Last modified: 2006-01-21 by bruce berry
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This
webpage shows a different version of the Dutch East India Company
Flag (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC for short) than what is
shown at FOTW.
Zane Whitehorn, 28 Mar 2003
There were quite a few different VOC flags, for use by the different Chambers
(places of settlement). This flag was for the Cape Colony, see this
webpage. The link just provided and an image in "Ensiklopedie van Suidelike
Afrika", 1967, suggests that it was indeed used on flags after 1652. I've
made a gif, using Mark Sensen's images, for this Cape Colony VOC flag.
On the cited FOTW-page Mark Sensen queries: "There was also a cipher for
the Cape (with a small "c"), but it is unknown if it was ever used on flags."
Jarig Bakker, .28 Mar 2003
The version of the VOC flag on this
page really should not have been placed on the Homepage of an article
dealing exclusively with the Dutch East Indies, as the cipher used on this
flag refers in particular to the Cape of Good Hope (Caab de Goede Hope
in 17th Century Dutch).
In "National and Provincial Symbols" by F.G.Brownell (1993) [brl93], it
states on page 10:
"More common was the use of the company's cipher, a combination of
the letters VOC (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Oost Indische Compagnie), over
which a small letter C for Cabo (Cape), was sometimes placed. The flag flown (in
the Cape) was either that of the
Netherlands, or that of the Company,
which was the Netherlands flag bearing the Company's cipher".
Note that the above does not specifically mention a flag with the Company's
cipher with above it a small letter "c". It does show us that such a
cipher
combination existed, however, and that its use on flags used on ships with
the Cape of Good Hope as their homeport must assumed to have been in use.
The cipher can also be viewed on the same page in the above mentioned
book, as well as in C. Pama's Lions and Virgins (1965) [pam65] as Fig. 12.
Caabse Vleck was a very early name for Cape Town (Kaapstad) but I have
not been able to find the material relating to this.
I have a few photocopies of early paintings of the Cape of Good Hope.
The first is a water colour dated 1655/56 and is the oldest known painting
of the settlement. It is headed: Aldus Verthoont hem de TAFEL BAY Geleegen
Aen CABO de BONA SPERANCA.
Three other drawings by Johannes Rach dated 1762 have handwritten underneath:
Gezigt van Cabo de Goede Hoop.
So more than a Century after the landing of Jan van Riebeeck at the
Cape it is still known as "Cabo". This is probably why a letter "C" was added to
the cipher and not a "K", which would have been the obvious choice if the
settlement had been known as Kaap de Goede Hoop.
Although we know the cipher with the "C" was in use at that time by the
Company in the Cape, I have never been able to find any evidence that a
flag with such a cipher was ever used, whether on land or on ships, but one would presume that when the Governor of the Cape boarded a ship for travel
he would use such a distinctive flag. Other ships operating from the settlement
might have used such a flag as well.
Andre van de Loo, 29 Mar 2003
A photograph of a VOC (Vereenigde Nederlandsche Oost Indische Compagnie) flag
taken by Santiago Tazón in the Cape Town Castle can be found in the
Files Section.
[Ed]