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Huguenots in South Africa

January 01, 1970

Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.

French South Africans
  • Sud-africains français
  • Franse Suid-Afrikaners
Commemorating 300 years of Huguenot history in South Africa
Regions with significant populations
Western Cape · Gauteng · Free State · Limpopo
Languages
South African English · French · Afrikaans
Religion
Christianity (mainly Calvinism)
Related ethnic groups
French Canadians (Québécois), Afrikaners, Walloons, Cajuns, Caledonians, French, Louisiana Creoles, Pieds-Noirs, Romands

Early arrivals edit

 
Huguenots building their homesteads

Even before the large-scale arrival of the Huguenots at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century, a small number of individual Huguenot refugees settled there. They included Francois Villion, later known as Viljoen, and the du Toit brothers. In fact, the first Huguenot to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope was Maria de la Quellerie, the wife of governor Jan van Riebeeck, who started the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company; however, she and her husband left for Batavia after ten years.

After a commissioner was sent out from the Cape Colony in 1685 to attract more settlers, a more dedicated group of immigrants began to arrive. A larger number of French refugees began to arrive in the Cape after leaving their country as a result of the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685), which revoked the Edict of Nantes (1598) that had granted religious toleration to Protestants.

Mass migration edit

On 31 December 1687 a group of Huguenots fled from France (as a result of the Edict of Fontainebleau). This was part of the first of the large scale emigration of Huguenots to the Cape of Good Hope, which took place during 1688 and 1689. In total some 180 Huguenots from France, and 18 Walloons from present-day Belgium, eventually settled at the Cape of Good Hope. A notable example of this is the emigration of Huguenots from La Motte-d'Aigues in Provence, France. After this large scale emigration, individual Huguenot immigrant families arrived at the Cape of Good Hope as late as the first quarter of the 18th century, and the state-subsidised emigration of Huguenots was stopped in 1706. Emigrations took place mainly because of religious persecution by the Catholic rulers.

This small body of immigrants had a marked influence on the character of the Dutch settlers. They were purposely spread out and given farms amongst the Dutch farmers. Owing to the policy instituted in 1701 of the Dutch East India Company which dictated that schools should teach exclusively in Dutch, that all official correspondence had to be done in Dutch, and strict laws of assembly, the Huguenots ceased by the middle of the 18th century to maintain a distinct identity, and the knowledge of French diminished and eventually disappeared as a home language.[1] This assimilation into the colonial population was also due to the fact that many Huguenot descendants married individuals from the Dutch population, spurred by the Huguenots and Dutch sharing a common Calvinist religion.

Franschhoek edit

 
Franschhoek Valley

Many of these settlers were allocated farms in an area later called Franschhoek, Dutch for "French corner", in the present-day Western Cape province of South Africa. The valley was originally known as Olifantshoek ("Elephant's Corner"), so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area. The name of the area soon changed to le Coin Français ("the French Corner"), and later to Franschhoek, with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, La Cotte, Cabriere, Provence, Chamonix, Dieu Donne and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms—most of which still retain their original farm houses today.

Museum and monuments edit

Main article: Huguenot Monument

A large monument to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots in South Africa was inaugurated on 17 April 1948 at Franschhoek. A museum dedicated to the Huguenot history in South Africa is located adjacent to the monument.

A smaller monument commemorating the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Huguenots is located in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden.

Voortrekkers edit

French Huguenot descendants were also included in the exodus of frontier farmers that was called the Great Trek.[2]

Voortrekker surnames who were of French Huguenot ancestry include:[3]

(Original French spelling in brackets)

  • Aucamp (Auchamp)
  • Boshof (Bossau)
  • Bruwer (Bruere)
  • Buys (Du Buis)
  • Cilliers (Cellier)
  • Cronje (Cronier)
  • de Klerk (Le Clercq)
  • Delport (Delporte)
  • de Villiers
  • du Buisson
  • du Plessis
  • du Preez (des Prez, des Pres, du Pre)
  • du Randt (Durand)
  • du Toit
  • Duvenage (Duvinage)
  • Fouche (Foucher)
  • Fourie
  • Gous, Gouws (Gauch)
  • Hugo (Hugot, Hugod)
  • Jacobs (Jacob)
  • Jordaan (Jourdan)
  • Joubert (Jaubert)
  • Labuschagne (la Buscagne)
  • le Roux
  • Lombard
  • Malan (Mallan)
  • Marais
  • Maartens, Martins (Martin)
  • Malherbe
  • Minnaar (Meinard, Mesnard)
  • Meyer
  • Naudé
  • Nel (Neel, Niel)
  • Nortier, Nortje (Nourtier)
  • Pienaar (Pinard)
  • Retief (Retif)
  • Reyneke? (Reyne?)
  • Riekert? (Richard?)
  • Rossouw (Rousseau)
  • Roux
  • Senekal (Senecal, Senechal)
  • Taljaard (Taillard)
  • Terblanche (Terreblanque)
  • Theron (Therond)
  • Tredoux
  • Viljoen (Villion)

