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The Lie of 1652: A decolonised history of land
In this radical critique of established pre-colonial and colonial history, Mellet centres land dispossession, the destruction of livelihoods and the brutality of slavery in South Africa. Drawing on scholarly work and his own experience of searching for identity, Mellet provides a bold new perspective on the loss of land and belonging. Characters such as Autshumao, Krotoa and Doman come to life in the story of the founding of a port at Cape Town – over 50 years before Jan van Riebeeck arrived.
466 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2020
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February 5, 2021
I have known Patric Tariq Mellet for nearly forty years, since he was an exile in London during the 1980s, although it is now probably 20 years or more since I have seen him in person. We have kept in touch by social media over the last five years. You must judge whether or not I have allowed this long friendship to influence this review of his book.
There has been a huge amount of research that has gone into the writing, and the one thing that cannot be doubted is the sheer scale of his knowledge of the subject. It may be that you wish to argue with some of the conclusions, or to have more details about why things happened, but to suggest that this is not a thoroughly well researched book, as some have, simply exposes their own prejudices and ignorance.
This book exposes the many things that are wrong with the mythology that has grown up around the Dutch settlement of the Cape in 1652. The first is that it was obviously not the first contact between Africans in the southern tip of the continent and Europeans. Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape in 1488, and Vasco Da Gama was a decade later, establishing a sea route between Portugal and India. Francis Drake described it as “the fairest Cape in all the world”. Portuguese, English, French and Dutch vessels sailed past the Cape of Good Hope regularly before the settlement of 1652 on their way to trade with India and the spice islands, now known as Indonesia. There were shipwrecks off the Wild Coast, and the survivors were incorporated into the Xhosa clans. One of them has the name amaScotcha.
It is also clear that when Van Riebeeck arrived, the land was settled. How else could he have traded, as he records in his journal, that he traded with Autshumao, and the people now identified as Camissa, after the name of the river that flows through Cape Town, even if nowadays it is through the sewers? Why was Autshumao’s niece, Krotoa, needed as an interpreter? If she had taken this role on immediately, she must have learned the language from passing Dutch ships. Why was Van Riebeeck worried about Autshumao’s relationship with the English, which he was? The answer is simple enough. The First of the three Anglo-Dutch wars in the seventeenth century was waged between 1652-1654. It would be interesting to know if the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) decided to plat a settlement at the Cape to pre-empt the English. Mellet does not tell us this, and it is peripheral to his story, but it is my major annoyance with the book. Also, the First Anglo-Dutch War really was a European conflict about dominating world trade, and that was a major theme of colonialism in southern Africa.
Also, if the land was empty, there would have been no need to plant the hedge of wild almonds to demarcate the boundary between the land claimed by the Dutch settlers and the land occupied by the native Africans, that is the San and the Khoe.
[There is also another issue that Mellet does not mention, but which changed the power structure in Europe. In 1672, Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands. The republican government of Johan de Witt was bloodily overthrown and William, Prince of Orange, the nephew of Charles II of England and Scotland, assumed control of the country, defeating the French. In 1677, William married Charles II’s niece, Princess Mary of York, the heir presumptive to the thrones of Britain. The enemies suddenly became allies, and the power balance of European rivalries in Southern Africa and further east changed. All this was confirmed in 1688 by the deposition of James II as King and the enthronement of William III and Mary II as joint monarchs. As I have said, this is peripheral to Mellet’s story, but it is an interesting illumination of the relations between the various colonial powers.]
There is also an argument that the San and the Khoe were not proper Africans, in that they did not speak one of the Bantu languages. This is patent nonsense. You do not have to speak a Bantu language to be an African. The San and the Khoe inhabiting the Cape region were born in Africa. Their parents and ancestors were born in Africa. The archaeological evidence, including ceramics, sites and burials date back at least a few thousand years. A war of genocide was waged against the San by the Dutch settlers, and their British colonial successors. The Khoe were either killed, forced to flee or assimilated into the slave communities imported into the Cape from West Africa, East Africa, India, China and the Indonesian archipelago. The genetic footprints of the San and the Khoe, however, were not removed from the population of the Cape.
Mellet describes these arguments in detail. The evidence from places like Mapungubwe and of the ceramics like the Lydenberg heads cannot be refuted. The Mapungubwe site probably pre-dates the Norman Conquest. The ceramic evidence exists in more than sufficient numbers. The racist response is to ignore the existence of this evidence.
