This is the intriguing story of a woman called Angela van Bengale, who was one of the earliest-known slaves brought to the Cape Colony in the 1600s. Her destiny and fortune would change over her lifetime, and her daughter would one day inherit the wine estate, Groot Constantia . . .
Said to be born around 1641 in Bengal, India, Angela’s days of slavery began when she was captured in the Ganges Delta and taken to Ceylon or Myanmar. She was sold in Indonesia at Batavia (Jakarta today) before her journey took her to southern Africa and she was brought to the Cape by commander Pieter Kemp. They arrived in the Cape of Good Hope around 1657 aboard the VOC (Dutch East India Company – ‘Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie’) ship, Amersfoort.
After their arrival in the Cape, Pieter sold her to Jan van Riebeeck, the first Dutch commander at the Cape, sent in 1652 to establish a station to supply fresh produce to the VOC ships en route to the East. A young girl of only around 16 years of age, Angela was one of the first twelve slaves in the Dutch settlement at the Cape.
Either before or shortly after she arrived at the Cape. Angela had a relationship with VOC company official, Francois de Koninck from Ghent, and they had a daughter, Anna (later known as Anna de Coningh). When Van Riebeeck left the Cape in 1662, Angela was sold to Abraham Gabbema. During this period, she had two sons with Jan van Assen, a company official from Brussels. When Gabbema left the Cape for Batavia in 1666, he arranged for Angela and her three children to be freed. Angela was officially freed on 13 April 1666, making her one of the first slaves in the Cape to be freed.
Her freedom came with conditions that she should be baptised and undertake an apprenticeship as a baker with Gabbema’s friend, Thomas Christoffel Muller. During this period, she petitioned the VOC commander Cornelis van Quaelbergen for a small tract of land and was granted a plot near Heerestraat (today’s Strand Street) in 1667. She now not only became one of the first female slaves (not legally bound to be married to a man) to be freed but the first female slave to own property in the Cape Colony. She was making history. She started a vegetable garden on her land, selling her produce and gained a reputation as being an independent and resourceful businesswoman.
She went on to marry Arnoldus Willemsz Basson, a free burgher (i.e. a person who had become a full citizen or ‘burgher’ after being released from their service contracts to the VOC) in 1669 and they had seven children. The couple founded the Cape’s first successful fishing business between Table Bay and Saldanha Bay.
The family’s good fortune continued. Angela’s daughter, Anna de Coningh, married one of the wealthiest men at the Cape, Captain Olaf Bergh. When he died, Anna inherited the large wine estate. Groot Constantia, established by Simon van der Stel.
By the time Angela died in 1720 she was a wealthy woman owning several properties and had 15 000 guilders, a large sum at the time, in her estate. There are many South Africans today who can trace their roots back to Angela and Arnoldus Basson, and some South Africans have identified Angela as their seventh, eighth or ninth great-grandmother. ‘Maai Angela’ or ‘Maai Ansiela’, as she was also known, is considered to be the ‘stammoeder’ (founding mother) of the Basson family in South Africa.
Her story from slavery to freedom, love and financial success is one that reminds us of the huge possibility of transformation in a single lifetime.
(References: Angela van Bengale, Wikipedia; Origins 22: Genealogy & History, 16 Dec 2024; Anna de Koningh & Maai Angela van Bengale, Camissa Museum; Van Bengale Angela, Stamouers; Angela van Bengale, e-Family.co.za; Angela van Bengale – Jesse Haye’s, jessehaye.com)