Containing An Historical View of its Original Settlement by the Dutch, its Capture by the British in 1795, and the Different Policy Pursued There by the Dutch and British Governments. Also a Sketch of its Geography, Productions, the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants, &c. &c. With A View of the Political and Commercial Advantages Which Might be Derived from its Possession by Great Britain.

By Captain Robert Percival (1765-1826) a captain in the 18th Irish Regiment who travelled to southern Africa in 1795 as part of the British expedition to capture the Cape Colony (now part of South Africa) from the Dutch. The invasion took place in order to prevent the colony from falling under the control of revolutionary France, the French having occupied the Netherlands in late 1794, and to ensure the security of the shipping lanes to and from India.

Percival remained in the Cape Colony until Britain gave control of it back to Dutch authorities at the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He published this account of the colony two years later in which he criticised policies pursued by Dutch settlers (Afrikaners) and their treatment of the Indigenous population. The book also remarked on the climate in South Africa and argued for the resumption of British control of the land. The Cape Colony was reoccupied by British forces in 1806 and in 1814, the territory was formally ceded by the Dutch.

Published by London Printed for C. and R. Baldwin
1804
First Edition
Ex Libris Sir Francis Hopkins, 1st Baronet and George Harwood
220mm 270mm

R15,000