Guilliam Visagie
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Guilliam Visagie (born about 1751; still alive in 1793) was a fugitive from the Dutch Cape Colony who fled to southern Namibia in about 1786.[1] He is considered to have been the first person of European ancestry to have settled in the country.[2]
Visagie was born about 1751 in the Dutch Cape Colony, likely to parents of Huguenot descent. He became a farmer in the area near the Olifants River. In 1780, he was found guilty of killing a Nama and wounding two others. To escape punishment by the Dutch East India Company, he and his wife moved north of the Orange River.[3]
In 1785, Guilliam and his wife Elsabe Visagie settled in the area of today's Keetmanshoop, then named ǂNuǂgoaes.[2] Visagie translated the name as Modderfontein, 'Mud Spring', becoming the first European to permanently settle in Namibia.[4] The translation later changed to Swartmodder, 'Black Mud'. Visagie farmed and traded firearms to the Namas for cattle.[3] In 1793, he withdrew from his farm after a clash with Afrikaner Oorlams commandos, who were apparently acting on orders from the Dutch East India Company.[1]