Afrikaans Under the Dutch East India Company, which governed the Cape Colony between 1652 and 1795, Dutch was the language of administration and of the Dutch Reformed Church.As slaves of the same origin were never held together this resulted in the only common language being Dutch. The mixture of "pigeon" or Creole led a new language. One scenario can be that white children and children from farm workers/slaves and labourers had each other as playmates. Their communication was ,as children would do, a middleground between Dutch and all other languages. The the inlfuence of Malaya and pigeon Portugese in Afrikaans are some classic examples of these liasons.  ¶ 11/15/2006 12:33:00 PM