Autshumato


Autshumato was a chief of the Gorinhaikonas who worked as an interpreter for the Europeans in present-day, Cape Town, South Africa prior and during the establishment of the Dutch settlement on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.
His date of birth is unknown, but it is thought that he lived between about 1625 and 1663. In 1630, he was taken to Bantam, there he was taught English and Dutch in order to facilitate trade between settlers and his people. As chief and interpreter he accrued considerable wealth. In 1632, he moved to Robben Island, working as postman and liaison for European ships passing the island. Moving back to the mainland 8 years later, Autshumato worked to create trade between the Gorinhaikonas and the Dutch.
On 6 April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck, a Dutchman employed by the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, arrived at the Cape to take control of the burgeoning settlement that eventually became Cape Town.
In 1658, Dutch settlers stole cattle which Autshumato ordered reclaimed. These actions led to a war between the Gorinhaikons peoples, the Dutch settlers and the V.O.C. Losing the war to the Dutch, he was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1659, with Simon Boubou and Khamy. They were the first to be imprisoned on the island. After one and a half years on the island he and another Gorinhaikonas escaped from the island on a rowboat. One year later Autshumato applied for and received permission to again live and work near the Dutch settlement, resuming his role as an interpreter.
He died in 1663.

Family

, or Eva, was the niece of Autshumato.

Autshumato project

The South African Department of Arts and Culture and the , at the North-West University initiated a project named after Autshumato in 2007. The aims of the Autshumato project is to research, develop and support open-source translation software in order to promote multilingualism and access to information in South Africa. The project is still active and the following outputs have been developed and released:
The systems and software of the Autshumato project is released on SourceForge.net.