The “empty land” argument cannot be applied to the rest of South Africa. The legends of the Voortrekkers would have no significance. There would be no point to the Day of the Vow if there had not been a Zulu army to defeat. The 1820 settlement in the Eastern Cape was met by armed resistance from the Xhosa kingdoms. The records show that there was resistance to Dutch and then British colonialism in the Cape from 1655 to 1879.
The archaeological and historical evidence show that the mythology of the 1652 settlement is simply wrong. Mellet takes it much further than that. He shows how the settlement affected the population of the Cape by showing how the colonial powers brought people in from a vast area of the globe to work as slaves, indentured labourers, soldiers, sailors and in a host of other occupations, creating the South African population that exists today.
This, of course, is a thorny topic because of the history of dispossession of the land and conquest that took place from 1652 to the foundation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the subsequent forced removals and the promotion of racial identity politics. Mellet does not let the African National Congress off the hook in this particular matter. He has one section headed “How did the ANC come to embrace the colonial and apartheid race-classification system”. He takes issue with the argument of “Blacks in General and Africans in Particular” (BIGS) which stressed that “Coloureds” were not Africans. He rejects this on the grounds that the coloured population had provable African ancestry. He takes the position of the Pan African Association, founded in 1900 by delegates from the USA, Great Britain, the Caribbean and, of course, Africa that an African is anyone with at least one forebear coming from the African continent. The ANC however did not do this, partly because the apartheid race classification laws, and the predecessor legislation, did not allow, but also because there was a great deal of support for the BIGS argument, from the creation of the organisation, through the exile period, and into the new dispensation. The last chapter is spent in dealing with the consequences of all this. Mellet is very clear about his own position, and that is one of the great advantages of this book. He does not claim to be a neutral academic.
This book is vital to anyone who wishes to understand the history of South Africa. It is vital to anyone who wished to understand the current politics of that country. It is deeply researched and it is highly relevant. Read it.
There has been a huge amount of research that has gone into the writing, and the one thing that cannot be doubted is the sheer scale of his knowledge of the subject. It may be that you wish to argue with some of the conclusions, or to have more details about why things happened, but to suggest that this is not a thoroughly well researched book, as some have, simply exposes their own prejudices and ignorance.
This book exposes the many things that are wrong with the mythology that has grown up around the Dutch settlement of the Cape in 1652. The first is that it was obviously not the first contact between Africans in the southern tip of the continent and Europeans. Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape in 1488, and Vasco Da Gama was a decade later, establishing a sea route between Portugal and India. Francis Drake described it as “the fairest Cape in all the world”. Portuguese, English, French and Dutch vessels sailed past the Cape of Good Hope regularly before the settlement of 1652 on their way to trade with India and the spice islands, now known as Indonesia. There were shipwrecks off the Wild Coast, and the survivors were incorporated into the Xhosa clans. One of them has the name amaScotcha.
It is also clear that when Van Riebeeck arrived, the land was settled. How else could he have traded, as he records in his journal, that he traded with Autshumao, and the people now identified as Camissa, after the name of the river that flows through Cape Town, even if nowadays it is through the sewers? Why was Autshumao’s niece, Krotoa, needed as an interpreter? If she had taken this role on immediately, she must have learned the language from passing Dutch ships. Why was Van Riebeeck worried about Autshumao’s relationship with the English, which he was? The answer is simple enough. The First of the three Anglo-Dutch wars in the seventeenth century was waged between 1652-1654. It would be interesting to know if the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) decided to plat a settlement at the Cape to pre-empt the English. Mellet does not tell us this, and it is peripheral to his story, but it is my major annoyance with the book. Also, the First Anglo-Dutch War really was a European conflict about dominating world trade, and that was a major theme of colonialism in southern Africa.
Also, if the land was empty, there would have been no need to plant the hedge of wild almonds to demarcate the boundary between the land claimed by the Dutch settlers and the land occupied by the native Africans, that is the San and the Khoe.
[There is also another issue that Mellet does not mention, but which changed the power structure in Europe. In 1672, Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands. The republican government of Johan de Witt was bloodily overthrown and William, Prince of Orange, the nephew of Charles II of England and Scotland, assumed control of the country, defeating the French. In 1677, William married Charles II’s niece, Princess Mary of York, the heir presumptive to the thrones of Britain. The enemies suddenly became allies, and the power balance of European rivalries in Southern Africa and further east changed. All this was confirmed in 1688 by the deposition of James II as King and the enthronement of William III and Mary II as joint monarchs. As I have said, this is peripheral to Mellet’s story, but it is an interesting illumination of the relations between the various colonial powers.]
