1662
Krotoa baptised into the Dutch Reformed Church
Krotoa, the Goringhaicona interpreter known in the Dutch settlement as Eva, was baptised in the Reformed church at the Cape in 1662.
View in timelineIn 1662, Krotoa was baptised in the Reformed church at the Cape and received the name Eva. She had worked as an interpreter between the Dutch settlement and Goringhaicona networks, and had been raised in Jan and Maria van Riebeeck’s household. The baptism placed her within a Christian institutional setting while she continued to occupy an intermediary position between communities.
Significance
The baptism connected Krotoa’s interpreting work and household position with the colony’s Reformed institution and shaped the public identity under which her later marriage was recorded.
Why it matters
The baptism connected Krotoa’s interpreting work and household position with the colony’s Reformed institution and shaped the public identity under which her later marriage was recorded.
Disputed interpretations
The baptism falls in 1662; the exact day and the extent to which the ceremony represented Krotoa’s own religious commitments or the household’s expectations require careful reading of the church register and related diary entries.