| Pandour Corps | |
|---|---|
| Korps Pandoeren | |
.jpg) The uniform of a private of the Pandour Corps | |
| Active | 1793–1795 |
| Country |  Dutch Cape Colony |
| Allegiance | Dutch East India Company |
| Branch | Militia |
| Type | Light infantry |
| Role | Internal security |
| Size | 200 |
| Engagements | |
The Pandour Corps (Dutch: Korps Pandoeren) was a light infantry unit raised in the Dutch Cape Colony in 1793 during the French Revolutionary Wars. After the Dutch Republic became involved in the War of the First Coalition against France, the twin governors of the Cape Colony, Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh and Simon Hendrik Frijkenius, raised the unit as an emergency measure to defend the colony against seaborne attack. The Pandour Corps consisted of Coloured soldiers, and was the second such unit raised in the colony after Dutch officials noted the effective skirmishing ability of Coloured troops compared to their European counterparts.
Coloured soldiers of the unit were mostly servants on burgher-owned farms, and many were recruited from Christian missions in the colony. In 1795, Great Britain launched an invasion of the Cape Colony in order to secure British trade with the East Indies. After British forces landed at the colony on 11 June, the Pandour Corps fought in several skirmishes, including successful attacks at Sandvlei on 8 August and Muysenburg on 1 September. However, dissatisfaction with their poor treatment led to a brief mutiny, which was resolved when Governor Abraham Josias Sluysken granted the mutineers several concessions. The Pandour Corps saw limited action afterward and was disbanded after Britain's takeover of the colony.
Although the Pandour Corps' existence was short-lived, the new British colonial authorities reconstituted the unit as the 300-strong Hottentot Corps in 1796, seeing the need to secure the loyalty of the Coloured community to Britain. The unit was renamed as the Cape Regiment in 1801, seeing action in the Third Xhosa War. Under the terms of 1802 Treaty of Amiens, the British returned the Cape Colony to the Dutch, which continued to raise Coloured units, including the Hottentot Light Infantry, which fought at the second British invasion of the Cape Colony. After assuming control of the colony for the second time, Britain continued to raised Coloured units, which would go on to serve in the fourth, fifth and sixth Xhosa wars.