First Fifty Years - a project collating Cape of Good Hope records

Matthijs van Bengale¹

M, #12844, b. 1669/70

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Last Edited

10/04/2017

BirthOrigin*

Matthijs was from Bengal and was perhaps born there in 1669/70. Van Bengale - or from Bengal - was a term loosely applied during the period of VOC dominance to enslaved or formerly enslaved people from any of the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal. He was said to be 21 or 22 years old in 1691.¹

Slave Transactions

On 23 July 1691 Matthijs van Bengale was sold on behalf of Sara de Roo, the widow of Cornelis Coomans, by Jan Barentsz to Willem ten Damme, for Rds. 70.²

Citations

[S418] Anna J. Böeseken, Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700 (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1977), p.159.. Hereinafter cited as Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700.
[S418] Anna J. Böeseken, Slaves and Free Blacks at the Cape 1658-1700, p.159. 23.7.1691, pp. 235-236: Matthijs from Bengal (21-22), sold by Jan Barentsz, skipper of the Langewijck, on behalf of Sara de Roo, the widow of Cornelis Coomans, merchant in Suratte, to Willem van Damme for Rds. 70.