Huguenots in South Africa

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A large number of people in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but have since been quickly absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans population, thanks to sharing a similar religion to the Dutch colonists.

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[edit] History

The Huguenot Monument of Franschhoek.
The Huguenot Monument of Franschhoek.

After a commissioner was sent out from the Cape Colony in 1685 to attract more settlers, a more dedicated group of immigrants began to arrive. French refugees began to arrive in the Cape after leaving their country after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

On December 31, 1687 a band of Huguenots set sail from France to the colony at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Individual Huguenots settled at the Cape of Good Hope from as early as 1671 and an organized, large scale emigration of Huguenots to the Cape of Good Hope took place during 1688 and 1689. A notable example of this is the emigration of Huguenots from La Motte d'Aigues in Provence, France.

This small body of immigrants had a marked influence on the character of the Dutch settlers. Owing to the policy instituted in 1701 of the Dutch East India Company which dictated that schools should teach exclusively in Dutch and strict laws of assembly, the French Huguenots ceased by the middle of the 18th century to maintain a distinct identity, and the knowledge of French disappeared.[1]

[edit] Franschhoek

Franschhoek Valley
Franschhoek Valley

Many of these settlers chose as their home an area called Franschhoek, Dutch for "French corner", in the present day Western Cape province of South Africa. The valley was originally settled in 1688 by French Huguenot refugees, many of whom were given land by the Dutch government in a valley called Olifantshoek ("Elephant's corner"), so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area. The name of the area soon changed to Franschhoek, with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, La Cotte, Cabriere, Provence, Chamonix, Dieu Donne and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned wineries, such as Boschendal which is one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa.

The Boschendal estate's title deeds are dated 1685, but this is likely to be a clerical mistake since the estate's first owner, Jean de Long, was one of the party of 200 French Huguenot refugees granted land in the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch East India Company in 1688. In 1715 the farm was acquired by another Huguenot family, the de Villers, and it remained owned by them until 1879.

A large monument to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots in South Africa was inaugurated on 7 April 1948 at Franschhoek.

[edit] Legacy

Close-up of the globe on the Franschoek memorial, inscribed "Die Hugenote" ("The Huguenots")
Close-up of the globe on the Franschoek memorial, inscribed "Die Hugenote" ("The Huguenots")

Many of the farms in the Western Cape province in South Africa still bear French names and there are many families, today mostly Afrikaans speaking, whose surnames bear witness to their French Huguenot ancestry. Examples of these are: Theron, Blignaut, Cronje (Cronier), de Klerk (Le Clercq), Visagie (Visage), de Villiers, du Plessis, du Toit, Fourie, Fouche, Giliomee (Guilliaume), Hugo, Joubert, and Labuschagne (la Buscagne), le Roux, Lombard, Malan, Malherbe, Marais, Terreblanche and Viljoen amongst others, which are all common surnames in present day South Africa.[2] The wine industry in South Africa owed a significant debt to the Huguenots, many of whom had vineyards in France.

Many Afrikaans writers have Huguenot surnames, and they have also been vehement in their support of Boer nationalism, and sometimes apartheid. Some of the Huguenot descendants were involved in setting up the Society of Real Afrikaners

Various French language names have also gained currency amongst Afrikaners e.g. Francois & Eugene - Francois Pienaar

[edit] List of South Africans of Huguenot descent

Some of the original forms of the surnames have been put in brackets.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of the French Protestant Refugees, from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our own days. M. Charles Weiss (Translated from the French by Henry William Herbert), 1854. New York: Stringer & Townsend.
  2. ^ Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud. Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa. Bernard Lugan. January 1996. [ISBN 2841000869]

[edit] Further reading

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