Die Bydrae van Karel Schoeman tot Geskiedskrywing oor die Kaapkolonie

Abstract

Afrikaans

Karel Schoeman is veral bekend as romanskrywer, maar is ook die outeur van talle wetenskaplike geskiedwerke, waarvan die meeste oor die Kaapkolonie en Oranje-Vrystaat voor 1900 handel. Hy het veral bronne gebruik wat in die Nasionale Biblioteek van Suid-Afrika beskikbaar is en nog nie voldoende deur ander historici benut is nie. Hy bied ʼn uitgebreide oorsig van die sosiale en kulturele geskiedenis van die Kaapkolonie gedurende die eerste 150-jaar van die bestaan daarvan. Hierin gee hy heelwat aandag aan die rol van slawe in die vroeÎ Kaapse samelewing en die verhouding tussen die koloniste en die Khoi. Hy konsentreer egter veral op die geskiedenis van die koloniste en gee ʼn meer volledige oorsig van hulle sosiale en kulturele lewe as enige ander historikus. Hy het verder belangrike bydraes gelewer oor onder meer die vroeÎ negentiendeeeuse sending, die geskiedenis van verskeie streke en dorpe in die Kaapkolonie en die plek van die vrou in die Kaapse samelewing.

English

The Contribution of Karel Schoeman to Historiography of the Cape Colony 

Karel Schoeman is well-known as a novelist, but is also the author of a large number of historical studies, the majority of which deal with the history of the Cape Colony and the Orange Free State before 1900. His publications are, to a large extent, based on sources that are available in the National Library of South Africa and have to date been underutilised by other historians. He presents an extensive overview of the social and cultural history of the Cape Colony during the first 150 years of its existence. In this overview he deals with the role of slaves in early Cape society and the relations between the settlers and the Khoi. However, he concentrates mainly on the history of the settlers, and provides a more comprehensive account of their social and cultural life than any other historian. He has also made important contributions to, inter alia, early nineteenth century missionary history, the history of a number of regions and towns in the Cape Colony and the place of women in Cape society.