ABSTRACT
The peace settlement which finally ended the great war in 1815 left Britain permanently ensconced as imperial master of the entire panhandle region. By this time they occupied a preeminent position as a world-wide military and naval power. The population of the entire panhandle region can never have been great. By 1800 it was estimated to number about 60,000. This is tiny compared with the areas of mixed farming. The headquarters of change were located at Table Bay, which nestles beneath imposing mountains on the south-easternmost tip of the African continent. It provides some shelter against stormy weather and for that reason attracted the attention of European companies involved in longdistance seaborne trade with India and South-east Asia. A cruel twist of fate turned some of their cousins, the Khoi herders, into an advance guard of the slow-moving trekboer army. A time-honoured method of repairing losses inflicted by cattle raids was to organize raids on other people.