Legacy edit

 
Surnames of Huguenot Families on the Huguenot Memorial in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden

There are many families, today mostly Afrikaans-speaking, whose surnames bear witness to their Huguenot ancestry. A comprehensive list of these surnames can be seen on the Huguenot Memorial in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden. Examples of the more common names are Blignaut (Blignault), Cronje (Cronier), de Klerk (Le Clercq), Visagie (Visage), de Villiers, du Preez, du Plessis, du Toit, du Randt, Fourie, Fouche, Giliomee (Guilliaume), Gous / Gouws (Gauch), Hugo, Jacobs, Joubert, Jordaan (Jourdan), Labuschagne (la Buscagne), Lange, le Roux, Leonard, Lombard, Malan, Michel, Malherbe, Marais, Nel, Nortje (Nourtier), Pienaar, Retief, Rossouw, Roux,[4] Terreblanche, Taljard, Theron and Viljoen (Villion).[5][6][7]

Some of the descendants of these original Huguenot families became prominent figures in South African society, most notably F.W. de Klerk, the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa.[8][9]

List of prominent South Africans of Huguenot descent

Some of the original forms of the surnames have been put in brackets.

Various French-language first names have also gained popularity amongst Afrikaners, examples being Francois, Jacques, Pierre, Charles, Jean-Pierre, Chantelle and Eugene.

Some Afrikaans writers have Huguenot surnames, and were involved in setting up the Society of Real Afrikaners.[11]

The wine industry in South Africa was greatly influenced by the Huguenots,[12] many of whose families had owned vineyards in France.[13] Many of the farms in the Western Cape province in South Africa still bear French names, such as Haute Cabrière, La Petite Provence, La Bourgogne, La Motte, La Bri, La Borie, La Chataigne and La Roche.

See also edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ History of the French Protestant Refugees, from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our own days. M. Charles Weiss (Translated from the French by Henry William Herbert), 1854. New York: Stringer & Townsend.
  2. ^ Bryer, Lynne and Theron, Francois. The Huguenot Heritage, The Story of the Huguenots at the Cape. Chameleon Press. Diep River. First Edition. 1987. Page 47.
  3. ^ Visagie, Jan C. Voortrekkerstamouers 1835 - 1845. Protea Boekhuis. Pretoria. 2011.
  4. ^ van der Bijl, Johannes (1978). Die Familie Roux. ISBN 0-86965-464-0.
  5. ^ Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud. Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa. Bernard Lugan. January 1996. ISBN 2-84100-086-9
  6. ^ . The Huguenot Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
  7. ^ Watkinson, William Lonsdale; Davison, William Theophilus, eds. (1875). "William Shaw and South Africa". The London Quarterly Review. Vol. 44. J.A. Sharp. p. 274.
  8. ^ Koinange, Jeff (21 December 2006). "De Klerk told Mandela: Timing of release not negotiable". CNN. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  9. ^ "The new South Africa: F W de Klerk's long trek". The Independent. 18 March 2006. Retrieved 21 April 2009.[dead link]
  10. ^ De Savoye, Jaques. "Carte Blanche on Ruda's Family Tree". Retrieved 16 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Coertzen, P. (29 September 2011). "The Huguenots of South Africa in history and religious identity". Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif. 52 (1). doi:10.5952/52-1-5. ISSN 2226-2385.
  12. ^ "Paths to Pluralism: South Africa's Early History". Michigan State University. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  13. ^ Fourie, Johan; Von Fintel, Dieter (2014). "Settler skills and colonial development:the Huguenot wine-makers in eighteenth-century Dutch South Africa". The Economic History Review. 67 (4): 934. doi:10.1111/1468-0289.12033. S2CID 152735090.

