'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River

Coordinates: 18.4190, -33.9590
Updated: 26 May 2020

Name applied from 1657 to the Liesbeek River, in Cape Town. Named after a small River in the Netherlands. The first 'free burghers' of the Dutch East India Company were granted permission to Farm along the River in 1657, shortly after the first Dutch Settlers arrived in the Cape. This was the first River that Jan van Riebeeck named!

Location Map

'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River

How we know this

01New Dictionary of South African Place Names by Peter E. Raper

Last updated · 26 May 2020

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2016, September 22). 'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/P-0121976

South African History Online (2016) ''Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River', South African History Online, 22 September. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/P-0121976 (Accessed: 21 July 2026).

South African History Online, 'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River [website], https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/P-0121976, (accessed 21 July 2026).

"'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River." South African History Online, 22 Sept. 2016, https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/P-0121976. Accessed 21 July 2026.

South African History Online. "'Amstel River', Now Known as Liesbeek River." South African History Online. September 22, 2016. https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/P-0121976.