Thursday, February 2, 2017

Slave-Built Walls

I took this photo recently of a wall on the Suurveld, apparently built by Khoikhoi slaves. This is an example of the massive foundation stones one sees -- but by far not the largest. And the walls are vast -- it seems hard to believe they exist. OBSERVATION: A History of Slavery states that the Khoikhoi "disintegrated within a matter of decades" through colonial intrusion, slavery, and forced labour. Locals say it was not disintegration, but eradication, when they had completed the walls. One old man said to me: "If they were not eradicated, then where did they go? Show me one who is left." I find no material which supports the oral history.

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