Further reading edit

  • Lugan, Bernard (1996). Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L'Afrique Du Sud ("The French People Who Made South Africa"). Bartillat. ISBN 2-84100-086-9.
  • Weiss, M. Charles (1854). History of the French Protestant Refugees, from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our own days. (Translated from the French by Henry William Herbert) New York: Stringer & Townsend.
  • Memory and Identity: The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora, Bertrand Van Ruymbeke & Randy J. Sparks, Published 2003 Univ of South Carolina Press, ISBN 1-57003-484-2.
  • The Huguenots of South Africa 1688–1988, Pieter Coertzen & Charles Fensham, Published 1988 Tafelberg, ISBN 0-624-02623-X.
  • The French refugees at the Cape (1921), Botha, C. Graham, out of copyright at the Internet Archive.

External links edit

  • The Huguenot Society of South Africa

Huguenot families edit

  • Roux Family
  • Viljoen Family

January 01, 1970
huguenots, south, africa, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, a. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Huguenots in South Africa news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2009 Learn how and when to remove this message Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans speaking population because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists French South AfricansSud africains francais Franse Suid AfrikanersCommemorating 300 years of Huguenot history in South AfricaRegions with significant populationsWestern Cape Gauteng Free State LimpopoLanguagesSouth African English French AfrikaansReligionChristianity mainly Calvinism Related ethnic groupsFrench Canadians Quebecois Afrikaners Walloons Cajuns Caledonians French Louisiana Creoles Pieds Noirs Romands Contents 1 Early arrivals 2 Mass migration 3 Franschhoek 4 Museum and monuments 5 Voortrekkers 6 Legacy 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Notes 9 Further reading 10 External links 10 1 Huguenot familiesEarly arrivals edit nbsp Huguenots building their homesteads Even before the large scale arrival of the Huguenots at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century a small number of individual Huguenot refugees settled there They included Francois Villion later known as Viljoen and the du Toit brothers In fact the first Huguenot to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope was Maria de la Quellerie the wife of governor Jan van Riebeeck who started the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 on behalf of the Dutch East India Company however she and her husband left for Batavia after ten years After a commissioner was sent out from the Cape Colony in 1685 to attract more settlers a more dedicated group of immigrants began to arrive A larger number of French refugees began to arrive in the Cape after leaving their country as a result of the Edict of Fontainebleau 1685 which revoked the Edict of Nantes 1598 that had granted religious toleration to Protestants Mass migration editOn 31 December 1687 a group of Huguenots fled from France as a result of the Edict of Fontainebleau This was part of the first of the large scale emigration of Huguenots to the Cape of Good Hope which took place during 1688 and 1689 In total some 180 Huguenots from France and 18 Walloons from present day Belgium eventually settled at the Cape of Good Hope A notable example of this is the emigration of Huguenots from La Motte d Aigues in Provence France After this large scale emigration individual Huguenot immigrant families arrived at the Cape of Good Hope as late as the first quarter of the 18th century and the state subsidised emigration of Huguenots was stopped in 1706 Emigrations took place mainly because of religious persecution by the Catholic rulers This small body of immigrants had a marked influence on the character of the Dutch settlers They were purposely spread out and given farms amongst the Dutch farmers Owing to the policy instituted in 1701 of the Dutch East India Company which dictated that schools should teach exclusively in Dutch that all official correspondence had to be done in Dutch and strict laws of assembly the Huguenots ceased by the middle of the 18th century to maintain a distinct identity and the knowledge of French diminished and eventually disappeared as a home language 1 This assimilation into the colonial population was also due to the fact that many Huguenot descendants married individuals from the Dutch population spurred by the Huguenots and Dutch sharing a common Calvinist religion Franschhoek edit nbsp Franschhoek Valley Many of these settlers were allocated farms in an area later called Franschhoek Dutch for French corner in the present day Western Cape province of South Africa The valley was originally known as Olifantshoek Elephant s Corner so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area The name of the area soon changed to le Coin Francais the French Corner and later to Franschhoek