Qn. How did the Dutch east Indian company govern the cape colony between 1662 and 1795 or ) ➢ The cape colony was organized in the interest of DEICO • It had four major instruments i.e. the council of policy, defense, justice and the Dutch reformed church • As a colony was under the governor who was being supervised by the company directors. Summarized notes of the History of South Africa, July 2019 Page | 25 • The governor was responsible for planning and administering the cape and other territories in Far East. • The governor resided at Batavia and was assisted by the council policy • The council of policy was made up of 17 people including seven senior officials e.g. Jan van Reinbeck, Simon van der – stel, willen Adrian-der-stel e.t.c. • The council was charged with supervision of judicial, executive, social and economic affairs of the cape. • It was also charged with all officials working for the company • It debated, considered and passed bills in the interest of the company. • The council of policy failed to represent the settlers and African interest in the cape colony. • It was the highest executive and legislation authority. • The council of justice was appointed and approved by the council of policy. • The council of justice had its headquarters at the cape colony. • It acted as the main court of appeal. • The governors at the cape never attended its meetings. • The magistrates were not independent and presided over local courts in each district. • In courts there was no justice because lawyers and judges were ignorant, unintelligent, inexperienced or corrupt because they were just appointed to fulfill the company’s interests. • In the interior, a matrimonial court was set up to advice the young Boers who wanted to marry them selves. • The chief of police acted as the prosecutor. • The defense council had Boer commando unit to defend the coast from foreign attacks. • The settlers formed burgher local military units to protect the settlers internally against Africans. • The Dutch reformed church was responsible for performing baptism and confirmation ceremonies. • It also confirmed the belief that the Africans were harm and the whites were sham as per the book of genesis • It controlled literacy and education at the cape colony
Missionaries came to East Africa for various reasons. These were economic, social, and humanitarian in nature. The missionaries had the ambition to spread Christianity to the people of East Africa. This would be through preaching and teaching the holy gospel so that many would get converted to Christianity They wanted to fight against slave trade in East Africa. Earlier travelers like John Speke and James Grant, H.M. Stanley, Dr. David Livingstone and others had reported about the evils of slave trade in East Africa. Christian missionaries therefore came with an intention of putting an end to end introducing or replacing it with legitimate trade. Missionaries wanted to resettle the freed slaves in East Africa by setting up resettlement centers both in the interior and at the coast for example at Bagamoyo and Free town near Mombasa. They wanted to check on the spread of Islam in East Africa from the coast with intentions of converting many to Christian...
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