
The cruciform structure, completed in 1699 by order of Simon van der Stel that no longer exists, covered almost two city blocks. It was built, maintained, and staffed by enslaved people, and could accommodate hundreds of patients. An earlier hospital was closer to the sea and provided sick care to Dutch crews. Particularly dangerous were the smallpox that was brought to the Cape by Dutch ship’s crew. An epidemic in 1713 led to the death of more than two hundred enslaved people, owned by the VOC. In addition, the disease devastated 90 percent of the indigenous Khoekhoe population. Clothing and linens from the Dutch crew were sent to the Slave Lodge to be washed, and within weeks the smallpox disease had affected various parts of colonial society, a pandemic followed. There was a shortage of timber on the Cape, agriculture came to a standstill and emergency supplies had to be imported from Batavia. Leprosy entered the country via the slave trade from Asia and emerged at the Cape in 1756.
Sources
- South African History Online. (2019b). The VOC Hospital. [online] https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/voc-hospital-cape-town.
- South African History Online. (2019c). Smallpox Epidemic Strikes at the Cape. [online] https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/smallpox-epidemic-strikes-cape.
- Van Rensburg, A.M. (N.d.). The VOC Caep Siekenhuijs. [online] https://www.geocities.ws/sa_stamouers/voc5.htm#Top.