Schoemansdal: van Voortrekkervoorpos tot volksfeesterrein.

Abstract

• Opsomming: Reeds in 1836 het A.H. Potgieter en Louis Trichardt 'n terrein uitgesoek vir 'n dorp aan die voet van die Soutpansberg. Dié dorp is eers in 1848 aangelê nadat Potgieter se geselskap Ohrigstad verlaat het, veral vanweë sy strewe om buite die Britse invloedsfeer te woon en die behoefte aan 'n noordelike verbindingsroete met Inhambane. Die nuutgestigte dorp het aanvanklik Oude Dorp geheet, dog later is dit tot Soutpansberg en in 1855 tot Schoemansdal herdoop. Hierdie mooi dorp bet veral as gevolg van die jag, ivoorhandel, landbou en die nabygeld soutpan vooruitgang gemaak. Smouse en ivoorhandelaars het in die gemeenskap se behoeftes voorsien en was ook die belangrikste skakel met die buitewêreld. Die koms van ds. Van Warmelo in 1864 en Cornelis van Boeschoten as onderwyser twee jaar later, het veel tot die geestelike en maatskaplike welsyn van die gemeenskap bygedra. Die weifelende houding wat die Z.A.R.-regerig ingeneem het jeens die inwoners se moeilikhede met die Venda, het in 1867 meegebring dat Schoemansdal ontruim moes word. 'n Nuwe dorp, Louis Trichardt, is eers in 1898 daar naby aangelê.• Summary: In 1856 A.H. Potgieter and Louis Trichardt had already selected a site for a town at the foot of the Soutpansberg. This town, however, was only built in 1848 after Potgieter's party had left Ohrigstad because of his desire to live beyond the British sphere of influence and the need for a northern route to communicate with Inhambane. At first called Oude Dorp, the name of the town was later changed to Soutpansbergdorp and in 1855 to Schoemansdal. It was an attractive town and flourished because of hunting, the ivory trade, agriculture and the salt pan near it. Itinerant and ivory traders provided the necessities of life, and constituted the community's main link with the outside world. The arrival of the Rev. Van Warmelo in 1864 and the teacher Van Boeschoten in 1866 added much to the spiritual and social welfare of the community. The town was eventually evacuated in 1867 because of the Transvaal government's irresolute attitude towards the struggle of the inhabitants with the Venda. Only in 1898 was a new town, Louis Trichardt, founded near by.