In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established a settlement at Table Bay, which is now part of Cape Town, as a strategic refreshment station for ships traveling between Europe and Asia. The settlement was initially inhabited by Dutch, French, and indigenous African people. The VOC brought enslaved people from other parts of Africa and Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and India, who were forced to work on the colony's farms and in its households. This period saw the beginning of Cape Town's complex and often tumultuous history, marked by conflicts between the Dutch and indigenous African populations.