
The Treaty Tree (
Afrikaans: ''Verdragboom'' or ''Traktaatboom'' ) is a 500-year-old
white milkwood tree on Treaty Road and south of the rail line in
Woodstock,
Cape Town, South Africa. Peace was made under the tree on 10 January 1806 after the
Battle of Blaauwberg, thereby starting the second British occupation of the Cape and leading to the permanent establishment of the
Cape Colony as a British possession. Until 1834 slaves were sold and convicts hanged under it.
Prior to the arrival of the Dutch, the tree was known to have been a feature of the local landscape since at least the early 1500s. In 1509 a massacre by
Khoikhoi of 64 Portuguese sailors under the command of
Dom Francisco de Almeida took place close to the tree.
Protection
The City of Cape Town owns the property, and the tree was declared a monument in 1967.
See also
*
Post Office Tree in
Mosselbay – one of several other South African white milkwood trees that have been declared monuments
*
List of individual trees
The following is a list of notable trees. Trees listed here are regarded as important or specific by their historical, national, locational, natural or mythological context. The list includes actual trees located throughout the world, as well as ...
References
Bibliography
* Green, Lawrence G.: I heard the old men say. Kaapstad: Howard Timmins, 1964.
* Oberholster, J.J.: Die historiese monumente van Suid-Afrika. Kaapstad: Kultuurstigting Rembrandt van Rijn vir die Raad vir Nasionale Gedenkwaardighede, 1972.
External links
*
{{Cape Town, history
History of Cape Town
Monuments and memorials in South Africa
Individual trees in South Africa