There is also an argument that the San and the Khoe were not proper Africans, in that they did not speak one of the Bantu languages. This is patent nonsense. You do not have to speak a Bantu language to be an African. The San and the Khoe inhabiting the Cape region were born in Africa. Their parents and ancestors were born in Africa. The archaeological evidence, including ceramics, sites and burials date back at least a few thousand years. A war of genocide was waged against the San by the Dutch settlers, and their British colonial successors. The Khoe were either killed, forced to flee or assimilated into the slave communities imported into the Cape from West Africa, East Africa, India, China and the Indonesian archipelago. The genetic footprints of the San and the Khoe, however, were not removed from the population of the Cape.
Mellet describes these arguments in detail. The evidence from places like Mapungubwe and of the ceramics like the Lydenberg heads cannot be refuted. The Mapungubwe site probably pre-dates the Norman Conquest. The ceramic evidence exists in more than sufficient numbers. The racist response is to ignore the existence of this evidence.
The “empty land” argument cannot be applied to the rest of South Africa. The legends of the Voortrekkers would have no significance. There would be no point to the Day of the Vow if there had not been a Zulu army to defeat. The 1820 settlement in the Eastern Cape was met by armed resistance from the Xhosa kingdoms. The records show that there was resistance to Dutch and then British colonialism in the Cape from 1655 to 1879.
The archaeological and historical evidence show that the mythology of the 1652 settlement is simply wrong. Mellet takes it much further than that. He shows how the settlement affected the population of the Cape by showing how the colonial powers brought people in from a vast area of the globe to work as slaves, indentured labourers, soldiers, sailors and in a host of other occupations, creating the South African population that exists today.
This, of course, is a thorny topic because of the history of dispossession of the land and conquest that took place from 1652 to the foundation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the subsequent forced removals and the promotion of racial identity politics. Mellet does not let the African National Congress off the hook in this particular matter. He has one section headed “How did the ANC come to embrace the colonial and apartheid race-classification system”. He takes issue with the argument of “Blacks in General and Africans in Particular” (BIGS) which stressed that “Coloureds” were not Africans. He rejects this on the grounds that the coloured population had provable African ancestry. He takes the position of the Pan African Association, founded in 1900 by delegates from the USA, Great Britain, the Caribbean and, of course, Africa that an African is anyone with at least one forebear coming from the African continent. The ANC however did not do this, partly because the apartheid race classification laws, and the predecessor legislation, did not allow, but also because there was a great deal of support for the BIGS argument, from the creation of the organisation, through the exile period, and into the new dispensation. The last chapter is spent in dealing with the consequences of all this. Mellet is very clear about his own position, and that is one of the great advantages of this book. He does not claim to be a neutral academic.
This book is vital to anyone who wishes to understand the history of South Africa. It is vital to anyone who wished to understand the current politics of that country. It is deeply researched and it is highly relevant. Read it.
December 15, 2025
I really liked it ! I’m writing an assignment about the truth commission and reading this helped a lot in getting some background information. It’s a heavy topic but very well written. He also writes about his own family which helps makes the topic a bit less dense. I really recommend if you’d like to learn more about SA history (and even its consequences today) !
December 1, 2020
Excellent! This book has to be read to understand the state of South Africa today and to gather hope for the future.
April 26, 2021
Fantastic book. This should be required reading in South African schools and for anyone who lives here. Breaking it all down in a methodical way, Mellet presents the indisputable facts and the historical records to back them up. I took a while to read it because I wanted to cross check many of the references (usually because of the nature of them rather than second guessing), and they are spot on and lead to much more learning. Thank you.
March 24, 2025
This should be required reading for all South Africans! I 100% recommend reading this book
February 23, 2021
The book is not at all what I expected it to be. The author is giving a broad overview over the history not only of the colonisation but the basically the very first steps of humankind.
In the first chapter, Mellet narrows down the whole history of humankind as it - according to recent scientific research - started in South Africa. He's not only reviewing the history and development of the first humans, but also puts an end to any possible racism debates by feeding his arguments with the dna connections, that connect nowadays humans all over the world. He describes the first pastoral settlements and the development of the Cape, long before visitors from Europe.
