Hendrik Van Zyl
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Hendrik Matthys van Zyl (van Zijl), the "Laird of Ghanzi" (19 October 1828 – June 1880) was the first
Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...
settler in
Ghanzi Ghanzi is a town in the middle of the Kalahari Desert the western part of the Republic of Botswana in southern Africa. The region is the country's pride in contributing a large portion towards the beef industry. In fact, Ghanzi farmers provide a ...
,
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
. A former politician in
Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...
, he crossed the
Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal d ...
several times and set up a small trading enterprise in Ghanzi, where was known for his flamboyant character and extravagant wealth. He gained a reputation for ruthlessness in his business dealings, and even initially refused water to the Dorsland Trekkers on their way to
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
in 1875. He shot over 400 elephants, and the ivory from the beasts amounted to over 4 tonnes. With a vast ivory fortune, van Zyl built a two-story mansion with stained glass windows and imported furniture from France, the ruins of which still stand today. His hunting prowess was so well known and remarkable in the region, it was recorded in one single day van Zyl and his sons slaughtered 103 elephants. It is alleged that in the Gcwihaba cave, in northwest Botswana, van Zyl stashed a great fortune in the late 19th century. To this day, he is a legendary regional figure, and many tales have been written about him.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:van Zyl, Hendrik 1828 births 1880 deaths Afrikaner people Botswana people of Dutch descent South African people of Dutch descent White Botswana people