The very first slave arrived in the Cape in 1653 and his name was Abraham van Batavia. Slaves were brought from Madagascar, Malaysia and East Africa. The slaves were taken against their own will. The slaves shipped were all black, this was not due to racism but because it was illegal to enslave Christians. Slaves who worked in the Cape were assigned all the work required, including tasks such as field work, farming, domestic work, child care, firewood collection, and all the necessary butchery. Slaves lived in dirty, cramped lodges; they lived a sad and miserable life. Skilled slaves had privileges but were still exploited. In the 18th century, there were more slaves than settlers. Along with the importation of slaves, female slaves who had children were also considered slaves even if they belonged to the master. Slaves were beaten when they failed to complete the work assigned to them. Due to these poor conditions and the few privileges slaves received, many slaves showed resistance in their daily lives. Slaves rebelled against slave owners, ran away, and performed daily acts of rebellion such as slow labor. The largest slave rebellion occurred in 1808, many slaves had heard of slave rebellions occurring in the Caribbean and America. This idea prompted a slave named Louis de Maurice along with a group of other slaves and two Khoikhoi men, they planned to march as a group from the rural areas to Cape Town. They recruited slaves along the way. They hoped to turn their guns towards the castle and attempt to negotiate peace and freedom for the slaves, but after marching towards Cape Town, news of the rebellion...... middle of paper ......ng has become a permanent message. slave museum. It will be a tribute to the 9,000 slaves, convicts and mentally ill who resided in the building between 1679 and 1811. The Slave Monument on Church Square is a memorial to the slaves who were treated inhumanely during the Dutch colonization of the Cape. The memorial is made up of eleven granite blocks, two of the granite blocks are placed on a raised plinth at the corner near the slave lodge, and the other nine are joined together in a narrow grid located near the tree plaque slaves. The common footprint is a representation of common humanity, while their different heights represent growth. On the blocks are the names of the many slaves who were enslaved. It is important to remember the slaves who suffered during Dutch colonization because we can learn from past mistakes..