The Khoisan people on the precipice of extermination in the 18th Century: The impact of the 1713, 1755 and 1767 Smallpox Epidemics on the Khoisan Communities at the Cape

The Khoisan people on the precipice of extermination in the 18th Century: The impact of the 1713, 1755 and 1767 Smallpox Epidemics on the Khoisan Communities at the Cape

Butholezwe Mtombeni

Issue: Vol. 7 No.9 2026 Article 14 pp.2671 – 2682
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20267914Published online 28th October 2026

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ABSTRACT

Literature abounds on the smallpox epidemics of 1713, 1755 and 1767 at the Cape, and how the epidemics destroyed the Khoisan way of life. Historians agree that these epidemics decimated most of the Khoisan clans and further eroded their social, economic and political strength, and in the process, exposed them to the naked sky of the ruthless marauding forces of colonialism whose sole intent was to feed their insatiable appetite for arable land and mineralogical riches. Thus, the available orthodox scholarly accounts do not adequately explain the origin of the smallpox virus that precipitated irreparable havoc in the Khoisan communities. The literature treats the spread of the virus as an accident. Therefore, using the available primary and secondary sources and a qualitative research approach, this article explores the 1713, 1755 and 1767 smallpox epidemics at the Cape, with a specific focus on the origins, effects, as well as the indigenous Khoisan clans’ perception of the epidemics. It argues that the introduction of smallpox at the Cape by the Dutch waxed and waned the Khoisan resistance to the Dutch invaders and, therefore, aided the process of colonialism. Drawing on the example of the British distribution of smallpox-contaminated blankets and a handkerchief to Native Americans in 1763, the article concludes that there is a possibility that the smallpox-infected blanket which arrived at the Cape on 14 February 1713 may have served a similar purpose- to weaken the Khoisan population, thereby facilitating colonial expansion and the occupation of their territories.

Keywords: Khoisan, Epidemics, Smallpox, Colonialism, and Indigenous.

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ABOUT AUTHOR(S)

Butholezwe Mtombeni is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

TO CITE ARTICLE

Mtombeni, Butholezwe. “The Khoisan people on the precipice of extermination in the 18^th Century: The impact of the 1713, 1755 and 1767 Smallpox Epidemics on the Khoisan Communities at the Cape.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 7, no.9 (2026): 2671 – 2682. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20267914