ABSTRACT
In the 1780s the Swedish doctor and scientist Andreas Sparman travelled through South Africa, at that time a Dutch colony, observing and studying the various ethnic groups living in that part of the world, especially the Khoisan-the so-called ‘Hottentots’ and ‘Caffers’. It was not uncommon for Germans, Scandinavians or Frenchmen to have worked and lived in the Dutch settlements, and in the Dutch Republic it was far from exceptional to find translated printed material on every imaginable topic, including fictional and non-fictional writings on overseas man and his world. Theoretically, every man, whether white or black, was supposed to be able to achieve world citizenship, especially in the cultural sense of the word. However, this path towards this world civilization was paved with obstacles, problems and, above, all ignorance.
