Gonnema was a

Khoekhoe Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

chieftain of the Cochoqua people in 17th century

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. He was the primary antagonist of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

in the Second Khoikhoi–Dutch War. Despite the Company's opposition to war with the Khoekhoe, individual soldiers aroused the ire of the Cochoqua by looting their cattle. By the early 1670s, Gonnema and his people were sufficiently incensed to take up arms.Wilmot, Alexander; ''History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope: From its discovery to the year 1819''; Longmans, 1869 In 1673, Gonnema murdered a hunting party of eight burghers.Theal, George McCall; ''History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi, from the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 2 Dec 2010 p484 A commando (militia) unit led by Ensign Hieronymous Cruse was sent against him,Moodie, D; ''The Record: Or, a Series of Official Papers Relative to the Condition and Treatment of the Native Tribes of South Africa''

, 22 Dec 2011 which failed to capture the Cochoqua's

kraal Kraal (also spelled ''craal'' or ''kraul'') is an Afrikaans and Dutch word, also used in South African English, for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within a Southern African settlement or village surrounded by a fence of th ...

. However, they were successful in taking prisoners, who were subsequently executed. Gonnema's men also attacked and plundered the Company's fort at

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local Mu ...

. Beyond these attacks, Gonnema waged a primarily defensive strategy for the remainder of the hostilities. The following year a combined force of Europeans, burghers and Khoekhoe (the Goringhaiqua and Gorochouqua peoples) was sent against Gonnema, but again failed to capture him. Rather than retaliating immediately, Gonnema responded by preventing the local Khoekhoe peoples from trading with the Europeans,Muller, C.F.J. ''Five hundred years: a history of South Africa'',

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, 1986, p56 although in November 1674 he raided the Europeans' Khoekhoe allies. He attacked the Goringhaiquas and Gorochouquas again at

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in early 1675, where fifteen Cochoqua people were killed by Dutch East India Company reinforcements. Gonnema himself, however, escaped once again. Another commando unit was sent against the Cochoqua in 1676, but again they failed to capture Gonnema, returning instead with a handful of prisoners and several hundred head of cattle. By 1677, Gonnema was willing to sue for peace, an act which was well received by the Dutch. A settlement was reached whereby Gonnema's people would pay the Dutch a tribute of 30 head of cattle each year.

References

{{reflist Khoikhoi South African chiefs