Africa & Global Power

                                                            EARLY LIFE Jan van Riebeeck was born in  Culemborg  on 21 April 1619, as the son of a surgeon. He grew up in  Schiedam , where he married a 19-year-old  Maria de la Queillerie  on 28 March 1649. She died in  Malacca , now part of Malaysia, on 2 November 1664, at the age of 35. The couple had eight or nine children, most of whom did not survive infancy. Their son  Abraham van Riebeeck , born at the Cape, later became  Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies . ENROLMENT TO VOC Jan van Riebeeck joined the  Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie - also referred to as VOC) in 1639 where he began as an assistant surgeon on a voyage to Batavia (today known as Jakarta) in th...

 Introduction The year 1582, starting on Monday (according to Julian Calendar) but start on Friday in Gregorian Calendar. 1582 saw the start of the Gregorian Calendar switch following the Papal bull Inter Gravissimas issued by the a pope of the Catholic Church. The Gregorian Calendar has been adopted by Spain, Portugal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and present-day Italy. In most countries, the year continued as normal from Thursday, October 4; the next day became Friday, October 15, just like a startup of anew year starting on Friday. France followed two months later, letting Sunday, December 9 be followed by Monday, December 20. however, the complete conversion of the Gregorian calendar was entirely reinforced in 1923.                                                      Pope Gregory...

  Sengbe Pieh was born in 1814 in the village of Mani in Wes t Africa. He was a member of the Mende tribe. His father was a leader in the village. Sengbe learned from his father so that perhaps he could grow up to be a leader. The Mende people are a large tribe in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Sierra Leone and Liberia are in West Africa. They are both on the Atlantic Ocean. The Mende are an important group of people in West Africa today. Sengbe grew up and got married. He and his wife had three children. He was a rice farmer like most people in his village. He was an enslaved African who led a  revolt  on the  Amistad  coastal slave ship in 1839. He was later taken into custody in the  United States  but was freed by a decision of the  U.S. Supreme Court . The revolt came to be known as the  Amistad mutiny . ABDUCTION While in his 20s, he was captured by four Black strangers as he walked along a well-traveled path. His wife and three chil...