Guilliam Visagie (born about 1751; still alive in 1793) was a

trekboer The Trekboers ( af, Trekboere) were nomadic pastoralists descended from European settlers on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cap ...

who settled in southern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

about 1786. He is considered to have been the first person of European ancestry to have settled in the country. Visagie was born about 1751 in the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...

, likely to parents of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent. He became a farmer in the area near the Olifants River. In 1780, he was found guilty of killing a Nama and wounding two others. To escape punishment by the authorities, he and his wife moved north of the

Orange River The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...

. In 1785, Guilliam and his wife Elsab Visagie settled in the area of today's Keetmanshoop, which he named ''Modderfontein'' (mud fountain), becoming the first Europeans to establish a permanent settlement in Namibia. The settlement was later renamed ''Swartmodder''. Visagie farmed and traded firearms to the Namas for cattle. In 1793, he withdrew from his farm after a clash with Afrikaner

Oorlams Oorlams (also: ''Oorlands'', ''Oorlans'') is a dialect of Afrikaans spoken in the Republic of South Africa and Namibia, by the Oorlam people. It is considered to be either an Afrikaans-based creole language or a dialect of Afrikaans proper. Oo ...

commandos, who were apparently acting on orders from 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visagie, Guilliam Afrikaner people White Namibian people South African emigrants to Namibia South African people convicted of murder People from the West Coast District Municipality 1751 births Year of death uncertain