Cape Town

—Capetonian /kayp toh"nee euhn/, n.

a seaport in and the legislative capital of the Republic of South Africa, in the SW part: also capital of Cape of Good Hope province. 1,108,000.

Also, Capetown. Afrikaans, Kaapstad.

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Afrikaans Kaapstad

City (pop., 1996 est., metro. area: 2,415,408), legislative capital, South Africa.

Located on Table Bay, it was formerly the capital of Cape Province. Long the country's major seaport, it was surpassed in the 1980s by Durban. The first settlement at Table Bay, it was founded by the Dutch navigator Jan van Riebeeck for the Dutch East India Co., and it soon served as a stopover for ships plying the Europe-to-India route. It was under Dutch rule intermittently until it was taken by the British in 1806. Today it is a commercial and cultural centre. See also Pretoria; Bloemfontein.

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▪ South Africa

Introduction

 city and seaport, legislative capital of South Africa and capital of Western Cape province. The city lies at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula some 30 miles (50 kilometres), at its southernmost boundary, north of the Cape of Good Hope (Good Hope, Cape of). Because it was the site of the first European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town is known as the country's “mother city.”

 Cape Town has a beautiful setting: parts of the city and its suburbs wind about the steep slopes of Table Mountain (Mountain, Table) (3,563 feet [1,086 metres] high) and neighbouring peaks and rim the shores of Table Bay; other parts lie on the flats below the slopes or stretch southward across the flats to False Bay. The city covers an area of 116 square miles (300 square kilometres). Pop. (2005 est.) urban agglom., 3,103,000.

Physical and human geography

The character of the city

      The city of Cape Town had its origin in 1652, when the Dutch East India Company established a refreshment station for its ships on the shores of Table Bay. The location was magnificent, on well-watered, fertile soil, beneath the precipitous walls of Table Mountain. The indigenous inhabitants provided cattle but not labour, and the company imported slaves, mainly from East Africa, Madagascar, and the Bay of Bengal area. The slaves brought with them something of their culture and—especially in the case of the Muslims from the East Indies—their religion. Mixed-race unions took place, but strong racial and ethnic characteristics remained. In 1781 the French established a garrison to help the Dutch defend the city against British attack, and the French presence influenced local architecture and culture. British occupation in the 19th century brought new parliamentary and judicial concepts and freedom for the slaves. Cape Town was the gateway to Europe's penetration of the South African interior, and close ties with continental Europe were maintained.

      Today Cape Town is a modern city with high-rise office buildings and pedestrian malls. Although it is a major political and economic centre, its reputation still rests on its beautiful situation between mountain and sea, its cosmopolitan population, and the liberal outlook of many of its citizens.

The landscape

The city site

 The first settlement of Cape Town was situated between Table Mountain and Table Bay. It was bounded on the northwest by the ridges known as Lion's Head and Lion's Rump (later called Signal Hill), on the north by Table Bay, on the south by Devil's Peak, and on the east by marshlands and the sandy Cape Flats beyond. The nearest tillable land was on the lower eastern slopes of Devil's Peak and Table Mountain and, farther to the southeast, at Rondebosch, Newlands, and Wynberg. From the fortress that protected the settlement, a track led south past these lands to False Bay on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula and on beyond Muizenberg and Kalk Bay to Simon's Bay, where the East Indiaman trade ships could find shelter from northwesterly winter gales. The constraints of mountain, sea, and sand shaped the direction of Cape Town's growth, and the pattern was followed in subsequent road and rail construction. A railway line reached Wynberg in 1864 and Muizenberg in 1883, and another line ran eastward from Cape Town across the Flats to the interior.

Climate

      The climate of Cape Town is Mediterranean in type; it is locally modified by the mass of Table Mountain and by the cold Benguela Current of the South Atlantic Ocean. The average high temperature is 70° F (21° C), in January and February, and the average low is 55° F (13° C), in July, but temperatures are cooler on the mountain slopes and on the coast. Freezing occurs infrequently. On the average, rain falls on 69 days of the year; about half of the 26 inches (660 millimetres) of annual rainfall occurs between June and August, the southern winter. The amount of rainfall varies with proximity to the mountain, with areas close to the slopes receiving as much as twice the precipitation of areas farther away. The winds, generally strong, come from the northwest in winter and vary from between southeast and southwest in summer. Southerly winds produce a cloud cover over Table Mountain known as the “tablecloth.” These winds are collectively referred to as the “Cape doctor” because they keep air pollution at a low level.

