cultivation, it did so at the expense of the local pastoralists, who had the
option of withdrawing from the fresh water resources and the rich pastures
of the northern part of the Cape peninsula or remaining there as servants or
clients of the Dutch. All three of these processes were launched in van
Riebeeck's time; all three accelerated throughout
the eighteenth century.
We shall discuss them separately.
In 1657, the company released nine of its employees from their contracts
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