Port Elizabeth of Yore: The creation of a Port without a Harbour.

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

For the majority of the 143 years from 1652 to 1795 during which the Dutch occupied the Cape, Algoa Bay and its potential use as a Harbour can be likened to a black hole. Nothing was known about it and the Government authorities were ignorant of its existence. The raison d’etre of the use of Cape Town was that it served as a replenishment station en route to the Dutch East Indies. Nothing more and nothing less.  

It took more than a century after 1652 before the Dutch authorities displayed a modicum of interest in this Bay. This blog deals with that unhurried awakening of interest and its gradual adoption as a harbour. If the truth be told, without the British occupation of the colony, the recognition and adoption of Port Elizabeth would possibly not have arisen and some other river mouths such as the Zwartkops, Buffalo or Kowie would have snatched the prize.

Let it be crystal clear: It was not a foregone conclusion that the harbour in Algoa Bay would be situated at the mouth of a paltry stream such as the Baaken’s River.

Main picture: Blockhouse on the Baakens River in 1803

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Banking as the Fulcrum of the Early Economy

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

A frequently alluded to fallacy when discussing the state of the economy in this era is the primacy of physical items whether it is a precious metal such as gold or agricultural products such as cotton or wool. Logistics constraints are only considered when they are an extreme impediment to the smooth flow of these physical items. However, seldom mentioned is the centrality of banks and banking practices which oils that process. Without all of the components of the process operating like the proverbial well-oiled machine, economic progress is not possible.

As previous blogs have focussed upon the both the hazards, horrors and cost of wagon transport from the hinterland and the stupendous surge in wool production over two decades, neither will feature as the dramatis personae but rather they will be assigned a cameo role in this article.

Remarkably, the Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth led the charge in establishing banks. By the 1870s, the Eastern Cape sported 24 banks whereas the rest of the Cape Colony had one; lIkewise Natal and the Orange Free State and the Transvaal none.

Main picture:  1866 painting of Port Elizabeth by Thomas Bowler

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