Graaff-Reinet


Graaff-Reinet is a town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the fourth-oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and Swellendam. The town was the center of a short-lived republic in the late 18th century. The town was a starting point for Great Trek groups led by Gerrit Maritz and Piet Retief and furnished large numbers of the Voortrekkers in 1835–1842.
Graaff-Reinet is home to more national monuments than any other town or city in South Africa. It is also known for being a flourishing market for agricultural produce, noted for its mohair industry, and sheep and ostrich farming.

History

Graaff-Reinet was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1786. The town is named after then-governor of the Cape Colony, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, and his wife. The town was originally established as a trading post to expand trading inland from the Cape Colony.
In 1795, the town's burghers, who were annoyed by company taxation, proclaimed themselves to be the independent "Colony of Graaff-Reinet". The burghers then requested guardianship from the government of the Netherlands. Similar action was subsequently taken by the burghers of Swellendam. Before the authorities at Cape Town could take decisive measures against the rebels, they were compelled to capitulate to the British who had invaded and occupied the Cape.
In January 1799, Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the 1795 independence movement, rebelled again but surrendered the following April. Prinsloo and nineteen others were imprisoned in the Cape Town castle. After trial, Prinsloo and another commandant were sentenced to death. Other conspirators were sentenced to exile. The sentences were not carried out and the prisoners were released in March 1803, on the retrocession of the Cape to the Netherlands.
In 1801, there was another revolt in Graaff Reinet, but due to the measures of General Francis Dundas, the acting governor of the Cape Colony, peace was soon restored. In February 1803, due to the 1802 signing of the Treaty of Amiens, the British returned the Cape Colony to the Netherlands, then named the Batavian Republic.
On 13 August 1814 the Cape Colony was formally ceded to Britain by a convention under which Dutch vessels were entitled to resort freely to the Cape of Good Hope for the purposes of refreshment and repairs. Britain agreed on 13 August 1814 to pay five million sterling to the United Netherlands for the Dutch possession at the Cape.
The Cape Colony received a degree of independence in 1872 when "Responsible Government" was declared in South Africa. In 1877, the government of Prime Minister John Molteno began construction of the railway line connecting Graaff-Reinet to Port Elizabeth on the coast. This railway was officially opened on 26 August 1879.
Graaff Reinet became the centre of British military operations for the Eastern Cape during the Second Boer War. In 1901, a number of captured Boer rebels were tried in the town for crimes ranging from high treason, murder, attempted murder, arson and robbery. Nine were sentenced to death, with eight of these being executed by firing squad on the outskirts of the town, while the ninth sentence was carried out in Colesberg. A monument stands in the town to commemorate these fallen Boers.

Geography

The town lies above the sea and is built on the banks of the Sundays River, which rises a little further north on the southern slopes of the Sneeuberge, and splits into several channels here.
The town is home to a number of tourist attractions, including the Dutch Reformed church in the town, which is a prominent stone building with seating to accommodate 1,500 people. The building is influenced by the architecture of Salisbury Cathedral in England. The town is also home to tourist sites such as The Valley of Desolation, Camdeboo National Park and the Reinet House Museum, a Cape Dutch building, formerly the Dutch Reformed Church parsonage.

Demographics

In the South African National Census of 2011, the population of Graaff-Reinet and the township of uMasizakhe was recorded as 35,672, which included 8,393 households. 62.2% of these residents described themselves as "Coloured", 28.2% as "Black African", and 8.7% as "White". The dominant language was Afrikaans, which was the first language of 76.0% of the population. 18.9% spoke Xhosa, and 3.6% spoke English.
The regions' indigenous languages, which include the Khoekhoe and Bushman languages, are rarely spoken, as historically the locals were prohibited from speaking their native languages.

Notable people

Great Trek and Boer Republics

Drostdy

In 1804, when the Cape Colony was ruled by the Batavian Republic, the government assigned armorial seals to each of the drostdyen, i.e. administrative districts. Graaff Reinet was given the arms of its founder, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, namely a silver shield displaying two black stripes with embattled edges, and a golden canton bearing a double-headed black eagle. An anchor was placed behind the shield. The British authorities discontinued the drostdy seals in 1814, and replaced them with the royal coat of arms.

Municipal (1)

In September 1911, the Graaff Reinet municipal council adopted the Van de Graaff arms, complete with crest, supporters and motto.

Municipal (2)

The coat of arms was re-designed in the 1980s, and registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in May 1979.
The arms were now: Argent, two bars embattled counter-embattled Gules, on a canton Sable an anchor erect Or. The crest was differenced by placing a golden anchor on the eagle's breast. The supporters and motto remained the same.

Divisional council

The divisional council, i.e. the local authority for the rural areas outside the town, assumed its own coat of arms, had it granted by the provincial administrator in July 1966 and registered it at the Bureau of Heraldry in January 1969.
The arms were: Argent, on a chevron Vert. a pair of compasses expanded Argent, in base a spade erect Sable, on a chief embattled Sable a merino ram's head caboshed Or. In layman's terms, a silver shield displaying, from top to bottom, a golden merino ram's head on a black stripe with an embattled edge, a pair of silver compasses on a green chevron, and an upright black spade.
The crest was a double-headed black eagle, and the motto was Monemus et minimus.