Going to jail during the time of the Dutch settlers - Part 2
Cape Town has had five major prisons during the past 360-odd years, starting with rooms of confinement in the mud-walled fort and dungeons in the bastions of the ...
Going to jail during the time of the Dutch settlers - Part 1
"Prisons have been with us for thousands of years, long before the rise of complex civilisations in Mesopotamia and Egypt. "
The confusing history behind our modern calendar year
The Roman dictator Julius Caesar sought advice from a famous astronomer and decided to adopt a solar year of 365¼ days, starting on January 1.
When the Cape Peninsula was an island
What is now the Cape Peninsula was then two mountainous islands separated by a channel which ran between Fish Hoek and Noordhoek.
Part 2: Canal from Table Bay to False Bay
"In 1654, Jan van Riebeeck, commander of the mud-walled fort at the Cape, suggested digging a canal between Table Bay and False Bay"
Peninsula was almost an island, with a canal from Table Bay to False Bay
During the first decade of European settlement at the Cape was the plan to turn the Peninsula into an island.
The Way We Were: Perils, passions and mutiny on the Bounty
Jackie Loos' "The Way We Were" column is published in the Cape Argus every week.
The Way We Were: Strategic role of Mauritius made it a naval prize
History enthusiast, Jackie Loos continues to tell land and migration history in her "The Way We Were" column in the Cape Argus
From cart to rail, how holidaying has changed
Jackie Loos' "The Way We Were" column is published in the Cape Argus every week.
The Way We Were: From Germany to Strand, connecting the dots
History enthusiast, Jackie Loos continues to slave history and migration in her "The Way We Were" column.
The Way We Were: How slave offspring married into top SA family [Part 4]
History enthusiast, Jackie Loos continues to tackle slave history in her "The Way We Were" column in the Cape Argus.
The Way We Were: Making sense of slave records in WC Archives
Jackie Loos tackles the slave records in the WC archives in her "The Way We Were" column in the Cape Argus.
Khoi's raw deal in tobacco bartering system
Jackie Loos tackles the bantering system during the colonisation of the Cape in her "The Way We Were" column in the Cape Argus.
Part 2: SA's defeat at Tobruk
Jackie Loos tackles South Africa's military defeat at Tobruk in a three part article from her "The Way We Were" column in the Cape Argus.
Real-life Robinson Crusoe’s visit to the Cape
CAPE Town has a slight connection with the man who was apparently the model for “Robinson Crusoe”. He was a Scot named Alexander Selkirk (1676-1721) who spent three ...
Confederate naval hero thrilled the Cape
The American Civil War was a brutal four-year struggle which brought slavery to an end when Abraham Lincoln’s northern forces defeated the slave-owning southern ...
Jackie Loos’ The Way We Were
Scientist William John Burchell was an accomplished, prolific naturalist.
The Way We Were
Richard Jennings and Mary Thompson were humble members of the Society of Friends (a religious body also known as the Quakers) in the north of England who believed ...
Jackie Loos on the Way We Were
Family researchers who imagine their ancestors were paragons of virtue are often startled when they come across evidence to the contrary.
The Way We Were
Travelling was not all plain-sailing in the 18th century, writes Jackie Loos
The Way We Were
Extreme desperation for survival was often the driving force behind enlisting, writes Jackie Loos
The Way We Were
Observations of a soldier-cum-farmer of Cape life in the 18th century