sources agree that his rule at the Cape was authoritarian, beset by favoritism, and characterized by misuse of company assets, others claim that this was in no way unique to van der Stel's reign.^[13]^[14]

Some point to the scale of his plans and activities in agriculture and horticulture as evidence indicating a man of great vision and imagination.^[15]^[16] Others note his role in the development of the unique Cape Dutch architecture^[17], and see him as a martyr.^[18]