The city layout

      The narrow streets of the early settlement ran parallel to the shore. The road that led from the shore inland to the Dutch East India Company's produce garden became the main thoroughfare. Originally called the Heerengracht, for the canal in Amsterdam of that name, it was renamed Adderley Street in 1850. Other main roads paralleled it as the town grew. In Strand Street, on what once was the shore of Table Bay, stands the Castle of Good Hope, built by the company between 1666 and 1679. Near the Castle are the Botanic Gardens, which are bisected by Government Avenue and overlooked by government buildings. A parliament building, constructed for the use of the colonial government and first occupied in 1885, became the seat of the Parliament of the Union of South Africa in 1910 and of the Republic of South Africa in 1961. Additions to the building were opened in 1987.

      The opening of the Alfred Dock in 1870 led to renewed development along the shore. The breakwater was lengthened and piers were built in 1890–95, and the newly sheltered area was named Victoria Basin. Dredging for the Duncan Dock, built between 1938 and 1945 to accommodate larger vessels, and for the Ben Schoeman Dock in 1977, resulted in the reclamation of 480 acres (194 hectares) along the shore, referred to as the Foreshore. Adderley Street was extended to the new harbour, and the extension was named the Heerengracht.

      The building of a modern system of freeways has greatly facilitated movement between the city and its suburbs. There has been a considerable increase in population and commercial activity in the southern suburbs, especially in Claremont and Wynberg. Particularly favoured residential areas are on the slopes east of Table Mountain and on the slopes of Signal Hill, overlooking Bantry Bay and the beaches of Clifton.

      Much of Cape Town's early architecture reflected prototypes from the Netherlands that were modified for the region. Characteristics included flat roofs, projecting porches, and distinctive gables. Louis-Michel Thibault, a French architect who arrived in 1783, designed much that was then fashionable, including the Old Supreme Court building, now the South African Cultural History Museum. Notable buildings of the period include the Old Town House and the Lutheran Church. Of the original Groote Kerk (Great Church), opened in 1704, only the steeple and vestry remain; the rest was rebuilt in the 1830s. Today buildings in the central business district and on the Foreshore follow modern international trends in architecture.

The people

      More than half of the residents of the city and metropolitan area are Coloured (the former official term for people of mixed race), about one-fourth are white, about one-fifth are black, and the remainder are of Asian—primarily Indian—origin. In the metropolitan area Afrikaans is the first language of almost half the Coloureds and whites. Almost one-quarter speak English as a first language, and another quarter are equally at home in both languages. The blacks are predominantly Xhosa-speaking. The majority of the residents are members of Protestant churches, but there are also sizable communities of Roman Catholics and Muslims.

      South Africa's Group Areas Act of 1966 consolidated earlier acts aimed at enforcing the policy of racial segregation known as apartheid, and it provided for the reservation of certain areas for residence and occupation by specific racial groups within the population. The act brought about many changes in Cape Town's residential areas; for example, a mixed but predominantly Coloured neighbourhood known as District Six, south of the Castle, was cleared by bulldozers. Special legislation permitted Coloureds who were living in Cape Town's Malay Quarter to remain, but other Coloured and Indian families were forced to move to designated areas, mostly east of the Cape Town–Muizenberg railway line and onto the Cape Flats. According to figures submitted to Parliament, by the end of 1980 some 29,300 Coloured and 1,500 Indian families, but only 195 white families, had been resettled on the Cape Peninsula. Because housing in the prescribed areas was inadequate, in 1975 the city undertook construction with government funding of a model township of 40,000 houses for Coloured families at Mitchells Plain, southeast of the city. Indian families were installed at Rylands and Pelikan Park. In 1990 the government did an about-face over District Six, opening it to residence by all sections of the Cape Town community.

