Stellenbosch - A Short History
Stellenbosch was founded in 1679 by Simon van der Stel, having been appointed Governor of the Cape and having travelled over to South Africa with his children from Holland. He was the eldest son of Adriaan van der Stel (whom the Dutch East India Company had commissioned as governor over Mauritius) and Maria, daughter of Captain Hendrik Lievens and a Javanese woman, Mia Monica da Costa. Simon was a man of inexhaustible energy, innovation and initiative – within a few weeks of arriving at the Cape, he had visited all the burgher farms. On the 3rd November 1679, together with a group of Cape officials on horseback, he left with a mission to inspect the Company’s outpost in the Hottentots Holland. On the 8th November, the group reached a “level valley”, large in extent, and spent the night on a “little island surrounded by clear water” and covered with high trees. The site where van der Stel’s camp stood was called “Wildenbosch”, but he did not like the connotation, and changed it to “van der Stelbosch”, which later became Stellenbosch.
By 1680, the first settlers from the Cape had arrived and the town grew so quickly that it became an independent local authority in 1682 and the seat of a magistrate with jurisdiction over 25 000 square kilometres in 1685. By 1683, there were already 30 families settled in Stellenbosch. In the same year, a school was built. Oak trees were planted, not only for shade, but probably also for their wood to make barrels for wine maturation (this didn’t eventuate as the wood was too porous due to the trees growing too quickly). With the abundance of water, and together with the skill of Dutch hydraulic engineering, canals were constructed to divert water from the Eersterivier in the vicinity of Thibault Street through the town along Van Riebeeck Street to Mill Street, where a mill was erected.
Soon after the first settlers arrived, especially the French Huguenots, vines were planted on the fertile hills surrounding Stellenbosch. Van der Stel encouraged pioneering work in new crops and business enterprises, especially viticulture. Even though van der Stel lived in Cape Town, he retained a special interest in Stellenbosch and frequently returned to the town – sometimes to sort out quarrels and land rights issues that occurred occasionally, but also to celebrate his birthday on the 14th October with a fair, open market and military parade. Shooting competitions were held - targets were made in the shape of parrots and Papegaaiberg (Parrot Mountain) was so named as a result.
In 1686, a church was built. In 1717, a new church had to be built as a result of a fire sweeping through Stellenbosch and burning the church to the ground. This new church complex served the community until 1862, when it was too cramped for the growing number of residents in the town. A new church of neo-Gothic design was then built – designed by architect Carl Otto Hagen, it was built by craftsmen brought to Stellenbosch from Holland. The ruins of the first church can be viewed in the basement of the hotel, d’Ouwe Werf, bought in 1972 by Gerhard Lubbe.
Although Stellenbosch is known today for its wine, it is also renowned for its academic institutions. The first seminary opened its doors in 1859, and in 1866, a gymnasium (het Stellenbossche Gymnasium) was established. In 1874, some higher classes became Victoria College and then in 1918, the University of Stellenbosch commenced. These were later followed by the founding of a number of schools and colleges. Today the University has approximately 20 000 students, has launched together with NASA, South Africa’s first satellite into space and is considered one of the foremost institutions of academic excellence in Africa.