Happy Tuesday, guys and gals! No word from Canon yet, but here’s hoping! In the meantime, I have some shots to share with you from a visit to the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town a few weeks ago. We didn’t have the Canon with us, but I think HH still managed some good shots for ya! We were on our way back from picking up a little kiddie table and chairs we found on gum tree, and while passing by we decided to hop out for a moment because I hadn’t been to the Rhodes Memorial before.

The Rhodes Memorial is on Devil’s Peak in Cape Town, and is a memorial to Cecil John Rhodes. Rhodes was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which at present markets about 40% of the world’s rough diamonds.

“THE IMMENSE AND BROODING SPIRIT STILL SHALL QUICKEN AND CONTROL

LIVING HE WAS THE LAND AND DEAD HIS SOUL SHALL BE HER SOUL”

He founded the nation of Rhodesia (get it?) which after independence became Northern and Southern Rhodesia, but today makes up the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Rhodes was an Englishman, and most certainly an imperialist.

The Memorial is situated on Rhodes’ favourite spot, along the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak. It can be imagined as the start of the Cape to Cairo road.

Rhodes dreamed, with many other Brits, of securing enough territory to create a “Cape to Cairo Red Line.” If Britain had enough territories between the Cape and Cairo, they could set up a telegraph line and a Cape to Cairo Railway, and more easily govern their territories and interests across the continent of Africa. (Britain’s Territories were always marked on the map in Red.)

He said of the Anglo-Saxon race: “I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” He also hoped his famous Rhodes Scholarship would eventually raise up elite American students who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire.

Today, the lovely Rhodes Memorial Restaurant sits behind the memorial itself, with lovely views and tasty cuisine.

The Memorial itself has become a nice spot for drinking sundowners and enjoying the view.

It’s interesting to ponder whether this memorial was set up for a particularly great person, or a person who mayhaps wasn’t particularly great, but achieved some great things. But something I’ve been learning here in South Africa is that things are seldom as black and white as we might like to make them out to be. But that’s a thought for another day.

It’s often believed that if the horse of an equestrian statue has one leg up, its rider died from wounds sustained in battle. However, Rhodes was plagued by ill health for much of his life (he was sent to Natal, South Africa at 16 because they hoped the hot and dry climate would help problems with his heart and asthma) and he died due to heart failure in 1902, at about 49 years of age.

Do you ever wonder what a memorial might celebrate, if one was erected in your honour? Might be worth thinking about.

Happy Tuesday!

xCC