Quick Facts
Biography
IJsbrand Godske (also spelled Isbrand, Usbrand, Goske, or Godsken) was the second Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony. He had served as a sekunde (lieutenant) to acting Governor Albert van Breugel after the death of Governor Pieter Hackius's death on November 30, 1671.
Godske was also commander of Malabar and director in Safavid Persia (1667–1670). He had first come to the Cape in 1665 to help the Dutch East India Company find a site for the Castle of Good Hope. In 1671, he arrived again to serve as commissioner, but his experience led to his appointment as Governor in October 1672.
During his tenure, the Castle was finished and the Hottentots-Holland district was opened on the western edge of settled lands with its own cattle station. He also waged early battles in the Khoikhoi-Dutch Wars with the raiding Khoikhoi chief Gonnema. He served for four years and started off concentrating on social legislation, including establishing the first Orphan Chamber (Afrikaans: Weeskamer, a body dedicated to resolving estate issues) in 1674. Godske was sent to preserve the peace at the time of Third Anglo-Dutch War. Needed in the Netherlands after the war's end, he returned there in 1676.
Godske, who came from The Hague, also distinguished himself as a soldier in the sieges of Colombo and Mannar Island.
Sources
- Büttner, H.D. (1980). Kennis: die eerste Afrikaanse ensiklopedie in kleur, vol. 8., pp. 1474–1475. Cape Town:Human & Rousseau. ISBN 0 7981 0830 4