Hieronymous Cruse (Jeronimus Croase) (died 20 June 1687) was a soldier and explorer for 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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Background

During the early years of the East India Company's presence in South Africa, the interior of the country remained largely unexplored. Cruse was one of a number of explorers tasked with discovering routes through the interior and gathering intelligence on local tribes. Cruse reportedly excelled at compiling information on the indigenous peoples.

Early expeditions

His earliest expedition in South Africa was in 1663, when he took part in an unsuccessful expedition to interior under Jonas de la Guerre in an attempt to find an overland route to 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 ...

.McCall Theal, George; ''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, 2010, Cruse was the first to discover a route from

Table Bay Table Bay (Afrikaans: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town (founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named ...

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay ( af, Mosselbaai) is a harbour town of about 99,000 people on the Southern Cape (or Garden Route) of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the ...

and Outeniqualand in 1668, where he discovered the Attakwa tribe. A year earlier, he had also discovered the

Gourits River Gourits River ( af, Gouritsrivier), sometimes spelled 'Gouritz River', is situated in the Western Cape, South Africa. The Gourits River flows from the confluence of the Gamka River and Olifants River and is joined by the Groot River, before flo ...

Military career

In September 1670, Cruse (a sergeant at the time) was commanding a post 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 ...

when he came under attack by Admiral De la Haye of the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...

. Cruse and his men were temporarily taken prisoner. In July 1673, Cruse was sent to aid a group of burghers who had come under attack from the tribal warlord

Gonnema Gonnema was a Khoekhoe chieftain of the Cochoqua people in 17th century South Africa. He was the primary antagonist of the Dutch East India Company in the Second Khoikhoi–Dutch War. Despite the Company's opposition to war with the Khoekhoe, ind ...

. The burghers had been slain long before the rescue party arrived, but Cruse had also been tasked with leading a retributive attack. He and his men attempted an attack on Gonnema's kraal, but the warlord and his men escaped to the mountains and Cruse had to be content with capturing their livestock. In later years Cruse was promoted through the ranks of the military, and as a lieutenant was invited in 1674 to join the Governor's policy council. In 1685 he was appointed to the colony's high court of justice under

Hendrik van Rheede Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (Amsterdam, 13 April 1636 – at sea, 15 December 1691) was a military man and a colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company and naturalist. Between 1669 and 1676 he served as a governor of D ...

. He died of an unspecified illness on 20 June 1687.''Joernale van die landtogte van die edele vaandrig Olof Bergh (1682 en 1683) en die vaandrig Isaq Schrijver (1689)'', Die Van Riebeeck vereniging, 1931

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruse, Hieronymous 17th-century Dutch explorers Explorers of Africa South African explorers