      Nearly all blacks in Cape Town were confined to Guguletu and Nyanga West within the city limits and to neighbouring Nyanga and Langa. With the abolition of influx controls in the 1980s, a great movement of blacks into Cape Town and other urban areas from impoverished black states began, and camps of squatters were soon overcrowded. The government established a township for blacks at Khayelitsha, east of Mitchells Plain, and squatter camps were then demolished in 1986 in an attempt to direct the blacks there.

The economy

Industry and commerce

      Cape Town was South Africa's economic base until the discovery and exploitation of minerals in the interior; today it is one of the nation's most important industrial centres and a major seaport. About nine-tenths of the fish eaten in South Africa is distributed through Cape Town, and Table Bay is one of the world's largest fruit-exporting harbours. A petroleum refinery and chemical, fertilizer, cement, and automobile-assembly factories are situated in the metropolitan area. In the city the basic industries are connected with ship repair and maintenance, food processing, and wine making and with the manufacture of clothing, plastics, and leather goods. Tourism is of growing importance.

      Cape Town is well served by department stores and supermarkets. A number of nationwide commercial concerns have their head offices in Cape Town, including oil and insurance companies.

Transportation

      The port of Cape Town handles some five million tons of cargo annually. The port does not admit ships of more than 40-foot draft at low tide, but its repair facilities and dry dock are important to interoceanic traffic. The Ben Schoeman Dock accommodates container traffic.

      Cape Town International Airport has regular flights to Europe and North and South America. The bulk of its flights, however, are domestic. Cape Town is the terminus of a railway network that extends northward to Zimbabwe and beyond.

      Two main radial freeways lead southward to False Bay. Supplementing these are two national routes and a beltway circling the central business district. An elevated freeway extends across the city's shore area. Most whites and the more prosperous Coloureds and blacks own motor vehicles. Public transport is particularly important for those who live far from their place of employment. Spoornet, which operates suburban trains, and a private bus company serve the Cape Town area. There also are minibuses that provide cheap, fast transportation.

Administration and social conditions

Government

      The city council consists of two elected councillors from each of 17 wards. The mayor has largely ceremonial duties, and an executive committee of council members is directly responsible for the administration of the city. Provincial authority over local government entered a period of change during the 1990s, and a transitional provincial committee for local government was established.

Services

      Most of Cape Town's electricity is produced at the national Electricity Supply Commission's nuclear power station at Koeberg, north of the city. Cape Town has its own coal-fired power station and two gas turbines to assist in emergencies and at peak periods. A hydroelectric facility at Steenbras also generates power when needed. The city's water, which once came from dams on Table Mountain and at Steenbras, now also comes from Riviersonderend, Voëlvlei, and Wemmershoek. The city provides ambulance, fire, and other services to nearby municipalities and local authorities, including black squatter camps, when requested and permitted.

Health

      The city's Health Department offers comprehensive health services and runs a system of polyclinics and specialized clinics. The major medical problem in Cape Town, as in every urban centre in South Africa, is pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that is spread easily where nutrition and hygiene are poor and housing is overcrowded. Public hospitals are the responsibility of the broader provincial administration. Groote Schuur Hospital, where the world's first heart transplant took place, is one of South Africa's largest hospitals. There are other smaller provincial hospitals and an increasing number of private hospitals in the city.

Education

      The most renowned institution of higher learning is Diocesan College (founded in 1849), located in Rondebosch. The University of Cape Town, also in Rondebosch, developed from South African College (founded in 1829) and formally came into being in 1918. The university has always demanded the right to admit students of all races, conditional only on the basis of academic merit, and an increasing number of nonwhites are being accepted. Lack of space and funding, however, has caused the university to restrict its growth. The University of the Western Cape, originally built to serve the Coloured community, is located in the nearby municipality of Bellville. The facilities of the Cape College for Advanced Technical Education are being centralized in new buildings in District Six; the first complex was opened in 1987. Many residents of the city, especially nonwhites, receive academic degrees through correspondence courses offered by the University of South Africa.

