Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando

Date: 1 May 1659
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando

Jan van Riebeeck established the Burgher Militia a few days before a Khoi-Khoi (Hottentot) rising, sometimes called the 'First Hottentot War' (though it was rather a series of skirmishes), started at the Cape. This was in line with an instruction by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) that every freeman should be trained to handle fire-arms. The company, under Sergeant Steven Jansz Botma and Corporals Herman Remajenne and Wouter Cornelisz Mostert, paraded at the fort every Sunday morning. The Burgher Militia acted at first only in support of the garrison, consisting of professional soldiers, but later developed into burgher commandoes who bound themselves together for protection against cattle-thieves and acted without the help of troops, but with ammunition provided by the government.

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01Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 2, p. 599.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

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South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010828

South African History Online (2011) 'Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010828 (Accessed: 31 August 2026).

South African History Online, Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010828, (accessed 31 August 2026).

"Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010828. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Van Riebeeck establishes the first burgher commando." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010828.