1673
VOC records a land transaction with Chaitain Dhouw
VOC records described a 1673 land transaction in the Hottentots Holland region involving the Khoikhoi leader Chaitain Dhouw.
View in timelineIn 1673, VOC records described land in the Hottentots Holland region as having been bartered from the Khoikhoi leader Chaitain Dhouw. The transaction was recorded as part of the Company’s dealings over access to land and grazing in an area where the new outpost and established pastoral networks overlapped.
Significance
The transaction connected livestock and land interests and became part of the Company’s documentary justification for expansion into the Overberg.
Why it matters
The transaction connected livestock and land interests and became part of the Company’s documentary justification for expansion into the Overberg.
Disputed interpretations
The surviving description leaves the form of exchange, the translation of the agreement and its permanent legal meaning open to interpretation.