with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came La Motte La Cotte Cabriere Provence Chamonix Dieu Donne and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms most of which still retain their original farm houses today Museum and monuments editMain article Huguenot Monument A large monument to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots in South Africa was inaugurated on 17 April 1948 at Franschhoek A museum dedicated to the Huguenot history in South Africa is located adjacent to the monument A smaller monument commemorating the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Huguenots is located in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden Voortrekkers editFrench Huguenot descendants were also included in the exodus of frontier farmers that was called the Great Trek 2 Voortrekker surnames who were of French Huguenot ancestry include 3 Original French spelling in brackets Aucamp Auchamp Boshof Bossau Bruwer Bruere Buys Du Buis Cilliers Cellier Cronje Cronier de Klerk Le Clercq Delport Delporte de Villiers du Buisson du Plessis du Preez des Prez des Pres du Pre du Randt Durand du Toit Duvenage Duvinage Fouche Foucher Fourie Gous Gouws Gauch Hugo Hugot Hugod Jacobs Jacob Jordaan Jourdan Joubert Jaubert Labuschagne la Buscagne le Roux Lombard Malan Mallan Marais Maartens Martins Martin Malherbe Minnaar Meinard Mesnard Meyer Naude Nel Neel Niel Nortier Nortje Nourtier Pienaar Pinard Retief Retif Reyneke Reyne Riekert Richard Rossouw Rousseau Roux Senekal Senecal Senechal Taljaard Taillard Terblanche Terreblanque Theron Therond Tredoux Viljoen Villion Legacy edit nbsp Surnames of Huguenot Families on the Huguenot Memorial in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden There are many families today mostly Afrikaans speaking whose surnames bear witness to their Huguenot ancestry A comprehensive list of these surnames can be seen on the Huguenot Memorial in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden Examples of the more common names are Blignaut Blignault Cronje Cronier de Klerk Le Clercq Visagie Visage de Villiers du Preez du Plessis du Toit du Randt Fourie Fouche Giliomee Guilliaume Gous Gouws Gauch Hugo Jacobs Joubert Jordaan Jourdan Labuschagne la Buscagne Lange le Roux Leonard Lombard Malan Michel Malherbe Marais Nel Nortje Nourtier Pienaar Retief Rossouw Roux 4 Terreblanche Taljard Theron and Viljoen Villion 5 6 7 Some of the descendants of these original Huguenot families became prominent figures in South African society most notably F W de Klerk the last State President of apartheid era South Africa 8 9 List of prominent South Africans of Huguenot descentSome of the original forms of the surnames have been put in brackets Aegidius Jean Blignaut South African writer George Christopher Cato Caton first mayor of Durban Jan F E Celliers Afrikaans language poet essayist dramatist and reviewer Sarel Cilliers Voortrekker leader and a preacher Hansie Cronje cricketer Piet Cronje leader of the Transvaal Republic s military forces during the First and Second Anglo Boer Wars F W de Klerk born 18 March 1936 Le Clerc last State President of apartheid era South Africa Koos de la Rey Jacobus Herculaas de la Rey 22 October 1847 15 September 1914 was a Boer general during the Second Boer War Fanie de Villiers former South African cricket player AB de Villiers former South African cricket player Rilee Rossouw Top class all rounder cricketer Hempies du Toit Springboks rugby player and winemaker Jean de Villiers Springboks rugby player Pieter de Villiers South African athlete and Olympian 400m hurdles Dricus du Plessis Mixed Martial Arts UFC Middleweight fighter Faf du Plessis South African cricketer Morne du Plessis Springboks rugby player I D du Plessis poet Ampie du Preez singer songwriter Frik du Preez du Prez Springboks rugby player named as South Africa s rugby player of the 20th century Max du Preez journalist and author Mignon du Preez South African cricketer Alexander du Toit geologist Daniel du Toit South African astronomer Christiaan du Toit South African military commander D F du Toit co founder of an Afrikaans language movement named the Society of Real Afrikaners S G du Toit co founder of an Afrikaans language movement named the Society of Real Afrikaners Wikus du Toit Stephanus Jacobus du Toit co founder of an Afrikaans language movement named the Society of Real Afrikaners Abraham Faure 29 August 1795 28 March 1875 Cape clergyman and author Jacobus Johannes Fouche 6 June 1898 Wepener 23 September 1980 1 Cape Town served as the second President of South Africa from 1968 to 1975 Johnny Fourie famous jazz guitarist Elsa Joubert South African novelist in Afrikaans Gideon Joubert South African author and journalist Afrikaans science non fiction author Marius Joubert Springboks rugby player Petrus Jacobus Joubert boer commandant general of the South African Republic from 1880 to 1900 Piet Joubert Ruda Landman 10 Frederick Le Roux South African cricketer Garth Le Roux South African cricketer Adolph Malan 1910 1963 