Robert Jacob Gordon (29 September 1743, in

Doesburg Doesburg () is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Doesburg received city rights in 1237 and had a population of in . The city is situated on the right bank of river IJssel, at the confluence of ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

– 25 October 1795, in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

) was a Dutch explorer, soldier, artist, naturalist and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

of Scottish descent.

Life

Robert Jacob Gordon was the son of Maj. General Jacob Gordon of the

Scots Brigade The Scots Brigade, also referred to as the Anglo-Dutch Brigade or the Anglo-Scots Brigade, was an infantry brigade of the Dutch States Army. First formed in 1586, by the late 17th century it usually comprised six infantry regiments, three recruit ...

(1572–1782) in the service of the Netherlands. Although of Scottish descent, Robert Gordon's allegiance and service lay with the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He joined the Dutch Light Dragoons as a cadet in 1753 and enrolled at the

University of Harderwijk The University of Harderwijk (1648–1811), also named the ''Guelders Academy'' ( la, Academia Gelro-Zutphanica), was located in the city Harderwijk, in the Republic of the United Provinces (now: the Netherlands). It was founded by the province ...

in 1759. Here he studied in the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

and soon proved to be of exceptional intelligence with diverse interests. He served at first with the

and later joined 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 ...

, rising to the rank of colonel and commanding the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

garrison between 1780 and 1795 and lived in the manor house known as Schoonder Sight. He went on more expeditions than any other 18th-century explorer of southern Africa. Of the six journeys he undertook, only four between 1777 and 1786 are covered by journals discovered in 1964. He was responsible for naming 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 ...

, introducing

Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

sheep to the Cape Colony and for the discovery of the remains of

Bartolomeu Dias Bartolomeu Dias ( 1450 – 29 May 1500) was a Portuguese mariner and explorer. In 1488, he became the first European navigator to round the southern tip of Africa and to demonstrate that the most effective southward route for ships lay in the o ...

padrão A ''padrão'' is a stone pillar left by Portuguese maritime explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries to record significant landfalls and thereby establish primacy and possession. They were often placed on promontories and capes or at the mouths o ...

Kwaaihoek Kwaaihoek is a rocky headland on the coast of Algoa Bay, at Boknesstrand near Bushman's River Mouth in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is a section of the Addo Elephant National Park. It is here that the Portuguese navigator ...

in 1786. In addition to French, Dutch and English, he spoke the indigenous languages

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. ...

and

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

First trip (1773–1774)

During 1772/73 Robert visited the Cape Colony and met

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Swedish naturalist and an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus. After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala Un ...

and

Francis Masson Francis Masson (August 1741 – 23 December 1805) was a Scottish botanist and gardener, and Kew Gardens’ first plant hunter. Life Masson was born in Aberdeen. In the 1760s, he went to work at Kew Gardens as an under-gardener. Masson ...

. They undertook a trip on foot exploring the mountains between Cape Town and

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...

. Besides his excursion with Thunberg and Masson, Gordon undertook one long journey during this period at the Cape, but there is no known record of his route.

Second trip (1777–1778)

He returned to the Cape in 1777 with the rank of captain. He set out on a second trip from 6 October 1777 to 8 March 1778 together with William Paterson, the botanist, collector and affable companion, who soon turned back due to illness, and

Johannes Schumacher Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

/Schoemaker, an artist, Gordon left Cape Town for

Swellendam Swellendam is the fifth oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, and Paarl), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them b ...

. From there via Plattekloof to Beervlei and on to present-day

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He continued across the

Sneeuwberg The Sneeuberge or Sneeuberg mountain range was historically known as “Sneeuwbergen”, meaning ‘snow mountains’ in Cape Dutch, and refers to a significant portion of Southern Africa's Great Escarpment in the Cradock, Murraysburg, Richmo ...

to a point slightly west of

Colesberg Colesberg is a town with 17,354 inhabitants in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, located on the main N1 road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over half-a-million hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many ...

. He then roughly retraced his outbound route as far as the Sneeuwberg, the heading south-east to Cookhouse, from where he made various forays to meet

chiefs. One of Gordon's goals on this trip was reaching the

Groote 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 ...

, doing so by going north up the

Great Fish The Great Fish River (called ''great'' to distinguish it from the Namibian Fish River) ( af, Groot-Visrivier) is a river running through the South African province of the Eastern Cape. The coastal area between Port Elizabeth and the Fish R ...

, Tarka and Vlekpoort rivers to the confluence of the Groote River with the Caledon. Schoemaker accompanied Gordon on all his journeys, producing a fine record of their travels and causing present-day confusion as to which sketches are his and which Gordon's. Gordon was a diligent recorder of data such as altitude, compass headings and hours travelled and other information which he would later incorporate in a great map he planned. Paterson recorded that one of his aims on this trip was to meet with

chiefs near present-day

Somerset East Somerset East ( af, Somerset-Oos) is a town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825. The Blue Crane Route follows the national road R63 from Pearston, via Som ...

. For most of his journey he followed a well-travelled route, sometimes joined by others going the same way. His equipment was carried by a single wagon, while he was on horseback, ranging across the veld, observing, recording and occasionally hunting.

Third trip (1778)

A third trip lasting from September to October 1778, was made in the company of Governor van Plettenberg to the north-eastern frontiers of the Colony.

Death (1795)

As commander of the garrison, Gordon was responsible for the Cape's defense. In 1794-1795, the French successfully invaded the Netherlands. As a result, the Prince of Orange, as ''

Stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

'', the ''de facto'' head of state of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

, fled to England. In 1795, a British fleet arrived at the Cape claiming that they had instructions to occupy the colony in the Prince of Orange's name. Gordon initially complied, but was later accused of treason by his own soldiers for allowing the British occupation. Gordon had become an outcast and a target of derision and violence. On 25 October 1795 he committed suicide at his house Schoonder Sight.

References

*''Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa'' - Mary Gunn & L.E. Codd (AA Balkema, Cape Town, 1981) * utch''Een Nederlander in de Wildernis: De Ontdekkingsreizen van Robert Jacob Gordon (1743-1795) in Zuid-Afrika'' - Luc Panhuysen (Rijksmuseum Nieuw Amsterdam Uitgevers, Amsterdam, 2010) *''Robert Jacob Gordon 1743-1795: The Man and His Travels at the Cape'' -

Patrick Cullinan Patrick Roland Cullinan (21 May 1932 – 14 April 2011) was a South African poet and biographer. He was born in Pretoria into a significant diamond-mining family (his grandfather, Sir Thomas Cullinan, a diamond mine owner, gave his name t ...

(Winchester Struik, Cape Town, 1992)

External links

Robert Jacob Gordon - Patrick Cullinan

Robert Jacob Gordon: Diaries, letters and drawings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Robert Jacob 1743 births 1795 deaths Dutch emigrants to South Africa 18th-century Dutch explorers Dutch people of Scottish descent People from Doesburg University of Harderwijk alumni Dutch East India Company people Explorers of Africa