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Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with world-famous wine farms. Two places in Cape Town – Stellenbosch and Simonstown – are named after the same person, Simon van der Stel. He was born on a ship at sea in 1639, which was on its way to Mauritius, where his father was to take up the governorship for the Dutch government. Simon’s mother was the Creole daughter of a freed Indian slave woman.
Simon’s father was later murdered in Ceylon, which is now called Sri Lanka, and after the death of his mother, he made his way to Holland, where he was involved in winemaking.
Simon was offered the position of commander and later governor of the Cape Colony, and came to South Africa in 1679. He wanted to expand the company’s holdings beyond the Cape Flats, and camped one night on an island on the Eerste River. The next day, he declared he would build a town there, and named it after his night in the bush, or Stel-en-bosch.
Simon then bought land and established a wine farm, Groot Constantia, in 1685. A few years later, Christians in France were forbidden to practise the Protestant religion, and needed to flee the country.
Simon realised that many of these Frenchmen had winemaking skills, and organised for 200 of them to get free passage to the Cape Colony. They were given supplies and sent to an area where elephants bred, Oliphantshoek, (elephant’s corner) to establish wine farms. This area was renamed Franschhoek, (Frenchman’s corner) and still produces some of the world’s finest wines today.
We can thank a group of devout Frenchmen, the Cape soil and weather, and Simon van der Stel for the development of the South African wine industry.
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