Freemasonry and the Cape of Good Hope

The Southern point of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, was opened up by the Dutch East India Company as a trading station to supply ships on the route to the East Indies with fresh produce. Freemasonry in the Netherlands, founded in 1756, was expanding rapidly and, with many masters of ships being Freemasons, it was natural for a Lodge to be founded at this halfway station under the banner of the Grand East of the Netherlands (G.E.N.).