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1 – 5 of 5This chapter explores the implications of patrimonial politics in the Dutch East India Company empire in the context of establishing a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in…
Abstract
This chapter explores the implications of patrimonial politics in the Dutch East India Company empire in the context of establishing a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa in the mid-seventeenth century. The Cape extended the reach of Company patrimonial networks with elite Company officials circulating throughout the Indian Ocean empire and consolidating their familial ties through marriage both within the colonies and in the United Provinces. These patrimonial networks extended to the Cape as elite Company officials created families locally or married Cape-born women. As the colony grew, the Company created a class of free-burghers some the wealthiest of whom were tied directly into elite Company patrimonial networks. But from the early eighteenth century onwards these elite Company networks came into conflict with the evolving free-burgher patrimonial networks with which they were in direct competition. This paper argues that local patrimonial networks can evolve in a settler colony that challenge the elite patrimonial networks of the imperial elite.
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Describes South Africa's viticultural background to illustrate the shape of that industry's present marketing picture in the light of diminishing anctions and the country's…
Abstract
Describes South Africa's viticultural background to illustrate the shape of that industry's present marketing picture in the light of diminishing anctions and the country's present socio‐economic changes — being out of the international market for such a long time has had interesting effects on the whole of the South African market.
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The 1994 elections had seen a near tectonic change in South Africa. The long run minority White regime was replaced by a majority Black government of the African National Congress…
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The 1994 elections had seen a near tectonic change in South Africa. The long run minority White regime was replaced by a majority Black government of the African National Congress headed by Nelson Mandela. He, along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, did a magnificent job of avoiding a bloodbath and keeping peace between the races. A new Constitution was accepted by 1996 which subscribed to lofty ideals. Yet, they turned sour before long. Aspirations ran ahead of hard realities. Utopia seems to have morphed into dystopia. Greed, prompted by past deprivation, appears to have made opportunists of several while others became blind ideologues. In no time, the country turned to be totally corrupt. This spectacular failure of the system is explained in this chapter.
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