Cornelius Vijn

Cornelius Vijn, also known as Viljoen, (born 1856) was a Dutch trader who was taken from his homestead as an advisor for Cetshwayo during the Anglo-Zulu War. He would gain fame after publishing his personal journal relating his experience under the Zulu monarch.

Biography

Vijn was born in Hoorn, Holland in 1856.^[1]

 

photograph of King Cetshwayo ca.1875

In 1874 Vijn would move to Natal and begin working as a trader where he would trade blankets for cattle in the colony.^[1][2] Starting in 1878 he would begin making trips to Zululand.^[3]

At the beginning of the Anglo-Zulu War Vijn was detained and arrested from his homestead in Zululand.^[4] He would be brought to King Cetshwayo who placed him under his protection.^[5] During this time Vijn began to act as an advisor and secretary.^[6][7][8] He would also act as a translator for communications between the king and British forces.^[9] While writing translated replies for the king he would warn the British Commander Chelmsford of gathering Zulu forces just prior to the Battle of Ulundi.^[2] After the battle, Vijn was hired by Sir Garnet Wolseley to track down the Zulu king but was unable to locate him.^[1][10]

The Journal

Vijn would keep a journal describing his experiences, largely defending the Zulu king under the title Cetshwayo's Dutchman.^[11][12] In his work he would relate how the Zulu people mourned following losses in battle, how they would continuously ask him to explain the alien practices of the British, and how they demanded that he reveal their supernatural powers.^[7][8][13]

In 1880, Vijn's journal was published by Bishop Colenso.^[14][15]

References

1. Greaves, Adrian; Knight, Ian (6 October 2007). Who's Who in the Zulu War, 1879: The Colonials and The Zulus. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78159-731-6.
2. Macdonald, William (1933). The Romance of the Golden Rand: Being the Romantic Story of the Life and Work of the Pioneers of the Witwatersrand--the World's Greatest Goldfields. Cassell, limited.
3. Dublin Review. Vol. 86. W. Spooner. 1880.
4. LABAND, JOHN (2014). Zulu Warriors: The Battle for the South African Frontier. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18031-2. JSTOR j.ctt5vm2hq.
5. Lock, Ron (1995). Blood on the Painted Mountain: Zulu Victory and Defeat, Hlobane and Kambula, 1879. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-201-9.
6. Grant, James (1884). Recent British Battles on Land and Sea. Cassell.
7. Harrison, Simon (1 June 2012). Dark Trophies: Hunting and the Enemy Body in Modern War. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-0-85745-499-7.
8. Hanson, Victor Davis (18 December 2007). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8.
9. Lock, Ron; Quantrill, Peter (2005). Zulu Vanquished: The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom. Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-660-4.
10. Clarke, Sonia (1979). Invasion of Zululand, 1879: Anglo-Zulu War Experiences of Arthur Harness; John Jervis, 4th Viscount St. Vincent; and Sir Henry Bulwer. Brenthurst Press. ISBN 978-0-909079-11-6.
11. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. Vol. 10. Royal Society of South Africa. 1898 [1897].
12. Weltig, Matthew Scott (1 September 2008). The Aftermath of the Anglo-Zulu War. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 978-0-8225-7599-3.
13. Furneaux, Rupert (1963). The Zulu War: Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift. Lippincott.
14. Vijn, Cornelius (1880). Cetshwayo's Dutchman: Being the Private Journal of a White Trader in Zululand During the British Invasion. Longmans, Green, and Company.
15. COPE, A.T. (1981). "The Zulu War in Zulu Perspective". Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory (56): 41–50. ISSN 0040-5817. JSTOR 41801671.