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Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon VAN DER STEL, Simon Born: 1639 10 14 Died: 1712 06 24 Governor Simon was the son of Adriaan van der Stel, an official of the Dutch East India Company (VOC, Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie), and Maria Lievens, daughter of a freed Indian slave woman known as Monica of the Coast of Goa, or Monica da Costa. Simon was therefore a Eurasian. He is seen by some historians as a Creole, though technically he was not a Creole as he was not born in Mauritius or Cape Colony. In 1679, he was appointed "Commander" of the VOC's colony at the Cape of Good Hope, through the growing influence of his relative, Joan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen. The town of Stellenbosch (founded in 1679) was named after him and Simons Town is also named after him. See also Wikipedia.