Definition of "landdrost" [‖Land•drost]

• A type of magistrate in South Africa, abolished under the British in 1827. (noun)

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• "More texture emerges in narrative documents such as landdrost's correspondence and criminal records, but the Company's regular accounting of loan farms, settler agricultural production, and slave ownership do, in fact, reveal more than statistics."
• "For the present we can follow his history no farther than to say, that the proceeds of his great hunt enabled him to buy back his old estate, and to stock it in splendid style, with the best breeds of horses, horned cattle, and sheep; that he rose rapidly in wealth and worldly esteem; that the government gave him its confidence; and, having first restored him to his old office of field-cornet, soon afterwards promoted him to that of "landdrost," or chief magistrate of the district."
• "Rent, which could be paid in specie or livestock, was payable either at the landdrost or the Castle at the Cape. 25 Farmers in outlying areas often paid several years at once, presumably due in part to the long journey from their farms to the seats of colonial authority."