The Dutch East India Company’s post Rietvlei, near Swellendam, seen from the south Possibly 1777 - 1778

Robert Jacob Gordon produced this watercolor depicting the Dutch East India Company’s post near Swellendam, South Africa. The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, used such posts to extend their reach, control trade, and expand their territories. This image offers a glimpse into the visual strategies employed by colonial powers to map and dominate new lands. Note how the landscape is rendered with a cool, detached precision. This approach asserts a claim of objective knowledge and control. The ordered fields and buildings represent the imposition of European systems onto the South African landscape. The sketch includes a blank section, suggesting a project only half-finished and a landscape only partially known. To truly understand this work, we need to investigate the archives of the VOC and study the journals and maps produced during this period. By doing so, we can understand the cultural and institutional forces that shaped this image and its place within the history of colonialism.