In chapter 2, the author tells about the broad variety of different tribes at the Cape and how the first white settlers found their way there and built up their colony.
While taking a quite detailed look at the all in all 19 wars at the Cape in chapter 3, mostly caused by the Europeans, especially for readers not completely familiar with all given locations, it would've helped a lot to add some maps here and there. The reports of the war are well done, but unfortunately one can loose track easily location wise, which makes it difficult to stay on track.
The fourth chapter was one of the most surprising ones to me, as I was never aware of the incredible variety of ethnicities that came to the Cape however; forced or voluntarily. Even more shocking is to become aware of the then so called "terra nullis"-doctrine of the European settlers and colonist, trying to justify their settlements and eviction of the native tribes, and following, in chapter 5, the intentionally destruction of the many native identities and structures.
My only criticism regards the description of the relationship between the natives at some points (e.g. when one people "incorporates" another one). This seems often quite euphemistically and I feel like it's lacking a more precise and maybe brutal description of how that really happened; especially as the Europeans and their bad deeds are always pictured painfully precise.
In his conclusion, Mellet stating some quite debatable, maybe painful, yet very interesting points about the land reforms and possible solutions to this very recent and intense topic.
Most of his conclusions are at least debatable, yet they trigger a lot of rethinking recent topics of the modern South African society.
All in all a very nice researched and fascinating book!
In the first chapter, Mellet narrows down the whole history of humankind as it - according to recent scientific research - started in South Africa. He's not only reviewing the history and development of the first humans, but also puts an end to any possible racism debates by feeding his arguments with the dna connections, that connect nowadays humans all over the world. He describes the first pastoral settlements and the development of the Cape, long before visitors from Europe.
In chapter 2, the author tells about the broad variety of different tribes at the Cape and how the first white settlers found their way there and built up their colony.
While taking a quite detailed look at the all in all 19 wars at the Cape in chapter 3, mostly caused by the Europeans, especially for readers not completely familiar with all given locations, it would've helped a lot to add some maps here and there. The reports of the war are well done, but unfortunately one can loose track easily location wise, which makes it difficult to stay on track.
The fourth chapter was one of the most surprising ones to me, as I was never aware of the incredible variety of ethnicities that came to the Cape however; forced or voluntarily. Even more shocking is to become aware of the then so called "terra nullis"-doctrine of the European settlers and colonist, trying to justify their settlements and eviction of the native tribes, and following, in chapter 5, the intentionally destruction of the many native identities and structures.
My only criticism regards the description of the relationship between the natives at some points (e.g. when one people "incorporates" another one). This seems often quite euphemistically and I feel like it's lacking a more precise and maybe brutal description of how that really happened; especially as the Europeans and their bad deeds are always pictured painfully precise.
In his conclusion, Mellet stating some quite debatable, maybe painful, yet very interesting points about the land reforms and possible solutions to this very recent and intense topic.
Most of his conclusions are at least debatable, yet they trigger a lot of rethinking recent topics of the modern South African society.
All in all a very nice researched and fascinating book!
August 15, 2021
SO much to think about after (and during) reading this book. It's one of those books where I won't remember the details, but there are some over-arching narratives that have fundamentally changed my thinking. The way that he explained the race structure (the 'silos') during Apartheid and how that has shaped identities - and problems - today, was so fascinating and well explained. I also thought he has some really insightful ideas at the end about decolonising South Africa.
January 13, 2025
So it took me forever to read this, but thanks to the fact that I now take the tube my reading has vastly improved. I found this tremendously interesting, especially with regard to the history of the Cape further than just the Khoi, San, Xhosa and Dutch. This explores various migrations of all different people who came to the Cape even before 1652 and how they mixed with each other. Definitely a book that will continue to revisit.
November 7, 2020
The book is fiction, not non-fiction. The author had alternative ideologies and personal vendettas as he clearly he is trying to change history to make him look more favourable a a person. He lent some fictional characters from another fiction book as if they really lived. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. no thank you
March 15, 2021
Brilliant, eye-opening, enriching history of South Africa's people. It debunked many of my conscious and sub-conscious assumptions for which I am grateful.
January 2, 2025
Very interesting book, full clear history and clear understanding of South Africa.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews