Simon van der Stel’s copper mine
Sep 24, 2021
2 minutes
Soon after the arrival of the Dutch at the Cape in 1652, rumours of mineral riches in the interior began to circulate. In fact, as early as the 1660s, several Dutch expeditions penetrated Namaqualand in a fruitless search for the mythical gold of King Monomotapa.
In the 1680s, expeditions set out in search of Namaqualand’s Koperberg (Copper Mountains). These culminated in the high-profile expedition of Simon van der
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