known as Sailor Malan Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Second World War Daniel Francois Malan who was a Prime Minister of South Africa elected on apartheid platform Magnus Malan former South African Minister of Defence in the cabinet of President P W Botha Chief of the South African Defence Force SADF and Chief of the South African Army Rian Malan celebrated South African author journalist and political activist D F Malherbe Afrikaans novelist Gideon Malherbe co founder of an Afrikaans language movement named the Society of Real Afrikaners Ben Marais Eugene Marais Sarie Marais Beyers Naude Afrikaner anti apartheid cleric Charle Pierre Naude poet Jozua Naude acting President of South Africa from 1967 to 1968 Francois Pienaar former Springboks rugby player captain of the first Springboks team to win the Rugby World Cup in 1995 Piet Retief boer voortrekker Esta TerBlanche Terre Blanche Eugene Terre Blanche Terre Blanche South African political activist and leader of AWB Juan Theron South African born cricketer who has played both for the South African national cricket team and the United States national cricket team Charlize Theron Hollywood actress Totius Jakob Daniel du Toit poet Constand Viljoen Villion former leader of the South African Freedom Front 1994 2001 and SADF general Gerrit Viljoen H D Viljoen Former Inspector General SADF Marais Viljoen Paul Visagie athlete and direct descendant of General Piet Joubert Various French language first names have also gained popularity amongst Afrikaners examples being Francois Jacques Pierre Charles Jean Pierre Chantelle and Eugene Some Afrikaans writers have Huguenot surnames and were involved in setting up the Society of Real Afrikaners 11 The wine industry in South Africa was greatly influenced by the Huguenots 12 many of whose families had owned vineyards in France 13 Many of the farms in the Western Cape province in South Africa still bear French names such as Haute Cabriere La Petite Provence La Bourgogne La Motte La Bri La Borie La Chataigne and La Roche See also editHuguenot Huguenot Monument Huguenot Memorial Building History of Cape Colony Protestantism in South Africa White South AfricansReferences editNotes edit History of the French Protestant Refugees from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our own days M Charles Weiss Translated from the French by Henry William Herbert 1854 New York Stringer amp Townsend Bryer Lynne and Theron Francois The Huguenot Heritage The Story of the Huguenots at the Cape Chameleon Press Diep River First Edition 1987 Page 47 Visagie Jan C Voortrekkerstamouers 1835 1845 Protea Boekhuis Pretoria 2011 van der Bijl Johannes 1978 Die Familie Roux ISBN 0 86965 464 0 Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L Afrique Du Sud Translation The French People Who Made South Africa Bernard Lugan January 1996 ISBN 2 84100 086 9 Genealogy The Huguenot Memorial Museum Archived from the original on 2 May 2009 Retrieved 20 April 2009 Watkinson William Lonsdale Davison William Theophilus eds 1875 William Shaw and South Africa The London Quarterly Review Vol 44 J A Sharp p 274 Koinange Jeff 21 December 2006 De Klerk told Mandela Timing of release not negotiable CNN Retrieved 21 April 2009 The new South Africa F W de Klerk s long trek The Independent 18 March 2006 Retrieved 21 April 2009 dead link De Savoye Jaques Carte Blanche on Ruda s Family Tree Retrieved 16 July 2009 permanent dead link Coertzen P 29 September 2011 The Huguenots of South Africa in history and religious identity Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif 52 1 doi 10 5952 52 1 5 ISSN 2226 2385 Paths to Pluralism South Africa s Early History Michigan State University Retrieved 21 April 2009 Fourie Johan Von Fintel Dieter 2014 Settler skills and colonial development the Huguenot wine makers in eighteenth century Dutch South Africa The Economic History Review 67 4 934 doi 10 1111 1468 0289 12033 S2CID 152735090 Further reading editLugan Bernard 1996 Ces Francais Qui Ont Fait L Afrique Du Sud The French People Who Made South Africa Bartillat ISBN 2 84100 086 9 Weiss M Charles 1854 History of the French Protestant Refugees from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to our own days Translated from the French by Henry William Herbert New York Stringer amp Townsend Memory and Identity The Huguenots in France and the Atlantic Diaspora Bertrand Van Ruymbeke amp Randy J Sparks Published 2003 Univ of South Carolina Press ISBN 1 57003 484 2 The Huguenots of South Africa 1688 1988 Pieter Coertzen amp Charles Fensham Published 1988 Tafelberg ISBN 0 624 02623 X The French refugees at the Cape 1921 Botha C Graham out of copyright at the Internet Archive External links editThe Huguenot Society of South Africa Huguenot families edit Du Preez Family Roux Family Viljoen Family Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Huguenots in South Africa amp oldid 1215794526, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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