The Castle of Good Hope​

The Castle of Good Hope is the largest and oldest colonial building still standing in Cape Town. Construction of the fort began fourteen years after Jan van Riebeeck established the foundation for the Cape Colonu in Cape Town for ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1652. It was partly built by enslaved people who had to do the dirtiest and heaviest work in the colony. Now it functions as a museum. School groups walk in and out.

"More than 60,000 men, women and children were enslaved," says director Gilfellan. "The VOC imported slaves. There were also indigenous peoples here, but the VOC did not know how large that population was and was afraid of an uprising. So the Dutch brought enslaved people from Madagascar, Mozambique and present-day Indonesia and India to the Cape."

"There seems to be a kind of forgetfulness about this part of Dutch colonial history. The Remembrance Year for the History of Slavery seems mainly focused on Suriname and the Caribbean. In South Africa the group was smaller, but we also want recognition." - Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO Castle of Good Hope. 

​Source: NOS "Nazaten slaafgemaakten in Zuid-Afrika willen ook Nederlandse erkenning"