28 February 1706
Adam Tas is arrested
On 28 February 1706, Stellenbosch magistrate Johannes Starrenburg arrested Adam Tas after discovering his role in organising a petition against Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel.
View in timelineDuring the night of 27–28 February 1706, the Stellenbosch magistrate Johannes Starrenburg arrested Adam Tas at his home and sent him to Cape Town. Tas had helped draft and circulate a petition in which free burghers accused Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel and Company officials of using office, landholding and trading privileges to compete against them. Authorities seized Tas's papers, which exposed the names of other petitioners and intensified the government's response.
Significance
The arrest became a turning point in the burgher campaign, providing a precise anchor for the escalation from petitioning to imprisonment, counter-petitions and intervention by the VOC directors.
Why it matters
The arrest converted a dispute over official farming and trade into a legal and political confrontation that drew the VOC's directors into Cape affairs.
Perspective notes
Tas's diary records the arrest and petitioners' grievances, while the governor's report presents the administration's case against the organisers. Together with the petition, these documents preserve the competing positions of the free-burgher campaign and Cape officials.