Cape Town Apprenticed Slaves 1834 - 35

! Sensitivity : It is crucial to handle this database with care and a strong sense of responsibility. Many of the terms used were originally assigned by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and often do not reflect how individuals and groups identified themselves. The terms themselves can be misleading, as they oversimplify the complex social realities experienced by people at the time.

This database may also contains terms that are considered derogatory, offensive, or harmful. The concepts within it are deeply connected to a history of colonial violence, enslavement, and racism that persisted both during and after the VOC's existence.

On 01 December 1834, the British Empire officially abolished slavery in the Cape Colony. However, immediate freedom was delayed by a mandatory four-year apprenticeship, extending forced labor until full manumission was finally realised on 01 December 1838.

Because the apprenticeship offered no financial independence, emancipation triggered widespread homelessness and political upheaval, bringing the colony's slave-dependent economy to near collapse. Freed individuals faced severe land-ownership restrictions, many found refuge at mission stations, in shanty towns, or on the streets, and others with little choice but to return to their former owners for meager wages.

Key Insights from the Appraisal & Slave Records

• Systemic Corruption: To compensate slave owners, British authorities conducted appraisals across all 11 districts during the apprenticeship period—a process marred by corruption that exploited enslaved people until the very end.

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• Rich Genealogical Data: When cross-referenced with slave registers, these appraisal records offer crucial historical data, including names, dates of birth, origins, residential addresses, skills or occupations, and occasionally matrilineal lineage.

Source: Kekama Kate, et al: When Cape Slavery Ended:

Evidence from a New Slave Emancipation Dataset - African Economic History Working Paper Series

No. 53/2020

Notes to database : 

Page 1 - Empty house belonging to Jan Hendrik Groenwald in Kasteelstraat could not be inspected for apprentices

Page 2 - Johannes Silver Kasteelstraat 7, no apprentices

               Martha van de Loop Kasteelstraat 7, no apprentices

Slave records - South African National Archives

Archive copying by Lara Seaward