<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs expansion . You can help by adding to it . (May 2017) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs expansion . You can help by adding to it . (May 2017) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Dutch East India Company (in the Dutch of the day: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement at the Cape . The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the spice route to the East, had no intention of colonising the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter and be serviced, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables . To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of Jan van Riebeeck reached Table Bay on 6 April 1652 . </P> <P> The VOC had settled at the Cape in order to supply their trading ships . As the Khoikhoi were not agricultural farmers, there was no food to trade for at the Cape and the VOC had to import Dutch farmers to establish farms to supply the passing ships as well as to supply the growing VOC settlement . The small initial group of free burghers, as these farmers were known, steadily increased in number and began to expand their farms further north and east into the territory of the Khoikhoi . The free burghers were ex-VOC soldiers and gardeners, who were unable to return to Holland when their contracts were completed with the VOC . The VOC also brought some 71,000 slaves to Cape Town from India, Indonesia, East Africa, Mauritius, and Madagascar . </P>

Who came to south africa in the mid 17th century