History
Pre-colonial history
The original inhabitants of the area were the Khoikhoi pastoralists and the San hunter gatherers. The indigenous people of the region, the Chainouqua Khoi, inhabited a large area on both sides of the Hottentots Holland Mountains. They traded with early European settlers, but were later dispossessed from their lands by the Dutch colonists, who began to move into the area in the late 1600s and took the Chainouqua land for farming. Fortunately, the Khoikhoi names for some of the region's specific land-forms are recorded, and include Houtema, which is thought to have been the name for the Palmiet River, and Gantouw which was the name for Sir Lowry's Pass.
Early colonial era
The original Chairouqua name for the region where Grabouw is located is unfortunately not known. However a wide range of different names sprung up in colonial times. The town's location was first a stopping point for wagons on the route eastwards from Cape Town, along the route which the N2 highway now follows. The area was known at the time as "Koffiekraal". Another colonial name for the area was "Groenland" ("Greenland" in Dutch) - a name given by early European settlers to various parts of the region, but which now applies only to the mountainous area to the north. The town itself was created on the farm "Grietjiesgat", bought in 1856 by Wilhelm Langschmidt, a painter from Cape Town, who started the community around his wife's little trading store. Langschmidt named the village after the German town Grabow where he was born. It was initially spelt as "Grabau".
Agricultural revolution
In the early 1900s, the village and surrounding area underwent an agricultural revolution, that had a profound effect on the Grabouw's development. This was the beginning of deciduous fruit farming, which became the town's main economic activity and correlated with a large growth in the town's population. The local suffragist farmer Antonie Viljoen is recorded as the first purchaser of apple trees in the area. However it was in fact his farm workers who first successfully farmed them, on their own plots, and through their own private initiative. In 1903 the Italian South African Molteno family also began to farm in the area - including two brothers who - together with Viljoen's "Oak Valley" farms - helped to build the town's deciduous fruit industry. Another influential pioneer for this period in Grabouw's history was a local woman farmer - Kathleen Murray. She was extremely active also in Grabouw community development (and later became an enthusiastic member of the Black Sash movement). These enterprises turned Grabouw into the hub of Southern Africa's largest single export fruit-producing area. Other influential pioneers were the Beukes family and the Franco-Italian immigrant Edmond Lombardi, who created an apple-juice drink he called "Appletiser", on his nearby farm Applethwaite, and introduced it to the market in 1966. Fueled by the agricultural development of the surrounding region, the town became an economic hub, and gained its first local council in 1923. Full municipal status was granted in 1956.
Modern developments
By the end of the 20th century, a significant shift began in Grabouw's economic focus, with a move towards viticulture and tourism. A large and thriving wine industry has developed across the valley, and wines from the region have won several international awards. The Elgin valley is South Africa's coolest climate wine-growing region and a range of other geographic factors (for example, its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, cool temperatures, plentiful winter rainfall, prevailing wind directions, and altitude) have created a set of conditions for wine growing which are markedly different to those in surrounding areas. Of the many varietals grown in the region, special attention has been paid to Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Grabouw and its surrounding valley is historically significant for South Africa's wine history also because, of all the country's regions, it had one of the earliest movements towards Black ownership of vineyards and wineries. The Elgin winery Thandi was in fact the country's second post-Apartheid winery with significant black involvement (after New Beginnings in Paarl)
Other History in Grabouw.
History of Elgin Valley, Grabouw
The original inhabitants of the area were the Khoikhoi pastoralists and the San hunter gatherers. The indigenous people of the region, the Chainouqua Khoi, inhabited a large area on both sides of the Hottentots Holland Mountains. They traded with early European settlers, but were later dispossessed from their lands by the Dutch colonists, who began to move into the area in the late 1600s. After displacing the Chainouqua Khoi, the colonists divided up the Chainouqua land into farms, and the region remained a relatively underdeveloped backwater for many centuries. Several waves of settlers arrived in the valley, after the initial Dutch colonists. Small numbers of British settlers arrived from the 19th century. Other diverse groups of settlers arrived in smaller numbers, including even groups of Italian prisoners of war. However demographically, the valley remained predominantly Afrikaans speaking, like the majority of the greater Overberg area. Similarly, land remained in the hands of a minority of farmers, while the majority of the region's inhabitants remained landless. The development of the region changed substantially in the early 20th century, with the arrival of several influential families who had an enormous effect on Elgin. Sir Antonie Viljoen, an Afrikaans medical doctor, bought a farm named Oak Valley Estate in the Elgin Valley in 1898. He spent much of the next few years under house arrest on his farm (he had signed up as a medical officer with the Boer army, during the war, and was soon captured by the British. His internment on Oak Valley was only granted on condition that he paid for the services of two British soldiers to guard him for the duration of the war!) Antonie Viljoen was a farmer extraordinaire growing everything from grape vines to potatoes. Amongst his many farming achievements were the purchase of the first deciduous fruit trees in the Elgin valley. These were initially grown and maintained by his farm labourers, mostly as their own private project. However they constituted the first known deciduous orchard in the region, and Antonie Viljoen's farm workers deserve the honour of being the first true deciduous fruit farmers of Elgin. In 1903 an Italian South African family named Molteno began farming in the area. Two friends of Dr Viljoen, the young brothers Edward and Harry Molteno initially bought a small plot of land named "Glen Elgin", near the modern Elgin railway station, where they grew vegetables. They soon started growing deciduous fruit though, and built up a vast fruit farming enterprise that spanned the entire valley. Charismatic and eccentric, they long dominated the fruit export industry but later left their enormous network of farms, as a trust, to be broken up, distributed, and used for the benefit of the farm workers and the region's inhabitants. These early farming groups had a relatively inclusive and progressive effect on the Cape's conservative farming society. Sir Antonie was an MP in the Cape Parliament and, together with fellow MP James Molteno, he launched the first movement to give women of all races the right to vote, in 1907. Another progressive local entrepreneur who had an enormous influence on the valley was Kathleen Murray, who was a leader in the Black Sash among other political activities. In 1966, on Applethwaite farm, the Franco-Italian immigrant Edmond Lombardi created and introduced to the market a 100% apple-juice beverage, free of additives and preservatives, known as Appletiser. Appletiser[28] is now owned by SAB Miller and is sold across Europe, Asia, and North America. The history of much of Elgin's economic development is recorded in the Elgin Apple Museum. This was founded in 1972 in a historic old cottage on the banks of the Palmiet River.
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Benzito Bezuidenhout
He is young freelancer web designer in Grabouw. He found that the original website don't have everything about the town he live.
And yes, Benzito live in Grabouw for all his life. He a Gamer, Coder, Singer and Dancer. Benzito love computer, games and want be software/game developer ,but he now a freelancer web/game developer. He begin to code when he was 19 years old at he school year and further on self-learning to become success.
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Frequently Ask Question
February 2 2020. I know that no college will take my success and listen or use my ideas.
May 12 1998 at Grabouw Community Health Clinic.
Well, I speak Afrikaans and English a lot. My home language is Afrikaans, but I spoke English went I was small, cause I live, people speak English. I grow-up in English. Then I learn Spanish. I sing in Spanish a lot, but don't the language. I understand what I saying. I got the English version and this how I learn Spanish.
It was a idea to make a website where I live, but I found a website of Grabouw. It was... well. Let me say...is good, but mine is way better and colourful. That website don't have everything about Grabouw outside Grabouw- to Houw Hoek area.
No, is for a project for my Web Design portfolio. I like to share it everyone.