re: Would you have personally ever considered settling in Africa back during colonial times?

I think South Africa would have been very appealing if you were Dutch in the 1600s. The Netherlands was already overcrowded, and the government offered free land and tax-exempt status to move to the Cape Colony. And, of course, there would be no way of seeing into the future and all that to see the various wars that would unseat the Boers as the dominant power on the Cape.

So I'd have to say yes, I would have strongly considered it.