Foibles of memory

Stanley - quinta-feira

I'm sure what happened to me this week happens to everyone my age. I remembered something from the time of childhood, only to realise that it no longer exists. Usually, when this happens, it's about something physical: Balyna's fabulous diskbat cricket game; Studebakers; the Doll's House drive-up restaurant in Johannesburg; dial phones; blue flash bulbs for your camera; newsreels before movies; restaurants with tableside jukeboxes; home delivery of milk in glass bottles; 45 rpm vinyl records; BAYKO building sets; and WHITES ONLY signs. 

1950 Studebaker

Doll's House manager Lucky Mulewa carrying window tray to customer car

Do youngsters today know how to use one?

Flash bulb

News before the movie

I can't stand music in restaurants - this was worse!

I loved building BAYKO houses.

I could never stand these either.

And more recently gone but not forgotten (at least in South Africa): Marmite and peppermint crisps.

My flashback happened yesterday, which was April 6. Specifically what happened was that I thought it was a public holiday. Why? Because, when I grew up, April 6 celebrated the landing in 1652 at Table Bay of an employee of the Dutch East India Company, Jan van Riebeeck, and a small group of people whose task was to create a garden to supply vegetables to DEIC ships going to and from the East Indies. It was originally called Van Riebeeck's Day, and later Founders Day.

Van Riebeeck lands at the Cape - panting by Charles Bell

Model of Van Riebeeck's ship - the Dromedaris

When I noticed that traffic was the same, and people were going to work as usual, I realised my mistake. After the apartheid regime was replaced by a democratically-elected parliament in 1994, Founders Day was scrapped because, of course, Van Riebeeck and his colleagues weren't the first people to settle the Cape. The Khoikhoi had been there for eons.

That got me to think about the fact that Europeans had been rounding the Cape en route to the East for a very long time before Van Riebeeck planted his first potatoes. And that reminded me that but for one stupid mistake, I could have been writing this in Portuguese. I've written about this before, but it's worth a reprise.

In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias was the first known European to round the Cape - he called it Cabo das Tormentas - Cape of Storms.  King John II of Portugal later renamed it Cabo da Boa Esperança - Cape of Good Hope.

In 1497 Vasco da Gama also rounded the Cape and established that the route could be used to gain access to the spice producers of the East.  Until this time Venice had monopolised the spice trade through a combination of sea and overland through the Middle East. This discovery led to a massive Portuguese influence in the East.

Vasco da Gama

It is unclear why the Portuguese did not establish a settlement at the Cape - the harbours were good and the climate excellent.  They established settlements in what is now Mozambique in 1505, on the Island of Mozambique among other places.  And in 1575 that they created at settlement at Luanda in what is now Angola.  But they left the southern tip of Africa alone.

One argument of why this happened is because of what happened to another famous Portuguese explorer and colonist - Francisco de Almeida.  

Francisco de Almeida

In 1503 he was appointed Viceroy of India and left Portugal two years later with an impressive fleet.  He subdued most of the east coast of Africa, including Zanzibar, then accomplished the same in eastern and southern India.  By early 1509, the Portuguese had control over the area, with the Ottomans and Egyptians returning home.  This gave the Portuguese a monopoly over the spice trade for over 100 years.

In December 1509, De Almeida set sale for Portugal to pay homage to his king and to receive royal accolades for his successes. He cast anchor in Table Bay at the Cape for water and replenishment.  After some friendly trade with the local Khoi, De Almeida allowed some of his men to go to the Khoi encampment to steal cattle.  While this was happening, De Almeida and other men looked on.  

Unfortunately, at the same time, the ships were moved to a point where they could get fresh water.  The Khoi sensed that the Portuguese had no way to return to the boats and attacked.  Eventually 64 seamen were killed including De Almeida.  He was buried at the Cape.

After this slaughter, Portuguese seamen had a very negative attitude towards the Cape, this possibly being the reason why no further efforts were made for a very long time by the Portuguese or anyone else to use the Cape as a refreshment station.  In fact, nothing of importance from a European perspective happened at the Cape for nearly 150 years, when the Dutch established their vegetable gardens.

And so, if it were not for De Almeida's stupid decision to allow his men to steal cattle, I would be writing this in Portuguese.

Tim-tim