A brief foray into Jan van Riebeeck's diary is enough to note that the man was not struck by the writing bug. His observations are purely of the practical variety.
Like all good sailors he notes the weather and wind on a daily basis. Much is made of cattle (the disappearing kind), rice, cabin boys (the disappearing kind), carrots, beets and cabbages.
The minutiae of running an out-of-the-way supply station would be blindingly banal if they also did not represent the very beginning of the strange evolution of that thing we all inhabit, the seeds (quite literally) of the idea of South Africa.
A not particularly imaginative company man tasked with setting up a replenishment station to expand trade to the east unwittingly set in motion centuries of drama.
And here we are now.It's worth thinking of this quotidian beginning as one passes through the Company's Gardens in Cape Town, especially if one stops and lingers in the Dutch vegetable garden.
Could this be the most spectacular veggie patch in the world? It was designed in 2014 by the City of Cape Town and a wonderful gardener, Rory Phelan - as part of the Design Capital - to precisely match Van Riebeeck's plans.
And that looming mountain is not to be ignored.
What might give one pause is that in such pleasing domestic arrangements lie the roots of so much baffling history. In humble heirloom vegetables, the key to centuries of global trade, war, empires, slavery and nationhoods forged in blood, turmoil and simple human hope.
 • The Company's Gardens and the Dutch vegetable garden are open daily from September to March: 07:30-20:30 and April to August: 07:00-19:00...