HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA^ o^^ 'v 

 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CAPE/^ i'*'-*-*^ 

 ARCHIVES. uu L I !^ ' 



By Colin Graham Botha. -rv- . a^asS 



nT^^/ m ■ 



Read July 7, 1919. ^-^ ^ 



If the syllabus laid down at present for the teaching of 

 South African history in schools were compared with the curri- 

 culum of, say, two decades ago, we would see a vast difference, 

 between the present and past requirements in that subject. A 

 generation ago it seemed that merely being able to repeat the 

 dates of Kaffir Wars and the arrivals of Governors was synony- 

 mous with having a good knowledge of our history. This was 

 of little avail in enabling the scholar to obtain a deeper insight 

 into his country's history. To know the history of a nation is 

 to know something of the people that make up that nation ; to 

 know them in their daily life, to have an insight into their man- 

 ners and customs ; to learn of their " ups " as well as their 

 " downs," of their faults and failures as well as their virtues 

 and successes ; to be able to view them in their political, social, 

 commercial, economic and ecclesiastical life. One of the aims 

 in teaching history should be the making of good citizens, 

 and without a knowledge of history no one can be a good citizen. 

 Not only must the citizen know the history of his country, but 

 he can never have a just conception of it unless he also takes 

 into consideration the history of the countries outside it, and 

 bears in mind the events which, in generations gone by, have 

 aided in building up the civilization of his own native land. 

 Ask those who learnt South African history 15 years ago whether 

 they were taught the effects on this country of the Wars in 

 Europe in the eighteenth century between England and Holland, 

 or France and Holland. I feel that the answer will be a decided 

 negative. How did the war between England and Holland in 

 1 781, the American War of Independence, or even the French 

 Revolution, affect South Africa? Few would be able to tell with 

 any precision except those who have made a deep research into 

 the matter. However, this is but one of several examples which- 

 could be mentioned to prove the necessity of knowing something 

 of the world's doings at the time that our own country was in 

 the making. 



It would seem somewhat presumptuous for one who is 

 unconnected with the teaching profession to express an opinion 

 as to the teaching of history, but as this paper concerns historical 

 research into our history, I feel that this question has some bear- 

 ing on what I have to say in what follows. In teaching history 

 we should have in mind the making of good citizens, who would 



