ABSTRACT
The arable wine and wheat-growing districts of the south-western Cape displayed distinctive features in the nineteenth century. Slavery was officially abolished in 1834, although slaves were obliged to serve another four years as apprentices and were not free to leave their masters until 1838. This chapter examines the key features of adjustment for both farmers and freed slaves which took place in the years immediately following emancipation. By 1833, on the eve of emancipation, 35 745 slaves were recorded in the official returns, to the Compensation Commissioners, with an estimated value of over £3 million. The large majority of slaves were living in Cape Town and the arable south-western districts of its hinterland, Cape District, Stellenbosch and Worcester at the time of final emancipation. One response by some slave-owners to the failure to retain state support for a coerced labour force was to leave the colony altogether.
