‘Woest land’ en ‘aards Paradys’. François Valentyns geografie van de Kaap de Goede Hoop

Samenvatting

At the end of his multi-volume work about the trading empire of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indieën (1724-1726), François Valentyn gives a description of the Dutch Cape Colony. I will first argue that this description follows the lines of early modern Dutch landscape discourse with special attention to Valentyn’s description of gardens at the Cape. Secondly, I will trace the origin of some elements of Valentyn’s description of the Cape to show his dependence on the knowledge network of the VOC. These issues correspond to two theoretical perspectives on Valentyn’s geographical description: a synchroniexamination of the landscape discourse and a diachronous exploration of the genesis of some of the inscriptions employed by Valentyn.