A Namaqualand Story: 1800-1909
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ON THE EDGE OF THE DESERT – A NAMAQUALAND STORY: 1800-1909 Climatic and Socio-Economic Drivers of Decline Supervisor: Prof. Coleen Vogel Clare Joanne Kelso A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science, in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2010. 2 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own, unaided work. It is being submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other University. ______________________ Signature of candidate ______ day of __________________ 2010 University of the Witwatersrand 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Coleen Vogel for all her input and assistance throughout the process of this research. I would also like to thank Prof. Phil Bonner for reviewing the historical chapters of this research and for his input and much needed encouragement. Thank you to Prof. Timm Hoffman and Rick Rhode for their input and assistance during my research trips to Cape Town. Thanks to Katherine Vincent who was willing to wade through the full thesis and give extremely useful input. Thank you to Dr. Dave Nash for his very thorough and extremely useful input both as a referee for the Climatic Change paper and on an earlier version of this research. Thanks also to Wendy Job who produced the electronic figures and to Prof. Harold Annegarn for assistance with editing and to everyone in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Johannesburg, thank you for all your encouragement along the way. To my mother, Helen, and my husband, Chris, whose support, understanding and practical help was endless, thank you so much. To my four year old son, Daniel, who didn’t quite understand that his mother was busy with a thesis, but did experience her absence and irritation on many occasions, thanks for your special love and inspiration. To my special friends who talked me through the crisis points and the late nights of work, you kept me sane, so thank you. This research was carried out with the partial assistance of a grant from the European Commission (Contract No. ERBIC18CT970162). 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ................................................................................................................ 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................ 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................. 9 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................... 9 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................... 11 INTRODUCTION: ........................................................................................................... 11 1.1. BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................... 11 1.2. AIMS......................................................................................................................... 11 1.3. LELIEFONTEIN ...................................................................................................... 13 1.4. AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY........................................................... 15 1.5. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 19 1.6. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CLIMATE OF NAMAQUALAND...................... 20 1.7. HISTORICAL LIVELIHOODS OF THE LELIEFONTEIN COMMUNITY......... 21 1.8. REPRESENTATIONS AND LAND ALIENATION .............................................. 22 1.9. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................... 22 SUMMARY...................................................................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................... 24 ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY..................................................................................... 24 2.1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 24 2.2. A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH............................................................... 25 2.3. THE ROOTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY................................................. 27 2.4. HISTORICAL LIVELIHOODS AND VULNERABILITY .................................... 29 2.4.1. Livelihoods ........................................................................................................ 29 2.4.2. Vulnerability ...................................................................................................... 31 2.5. RESILIENCE FRAMEWORK................................................................................. 40 2.5.1. Resilience........................................................................................................... 41 2.5.2. Risk .................................................................................................................... 42 2.6. GRAZING POLICY AND PRACTICE ................................................................... 42 2.6.1. Grazing Models at Equilibrium ......................................................................... 43 2.6.2. Disequilibrium Grazing ..................................................................................... 45 2.6.3. Beyond Equilibrium and Disequilibrium........................................................... 48 2.6.4. Sedentary Lifestyle as Evidence of Civilisation and Progress............................ 49 2.6.5. Agency of Local Populations............................................................................. 50 2.7. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................... 51 SUMMARY...................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................................... 55 METHODOLOGY: .......................................................................................................... 55 SORTING THROUGH THE RECORDS, RECONSTRUCTING THE PAST............... 55 5 3.1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 55 3.2. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY....................................................................................... 56 3.2.1. Historical Documentary Sources ....................................................................... 57 3.3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 60 3.4. RETHINKING THE SOURCES – CRITIQUE OF METHODOLOGY ................. 75 3.4.1. Accuracy and Precision: Problems Arising from the Use of Historical Documentary Sources for Climatic Reconstruction ..................................................... 75 3.4.2. Politics of Representation and the Power of Discourse – Difficulties Using Documentary Sources for Social History ..................................................................... 80 3.5. DEFENCE AND JUSTIFICATION OF AFRICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY ......................................................................................................................... 86 3.6. CONCLUSION......................................................................................................... 88 SUMMARY...................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................................... 91 COPING WITH MARGINAL CLIMATE, DISEASE, EXPLOITATIVE TRADE AND ENCROACHMENT: THE NAMAQUA BEFORE 1800................................................ 91 4.1. BACKGROUND TO STUDY AREA: INTRODUCTION ..................................... 91 4.2. LOCATION .............................................................................................................. 92 4.3. CLIMATE OF NAMAQUALAND.......................................................................... 93 4.3.1. Climatic Statistics and Climatic Classification of the Leliefontein Area .......... 95 4.4. CLIMATIC CONTROLS .......................................................................................... 98 4.4.1. El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Climate of Namaqualand ..................... 100 4.5. FLORISTIC ZONES OF THE NAMAQUALAND REGION .............................. 101 4.5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND................................................................. 106 4.5.1. Little Namaqualand Prior to 1700...................................................................