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| Groot Constantia Vines |
Was there, in the past, a connection between the wine
farming area called Constantia, the once large private Maynard estate,Wynberg
(a suburb of Cape Town), the island of St Helena
and Napoleon Bonaparte?
The Portuguese explorer Joao de Nova discovered the island
on 21 May 1502 and named it after Saint Helena
mother of the Emperor Constantine. It
became a stopover, a refreshment station
for many ships. Thomas Cavendish an
English sailor/buccaneer and third circumnavigator of the globe arrived there in
1588. In 1659 the English East India
Company took possession of the island. Opposing Dutch forces invaded in 1673
but soon surrendered. The EEIC held the
island until 1834 when it was brought under the British Government.
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| Napoleon |
In 1815 Napoleon 1 was defeated at Waterloo.
His freedom was over and he went into exile on the island of St Helena
where he remained until his death in 1821.
During his years on the island
the local economy boomed. This was due
to the several regiments of soldiers who had been sent to St
Helena to see that he did not try to escape and that he was
properly cared for. It is at this stage that one can begin to answer the
question in the paragraph above. Commerce had entered the picture.
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| Groot Constantia Vines |
St Helena probably needed to import food, wine and other
necessities of daily life. Items
required would have come from Britain
but probably also from the British
governed Cape Colony.
The confined Napoleon is said to have enjoyed Constantia wines. Today
Constantia still has farms producing quality products.
Another link to Napoleon and the Maynare estate is as
follows. In 1840 Napoleon’s remains were taken from the island and re-interred
in Paris. In 1841 the iron gates that had closed off
the emperor’s tomb were bought by J M Maynard, shipped to Cape Town and placed at the entrance to his
estate at Wynberg. In1949 the gates
were returned to the island
of St Helen. by Maynard’s descendants Mr and Mrs
Bernard.
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| Longwood House |
A while back I was told by the
then French Consul that the gates still exist and are at Longwood House where
Napoleon lived for the last six years of his life. The property is owned and
maintained by the French government
The response to the question then is that there once were
links, admittedly tenuous but ones that have, over the years, grown firmer and
commercially stronger. Tourism between South Africa and St Helena
is constant. A mail ship docks regularly in Cape Town harbour, sometimes with individuals
seeking work here, taking back visitors and what ever is required for the well
being of the island. The links written
about may have been small but they help to fill in aspects of St Helena’s
history.
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