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Cape Corps
The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served.
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape Corps reflects the history of South Africa's Coloured population to a great extent.
In the 1770s, the Dutch authorities established the first Coloured military unit, the Free Corps. The unit consisted solely of Coloured recruits and no white people were allowed to join except as officers, marking the beginning of racially segregated units in the military history of South Africa.
The second Coloured unit to be formed was the Bastard Hottentot Corps (Dutch: "Corps Bastaard Hottentoten"), which was organised in 1781 by the Dutch colonial administration of the time. Based in Cape Town and drawing its members from men of mixed Hottentot and White ancestry, this unit had about 400 members under the command of Hendrik Eksteen and Gerrit Munnik. The unit was disbanded in 1782 when French mercenaries arrived in the Cape.
In 1793 this unit was re-formed in Cape Town as the Pandour Corps with 200 men under the command of Captain Jan Cloete, only to be disbanded again in 1795.
The unit was re-formed again under the new British colonial administration in May 1796, this time under the name Hottentot Corps. It was headquartered in Wynberg and consisted of about 300 men. In 1798 the headquarters were moved to Hout Bay.
On 25 June 1801 the Cape Regiment was formed. It was organised as a British imperial regiment of ten companies and retained all the personnel of the Hottentot Corps.
With the Dutch taking over colonial administration of the Cape once again, the Corps Vrye Hottentotten ("Corps of Free Hottentots") was formed on 21 February 1803. It was later renamed the Hottentot Ligte Infanterie ("Hottentot Light Infantry") and saw action against the British expeditionary force to capture the Cape colony from the French allied Batavian Republic during the Napoleonic Wars at the Battle of Blaauwberg.
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Cape Corps
The Cape Corps and its predecessor units were the main military organisations in which the Coloured members of South Africa's population served.
As one of the military units of South Africa with one of the longest histories, the Cape Corps reflects the history of South Africa's Coloured population to a great extent.
In the 1770s, the Dutch authorities established the first Coloured military unit, the Free Corps. The unit consisted solely of Coloured recruits and no white people were allowed to join except as officers, marking the beginning of racially segregated units in the military history of South Africa.
The second Coloured unit to be formed was the Bastard Hottentot Corps (Dutch: "Corps Bastaard Hottentoten"), which was organised in 1781 by the Dutch colonial administration of the time. Based in Cape Town and drawing its members from men of mixed Hottentot and White ancestry, this unit had about 400 members under the command of Hendrik Eksteen and Gerrit Munnik. The unit was disbanded in 1782 when French mercenaries arrived in the Cape.
In 1793 this unit was re-formed in Cape Town as the Pandour Corps with 200 men under the command of Captain Jan Cloete, only to be disbanded again in 1795.
The unit was re-formed again under the new British colonial administration in May 1796, this time under the name Hottentot Corps. It was headquartered in Wynberg and consisted of about 300 men. In 1798 the headquarters were moved to Hout Bay.
On 25 June 1801 the Cape Regiment was formed. It was organised as a British imperial regiment of ten companies and retained all the personnel of the Hottentot Corps.
With the Dutch taking over colonial administration of the Cape once again, the Corps Vrye Hottentotten ("Corps of Free Hottentots") was formed on 21 February 1803. It was later renamed the Hottentot Ligte Infanterie ("Hottentot Light Infantry") and saw action against the British expeditionary force to capture the Cape colony from the French allied Batavian Republic during the Napoleonic Wars at the Battle of Blaauwberg.