Groot Drakenstein

Simon van der Stel, arguably the first coloured Governor of the Cape, was a farming development visionary, who simply from a position of strength declared the territory as the 'Drakenstein', to be a Dutch East India Company possession to be exploited for agricultural purposes. The Dutch East India Company had largely broken Khoi resistance in the district while mobile armed commandos kept the “troublesome” San hunter groups in check. Van der Stel named the area Groot Drakenstein after visting the Dutch Commissioner, Hendrik van Rheede tot Drakenstein. The area between what became Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, acquired the name Jan de Jonkershoek, so named after combining the name and nickname of two pioneering farmers in the area. One was the Free Black farmer, Jan van Saloor, also known as Jan Lui (Lazy Jan) and the other farmer was Johan Andriesz nicknamed the bachelor (de Jonker).