PEOPLE OF CAMISSA

Why, I am asked, is Cape Town where it is and not on the great sweep of False Bay to the East of Table Mountain? After all, Table Bay in winter is not attractive to sailing ships.  Many have been lost on its shores, driven by the storms coming into the Bay from the North West.  The Dutch treated these storms with respect and sent their ships to ride them out at Simons Town on False Bay.

The reason is water. In the dry summer months there is a river flowing into Table Bay and the waters of this river are what the Dutch called soetwater; sweet water.  It is fed by springs from Table Mountain and when the Dutch established their first farm it was irrigated by this river. 

For many years indigenous people lived beside the river, grazing their cattle and taking shellfish from the Bay.  They gave this river the name Camissa which we translate from their language as clean, clear water for all.  The people living beside the river called themselves the Ammaqua, which is translated as the Water People.

After the Portuguese rounded the tip of Africa in 1487 they established a long and dangerous route from Europe to the riches of the Spice Islands in the far East.  Over the next 150 years ships of many nationalities embarked on this journey and found that if they called at this flat mountain at the end of Africa and were friendly and respectful to the locals they could replenish their ships.

The leader of this indigenous people in the early 1600s was Autshimao and he was well liked and respected by the ship’s captains.  The British took him on one of their onward voyages to Java, where he learned to speak English and Dutch and was shown how to provide assistance the ships needed, including repairs.

For a time after his return to the Cape he was well respected and the British even referred to him as the Governor of the Cape.

The arrival of the Dutch changed this peaceful situation.  The man chosen by the Dutch to establish a fort on the seashore and a farm beside the Camissa was not a diplomat.  He had been sent back to Holland from the Dutch East India, after being accused of fraud.  Accounts of his character indicate an impatient, hot tempered man.  His name was Jan van Riebeeck.

The handful of settlers who had arrived with van Riebecck struggled to establish a small farm and needed the goodwill of the local people but early exchanges did not go well.  Autshimao was arrested and accused of stealing cattle.  He was sent to Robben Island in Table Bay, where he became the first prisoner of a place which plays an extraordinary part in the modern history of South Africa.

Autshimao’s story continues when he escaped from Robben Island, apparently in a small boat which was leaking and thought to be unseaworthy.  For reasons lost in conflicting accounts he was rehabilitated by Jan van Riebeeck and continued to work with the Dutch as an interpreter.  Unlike the British, who had respected Autshimao, the Dutch treated this remarkable man with scorn and referred to him as ‘Harry die Strandloper’, a name which implies he was no more than someone who foraged on the sea shore for shellfish.  

He needs to be viewed and treated with a new respect as the leader of the Water People of Camissa, who welcomed the sailors and were the true, original citizens of this beautiful, welcoming City at the end of Africa. 

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