This website tells the story of slavery at the Cape of Good Hope.

Unlike the Transatlantic slavetrade that exported slaves from Africa, this slave society existed in Africa.

In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a base at the Cape. A few years later, the first slaves were imported and the Cape remained a slave society for 176 years until it was abolished in 1834.

This website is a project of Iziko Museums, a national museum group that manages fifteen museum sites in and around Cape Town, including the former VOC Slave Lodge and Groot Constantia Estate, a wine estate that made extensive use of slave labour.

This website is part of a larger project to acknowledge the contribution of slaves made to South Africa. Work in progress includes the development of a Museum and Memory Centre at the Slave Lodge.

Iziko Museums acknowledge the following people for their contribution to the development of the site:

Prof Nigel Worden: Department of Historical Studies, University of Cape Town

Dr Antonia Malan: Historical Archaeology Research Group, University of Cape Town

National Archives of South Africa

National Library of South Africa

South African Heritage Resource Agency, Western Cape

Western Cape Provincial Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport

Development by Logos Flow \ Design by Matt Hindley \ Copyright © 2002 Iziko Museums of Cape Town