4 January–10 April 1689
Isaq Schrijver leads an expedition into the eastern interior
On Simon van der Stel's orders, Ensign Isaq Schrijver led about twenty armed men and two wagons east from the Cape to trade for livestock with Hessequa and Inqua communities.
View in timelineOn 4 January 1689, acting on orders from Commander Simon van der Stel, Ensign Isaq Schrijver left the Castle of Good Hope with a sergeant, about twenty well-armed men and two wagons. The expedition carried trade goods and travelled through Hottentots Holland and the Overberg, following rivers and established paths through Hessequa country. The journal records assistance from eight enslaved Company workers in moving goods through the mountain kloof, and describes Hessequa kraals, grazing, cultivated land and the routes between them.
The party crossed the southern interior toward the Great Karoo, passing through the mountain routes and along the Kariega River toward the Camdeboo. On the forty-sixth day Schrijver's party met Hijkon, an Inqua captain, and negotiated an exchange. The journal records that the expedition later had more than 500 cattle and a number of sheep. During the return journey, another Khoikhoi group attacked or attempted to take the livestock; the published overview records that Schrijver's party fired a volley in response and killed about thirty people. The party returned to the Cape on 10 April.
Significance
The day register documented rivers, mountain passes, kraals, livestock exchange and the expedition's use of force. It gave the VOC a more sustained overland route into the southern interior and linked Cape procurement to Hessequa and Inqua livestock networks, while also recording the coercive risks and violence surrounding that trade.
Why it matters
The expedition connected the Cape's livestock supply to an overland route through the southern interior and produced a detailed VOC record of travel, exchange, local settlements and conflict as far as the Camdeboo.
Disputed interpretations
The journal's place names do not map perfectly onto modern geography, and the identification of the Inqua stronghold near the Camdeboo remains an historical reconstruction. The account also records the expedition primarily through VOC officers' observations and categories; the terms used for Khoikhoi communities and leaders should not be treated as neutral ethnographic descriptions.
Perspective notes
The surviving account is Schrijver's official day register. It records the party's orders, route, exchanges, livestock and military actions in detail, while the perspectives of Hessequa, Inqua and other communities survive mainly through the Dutch record of encounters.
Terminology notes
The journal calls Khoikhoi people ‘Hottentots’ and identifies communities by names such as Hessequa and Inqua. Those historical labels are retained when discussing the source; ‘Khoikhoi’ is used in the narrative as the modern term.