Voor 1652 - Vakhistorici se interpretasies van die vroeë Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis.
Abstract
During the last few decades scholars from various disciplines, such as
paleonthology, archeology, anthropology and linguistics, have steadily increased
our knowledge of early South African history. Historians are dependent on
the research of these scholars when writing interpretative overviews of South
African history. In 1918 GM Theal included an account of South African
history before 1652 in his multi-volume History of South Africa, but only since
the 1970s have a number of professional historians studied the early phase
of South African history. Richard Elphick made an important contribution
to the study of the early Khoikhoi of the Western Cape. Other historians
wrote overviews with a section on early history. Some of them regarded the
early period primarily as an introduction to the history of South Africa since
the seventeenth century, which, according to them, has the struggle between
indigenous inhabitants and Western colonizers as its dominant theme. A few
historians, such as HJ van Aswegen, wrote more extensively on early history,
although Van Aswegen and his fellow-historians mainly provided a synthethis
of research done by archeologists, anthropologists and linguists. Very little
comparison with the history of other countries was done and very few
problems regarding the research findings of scholars in the above-mentioned
disciplines were pointed out. It is concluded that by paying more attention
to the period before 1652 historians can provide new perspectives on major
trends in the development of South African society.
Collections
- Faculty of Humanities [2033]
- New Contree: 2012 No 65 [12]