Abraham Gabbema explores the Berg River region

On 19 October 1657, Abraham Gabbema led a VOC party inland from the Cape settlement in search of trade and information about routes and livestock beyond the settled peninsula. The party travelled through the Berg River region and recorded watercourses, mountains, salt pans and grazing country. On 22 October the journal described a prominent granite mountain whose shape resembled a klapmuts, a brimmed cap; the travellers named it Diamond and Pearl Mountain, later Paarl Mountain. The party also recorded the Berg River and Klapmuts area in its route descriptions.

The expedition involved exchange as well as observation. On returning on 3 November, the party brought seven cattle, three calves and 41 sheep, together with copper wire and plates, tobacco and pipes used in the transactions. The journal records what the VOC travellers saw and acquired; it does not provide a full account of the communities whose territory they crossed or of their political relationships with one another.

Significance

The journey expanded VOC geographical knowledge of Khoikhoi-controlled territory and demonstrated that inland livestock trade could be reached from the Cape. Its route records and commercial contacts became part of the information used in subsequent northern expeditions.