First Fifty Years - a project collating Cape of Good Hope records

Choebaha of the Hamcunquas^1,2

M, #18910, b. circa 1625

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Last Edited

12/09/2017

Birth*

Choebaha of the Hamcunquas was born circa 1625, the date is estimated based on his leadership status in 1662.²

(Leader) PeopleGroup

On 5 May 1662 Choebaha was the leader of the group named as Hamcumquas, whom Van Riebeeck believed to be the greatest and most powerful of all the Hottentoo tribes. Choebaha or Khoebaka, was his title and he appears only this way without further identification throughout the record. The title meant Emperor or Chief King or Supreme Lord and he was not only the ruler of the Hancumquas, but of all Khoe. The Hancumquas lived in huts made of matting but much larger than those of other groups in the region, and they remained in one place. Van Riebeeck wrote that they planted and dried a plant called dacha which they bruised and ate and which made them very silly.²

Citations

Throughout the record of the period he is referred to only by his title, Choebaha or Khoebaka, which in essence means supreme ruler.
[S647] Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope, Letters Despatched 1652-1662 to which are added land grants, attestations, Journal of voyage to Tristan da Cunha, names of freemen, &c. Vol III, H.C.V. Leibrandt; (Cape Town, South Africa: W.A. Richards & Sons, Government Printers, 1900), p.239-242. Hereinafter cited as Precis of the archives of the Cape of Good Hope.