Negotiated peace ends the First Khoikhoi–Dutch War

The war had begun after the establishment of free-burgher farms on land used by Khoekhoe pastoralists. Goringhaiqua forces raided settler cattle and attempted to make the farms untenable; the VOC withdrew exposed farmers, built defensive works and carried out armed countermeasures. Neither side achieved all its aims, and continued fighting disrupted both trade and access to livestock.

Negotiations in April 1660 ended active hostilities. The Goringhaiqua accepted the continued presence of the farms, while the VOC resumed commercial relations and did not destroy or remove the Goringhaiqua community. Accounts of the negotiations record Khoekhoe objections to the loss of grazing land, but the settlement did not restore their former access to the Liesbeeck area.

Significance

Peace brought immediate benefits by ending raids and reprisals and reopening cattle trade. Its territorial outcome favoured the VOC and free burghers because the farms and defensive boundary remained. The agreement therefore combined a negotiated end to mutual insecurity with an unequal resolution of the underlying land dispute.