Tag: Cape free burghers

Universal or qualified franchise: Cape early history

by GilesFiles | Dec 28, 2025 | AD - Personal archives, AU - ChatGPT, Insights | 0 |

Early Cape Colony (1658–1806): franchise not yet a real concept For the first 150 years, the question is largely anachronistic. The VOC governed the Cape as a company possession, not a polity. There was no representative...

1658 Broertje Pieterzoon: The Liesbeeck Frontier

by GilesFiles | Dec 28, 2025 | AD - Personal archives, AE - Leon Louw, AU - ChatGPT, Insights | 0 |

1658, Broertje Pieterzoon, and the Liesbeeck Frontier Our family’s story in South Africa begins in 1658 with Broertje (Pieterzoon), one of the earliest free burghers settled along the Liesbeeck River. The farms that became...