Historedia
AfricaEvent

Establishment of the Dutch East India Company Resupply Camp at the Cape of Good Hope

When
1652
Where
Table Bay
Episodes
1

In April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck arrived at Table Bay to establish a Dutch East India Company way-station. He was tasked with building a fort, improving the anchorage, and planting crops to resupply ships bound for the East Indies.

Episodes

  1. 6–7 April 1652 · Table BayArrival at Table Bay

    Van Riebeeck and his crew landed at the future Cape Town site in early April 1652.

Background and detail

Arrival and Establishment. Van Riebeeck landed two ships in Table Bay on 6 April 1652, with a third arriving the next day. The group established a way-station, beginning work on Fort de Goede Hoop and agricultural projects to support passing vessels.

Operational Mandate. As Commander of the Cape, Van Riebeeck was charged with constructing a fort, improving the natural anchorage, and planting cereals and fruit. He also sought to obtain livestock from the indigenous Khoi people to sustain the resupply camp.

People involved

Sources

  1. Cape Town Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
  2. Jan van Riebeeck Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.