Digging through betterment: an archaeological investigation into nineteenth and twentieth century farming in rural south-eastern South Africa

Abstract

Betterment Planning in South Africa has been extensively researched and documented by social anthropologists and historians. The research has found that Betterment Planning had a devastating impact on the communities in rural Eastern Cape, and is a policy that was resisted throughout South Africa. While this social science research is comprehensive, this thesis uses remote sensing to examine the macro spatial changes that occurred in settlement and farming as a result of Betterment Planning in Cata in the Eastern Cape, and the long-term impact that this Betterment Planning had on the landscape. These changes are placed in the context of longer-term continuity and change in settlement configurations in the Eastern Cape under colonial rule (nineteenth and twentieth century), apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. This is accomplished by the mapping, classification and interpretation of historical settlements in Cata using aerial imagery as well as more recent satellite imagery. This investigation was combined with environmental data to understand how the area has changed over time. The pre-Betterment phase is represented by the original settlement until 1963. The Betterment phase, from 1964 until the end of apartheid in 1994, comprises the time during and shortly after the implementation of Betterment Planning. These periods were individually investigated to identify the spatial configuration of each period in the development of the Cata community. The individual datasets are then discussed in relation to each other, to establish how the community evolved over time and how national and local regulations impacted the community, with a view to understanding why the Cata area has developed into the village it is today. This data is compared with current environmental data to investigate the longer-term impact of Betterment Planning on Cata