A new light on the pre-colonial history of South-East Africa, where the 'Other' is the European and the 'Silence' has a voice, based on evidence from shipwreck survivor narratives 1552-1782

• Main Author: Vernon, Gillian Noël
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Fort Hare 2009
• Subjects: Shipwrecks > South Africa > History Shipwrecks > Mozambique > Personal narratives; Bird Island; Port Edward
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/7930; https://corycommons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:30924

The aim of this dissertation is to extract information from shipwreck survivor narratives, which will add to the known body of knowledge of the pre-colonial history of Southern Africa during the years 1552 to 1782. The discourse analysis focuses on the voice of the African peoples where the Europeans are the 'Strangers', the 'Other', reversing the view that the people of non-European cultures were termed as the 'Other'. Indigenous inhabitants of south-east Africa, south of Kosi Bay, first encountered Europeans in 1552 when a Portuguese ship was wrecked at present-day Port Edward. Subsequently, eight more Portuguese ships were wrecked between Plettenberg Bay and Kosi Bay between the years 1554 to 1647. Two Dutch ships landed on the shore, one south of the Bay of Natal in 1686, and the other being wrecked near the mouth of the Keiskamma River in 1713. There were also two English ships, with one striking the rocks on Bird Island in Algoa Bay in 1755 and the other, the more famous Grosvenor of 1782, coming aground at Lambazi Bay, north of the Mzimvubu River. The survivor groups were large, varying in size from 72 to 500, and most included a large complements of slaves. The survivors of the Portuguese ships made their way to present-day Mozambique where the Portuguese had trading outposts. The survivors of the Dutch ships, as well as those of the Grosvenor tried, with limited success, to make their way to Cape Town. The survivors from two of the Portuguese wrecks and the English group on Bird Island, constructed small ships and managed to sail away.