BARENDS, BAREND

Barend Barends (circa 1770-1839) was a Griqua bandit leader who, with his brother Nicholaas, led the Barends clan, one of the two component clans of the Griqua. Known in the 18th century as the Bastards, a name they bore with pride, the Griqua were a Dutch-speaking people from Cape Colony, of mixed European and Khoi Khoi descent.

In about 1800, Barend Barends (whose name was sometimes spelled “Berend Berends”) led his Griqua followers northward from Cape Colony, bearing a staff of office given him by the Dutch East Indian Company which gave him the status of a captain. He and his followers led a wandering existence in the Orange River region until 1813, when a British missionary, John Campbell, persuaded them to settle near the Vaal River. From 1813-20 Barends, together with Adam Kok II (see “Kok Family“), leader of the other branch of the Griqua, were co-leaders of Griquatown, in the Asbestos Mountains, in what is now north central Cape Province. In 1820 the leadership of Griquatown was taken over by Andries Waterboer. Three years later Barends joined forces with Waterboer to repel a vast force of Sotho-Tswana refugees from between the Orange and Vaal Rivers, who had been displaced by the Mfecane (“Upheaval”) which was then disrupting life in the region. Subsequently Barends resisted attempts to bring about unity among the Griqua people, and instead led the life of a cattle raider.

In 1831 Barends raised a force of 1,000 men to attack the Ndebele of Mzilikazi, north of the Limpopo River. But Barends and his men made poor use of their firearms, and suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Ndebele. After this, Barends lost his influence, and died in obscurity some years later.

KEITH IRVINE