The rugged coastlines of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape conceal secrets beneath the waves secrets that challenge longstanding narratives about South Africa’s past. Among these are persistent myths: that white settlement began in 1652, that Africans had little engagement with the outside world before colonial conquest and that the Atlantic slave trade was the most important conduit for African enslavement. These narratives have shaped mainstream historiography and even Pan-African ideologies, obscuring deeper truths about interaction and our view of the world.

This op-ed explores the antonym of apartheid to illustrate that whites and blacks represent two sides of the same coin rather than blood enemies. It reflects on the many nations and peoples that emerged from early interactions between Europeans and Africans, identities often intentionally overlooked in mainstream historiography. The shipwrecks scattered along the coastlines of KZN and the Eastern Cape are more than relics of lost cargo. They are windows into a complex heritage that reshapes our understanding of arrival, identity and belonging.

Challenging the 1652 Myth and Colonial Apartheid Historiography

One of the most enduring misconceptions is that European settlement in South Africa commenced in 1652 with Jan van Riebeeck and the Dutch East India Company. While this narrative is convenient, it overlooks the complex history of interactions before the Dutch arrived. The shipwrecks scattered along the East Coast provide compelling evidence that outsiders like the Europeans and others were navigating these waters, engaging in trade and participating in the slave trade well before 1652. For example, Portuguese explorers mapped routes around the Cape of Good Hope as early as the late 15th century. 

Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape in 1488, and Vasco da Gama’s fleet sailed past on its journey to India in 1497. Although they purportedly did not establish permanent settlements, these voyages led to another phenomenon: forced settlement and integration of Europeans into African communities. Numerous Portuguese shipwrecks from the 16th century have been discovered along the South African coast, revealing the dangers of these journeys. For instance, the São João, a Portuguese carrack, sank in 1552 near what is now Port Edward. Therefore, survivors of wrecks integrated into local African communities, forming relationships that predate the formal colonial era.

These stories remain untold and less celebrated in Africa and Europe. This was long before race became dominant in Europe’s interactions with the outside world. Nonetheless, the accounts of the survivors offer valuable insights into their interactions with the Indigenous populations they encountered. These wrecks challenge the notion of terra nullius—a ‘land belonging to no one’—which was used to justify colonial claims. The belief in a pristine, untouched Africa awaiting European arrival is a fallacy designed to bury stories and encounters between the two continents. 

Beyond the Atlantic: The Indian Ocean Slave Trade

The Portuguese presence was not limited to mere navigation but also included trade with local communities and the exchange of goods. Tragically, this early interaction also contained the seeds of the slave trade, a practice they learned from Arabs who had exploited the East Coast for centuries. Dominant narratives have replaced this passage of history: the majority of slaves were not drawn from West Africa and were not sent to the Americas. Asia, Africa, and Europe were the world’s core in terms of known human endeavour and exploitation. 

The Indian Ocean slave trade was also a significant enterprise, and Portuguese ships played a role in it. Wrecks like the São Bento (1554) and the Santiago (1589) lost off the Eastern Cape were involved in the slave trade, carrying enslaved people from various parts of Africa and possibly other parts of the world, particularly Asians. The ‘discovery’ of the Americas was prominent. This underscores the point that the enslavement of Africans was a broader phenomenon with deep roots in the region’s history. Based on its strategic location, South Africa was inevitably going to receive or send many of these slaves.

Shipwreck Survivors, Colonial Imposition of Surnames and the Erasure of African Heritage

Besides slavery, the other side of interactions between Europeans and indigenous African populations was much more profound than often acknowledged. For instance, the Skoji clan in the Eastern Cape traces its roots to a Scottish explorer named William Saunders. Culturally Xhosa, racially black by today’s standards and genealogically Scottish, they exemplify how shipwreck survivors blended with local communities, their descendants now fully integrated into the African social landscape. 

Numerous examples exist, with many survivors having integrated into native communities from the 1400s to the 1800s. These include Abelungu (Whites), AmaCaine (John Cane), Ama-Ogle (Henry Ogle), amaFrance (French) amaIrish (Irish), Bomvana, amaTshomane and AmaNgesi (English). These identities, far from being anomalies, reveal a long history of intermingling between Africans and Europeans that colonial historiography has deliberately erased or downplayed.

The shipwrecks off the coasts offer a fascinating, albeit tragic, window into the complexities of identity, particularly regarding the notion of surnames. While surnames, in their modern European form, are a common way of identifying individuals and tracing lineage today, it is essential to recognise that this system is not universal and was historically imposed on many regions of the world, including Africa, through colonial expansion. The assumption that everyone, everywhere, has always employed surnames in this manner represents a significant historical inaccuracy that these wrecks help to dispel.

As we recognise them today, surnames primarily developed in Europe during the medieval period, gradually becoming formalised between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. Subsequently, this system spread globally, primarily through colonisation, becoming a tool of administrative control and record keeping. In many African societies, however, naming practices were (and in some cases still are) far more nuanced and diverse. 

Additionally, the shipwrecks themselves add flavour to this diversity. These vessels brought people from East Africa (present-day Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya) and Madagascar, a significant source of enslaved or traded individuals within the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, the trade included individuals from different parts of Asia, highlighting the interconnectedness of global trade networks and the extensive reach of the slave trade. This was long before China became the superpower it is today. 

A surname was only instituted much later, leading to the loss of this vital heritage in Africa. Traces of these early interactions in the black community are lost and cannot be recovered in the same way black Americans cannot reclaim their original identities. The naming patterns destroyed evidence of these early African, European and Asian encounters. This erasure mirrored a broader attempt to rewrite African history and identity through a Eurocentric and colonial lens.

Unclaimed Heritage: European Descendants in Black South Africa

Despite this deep history of integration, contemporary European societies do not acknowledge the descendants of shipwreck survivors who merged with indigenous communities. Groups such as AbeLungu, amaMolo, AmaCaine and amaOgle do not feature in the minds of modern Europeans and their states as well as in misplaced modern racial theories. The European-African interaction is not only about colonialism, racism and oppression but also includes a common heritage beyond skin colour.

While European countries such as Spain and Portugal have extended citizenship rights to Sephardic Jews based on ancestral connections, no similar recognition exists for the descendants of Europeans absorbed into African societies centuries ago. This lack of recognition reflects the racial hierarchies embedded in colonial and postcolonial histories, reinforcing the artificial separations imposed by colonial ideology. Relatives of shipwreck descendants are probably not even aware that they colonised their blood sisters and brothers. This contradiction remains hidden in one-sided history.

Finally, the shipwrecks off the coasts of KZN and the Eastern Cape are more than archaeological curiosities; they are portals to a hidden history that challenges dominant narratives and reshapes our understanding of identity, heritage and global interconnectedness. Unearthing these stories can help change many narratives about race, political disposition and other academic subjects.

Siya yi banga le economy!

Siyabonga Hadebe is a PhD candidate in international economic law and a labour market expert based in Geneva.