Introduction

In this part of the website we will include a variety of different types of sources from the period of slavery. These will include contemporary written accounts, drawings and paintings. There are many collections of such sources in Cape Town, especially at the Cape Archives Repository in Roeland Street, the National Library of South Africa and the Social History Collections of Iziko Museums.

Such materials are valuable sources of information, but they also have their weaknesses. They reflect the perspective of the writer or artist at the time. Moreover very few sources were made by the slaves themselves. They need therefore to be viewed with care, remembering that they were made not for our needs but for the purposes of the time.