Basters: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:17, 3 September 2023

Revision as of 03:52, 17 September 2023

Line 26:

Basters were mainly persons of mixed-race descent who at one time would have been absorbed in the white community. This term came to refer to an economic and cultural group, and it included the most economically advanced non-white population at the Cape, who had higher status than the natives. Some of the Basters acted as supervisors of other servants and were the confidential employees of their white masters. Sometimes, these were treated almost as members of the white family. Many were descended from white men, if not directly from men in the families for whom they worked.

The group also included [[Khoi]], free[[Free blacksNegro]], and persons of mixed-race descent who had succeeded in acquiring property and establishing themselves as farmers in their own right. The term [[Orlam]] (''Oorlam'') was sometimes applied to persons who could also be known as Baster. Orlams were the [[Khoi]] and [[Coloured]] (mixed-race) people who spoke Dutch and practised a largely European way of life. Some Basters distinguished themselves from the Coloured, whom they described as descendants of Europeans and [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malay]] or [[Indonesian people|Indonesian]] slaves brought to South Africa.

In the early 18th century, Basters often owned farms in the colony, but with growing competition for land and the pressure of race discrimination, they were oppressed by their white neighbours and the government. Some became absorbed into the Coloured servant class, but those seeking to maintain independence moved to the fringes of settlement. From about 1750, the [[Kamiesberge]] in the extreme north-west of the colony became the main area of settlement of independent Baster farmers, some of whom had substantial followings of servants and clients.