VOC Postal Stones are a fascinating topic: heritage that connects several continents, combining (maritime) archaeology, archives and early modern history. They are inscriptions left on stones by Dutch sailors in the first half of the 17th century and they were used to bring messages across to Batavia or the homeland. This communication system ‘avant la lettre’ is unique for southern Africa. The inscriptions can be seen in several museums in Cape Town and can be found, in situ, on a small island in the north-eastern part of Madagascar: Nosy Mangabe. Here, cliffs on the beach called ‘Plage des Hollandais' contain 40 inscriptions in the old Dutch language.
In 2013 a documentary on the postal stones was made by Tetteroo Media commissioned by the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency as part of the Mutual Cultural Heritage program. Also an episode of the television series Brieven boven Water (KRO) was based on the Madagascar postal stones. In this episode a descendant from one of the sailors known to have stayed at the island of Nosy Mangabe was brought to the stones and confronted with the history of her ancestor.
The topic of postal stones is used for first years Archaeology of the Saxion University of Applied Science in Deventer to teach them about Mutual Cultural Heritage policy and practice. For the second time on a row, the Centre for Global Heritage and Development provides for this guest lecture.
To see the documentary on the postal stones, follow this link.