Chief Hykon
The dry Karoo was once a vast inland sea. The palaeontologist Andrew Geddes Bain unearthed the fossil of a large jaw filled with teeth which was termed the “Blinkwater Monster”. Fossils here date from 240 to 190 million years ago.
The !Xam Bushmen, for their part, left artefacts everywhere, as did the Khoi people, who were the first cattle and sheep farmers here. In 1689 Ensign Isaq Schrijver encountered Chief Hykon of the Inqua tribe, also known as the Khoebaha. Schrijver bartered with him and returned with 500 cattle.
Following the smallpox epidemic of 1713, Khoi numbers were reduced from 200 000 to approximately 15 000 and Khoi indentured labour then became part of the farming economy. Barend “Baartman” Burgers and wife Elizabeth Magdalena (Theron) Burgers erected the first known formal farmhouse here, namely Langfontein.