Cultural life

      The South African Cultural History Museum controls several satellite museums, including Groot Constantia (the manor house built by Governor Simon van der Stel in about 1685), the 18th-century Koopmans de Wet House, the Bo-Kaap Museum (a reconstruction of a Cape Muslim house), the Bertram House (Georgian), and, in the old harbour area, the South African Maritime Museum. There are several collections of art. The William Fehr Collection in the Castle of Good Hope displays paintings and prints related to Cape history, as well as Cape antique furniture, silverware, and glassware. At Rust en Vreugd, an 18th-century house near the Castle, another part of the Fehr Collection displays watercolours and prints of historical interest. Paintings by European masters are on exhibit at the Old Town House, and modern and contemporary paintings are on view at the South African National Gallery. The South African Museum, with extensive additions opened in 1987, is devoted mainly to natural history.

      The city is home to the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and Artscape (formerly the Cape Performing Arts Board), based in the Nico opera house and theatre complex. The Baxter Theatre, opened in 1977 on the campus of the University of Cape Town, contains a theatre, a concert hall, and a studio theatre and stages as many as 1,000 performances a year.

      The cricket and rugby grounds at Newlands are the traditional homes of these sports in South Africa. Football (soccer) matches are held in the Hartleyvale and Green Point stadiums, which are also used for cycling and other sports. National tennis competitions are held in Rondebosch. The Good Hope Centre, designed by the 20th-century Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, is used for exhibitions, indoor tennis, boxing, and wrestling. Squash courts are located at the University of Cape Town's indoor sports centre. A race track and four golf courses lie within the city boundaries. Zeekoevlei and Sandvlei, two lakes in the southeast near False Bay, are popular for water sports, especially sailing and windsurfing (board sailing). Cape Town's harbour is an important base for yachting; many international yachting events are hosted there. In the 1990s the waterfront around the old harbour was developed with a new basin for small craft and marina, residential accommodations, and cultural and recreational facilities. The city has numerous public swimming pools, and its beaches are popular. Table Mountain and the mountains above Muizenberg provide hiking and climbing for nature lovers and mountaineers. The National Botanic Gardens (National Botanic Gardens of South Africa) at Kirstenbosch flank a boundary of the city.

History

      The first European to anchor at Table Bay (Bay, Table) and climb Table Mountain was the Portuguese navigator António de Saldanha. He encountered a few hundred indigenous inhabitants, a Khoe (Khoekhoe) people whose economy was based on herding, hunting, and gathering. After Saldanha's visit, European ships continued to put in at Table Bay (Bay, Table) to take on fresh water, meat, and other provisions. Survivors of the Dutch vessel Haerlem, wrecked in Table Bay in 1647, brought back such glowing reports of the region that the directors of the Dutch East India Company ordered that a station to supply ships rounding the Cape be established there. On April 7, 1652, the company's representative, Jan van Riebeeck (Riebeeck, Jan van), stepped ashore to select sites for a fort and a vegetable garden. In 1657 the company began to release men from its employ so that they could become free burghers (bourgeoisie) (citizens) and farmers, and in 1658 the company began to import slaves. Inland from Table Mountain (Mountain, Table), a second company farm was established at Newlands, and vines were planted on the slopes of Wynberg (“Wine Mountain”).

      Van Riebeeck and his senior officials constituted a council of policy and court of justice. Free burghers were invited to join the court when matters concerning burghers were at issue, and burgher-councillors eventually took responsibility for services such as fire protection, road maintenance, and the preservation of order. The colony began to spread beyond the Cape Peninsula, and the council of policy came to rely increasingly on the burgher-councillors for fact-finding and for advice on town affairs.

      The importation of slaves, the introduction of political exiles from the Dutch East Indies, and marriage and cohabitation with indigenous Khoekhoe (whom the Dutch called Hottentots) increased the population, but at the beginning of the 18th century the town, known as De Kaap (“The Cape”), still consisted of only 200 houses. Its growth was accelerated by rising international tensions and growing appreciation of the strategic importance of the Cape. During the Seven Years' War (1756–63), which involved the major European powers, many French and British ships called at the port, which from 1773 onward was referred to by British (British Empire) visitors as “Cape Town” (Afrikaans: Kaapstad). During the American Revolution, which exacerbated tensions between rival European powers, a British fleet sought in 1781 to occupy the Cape, which directors of the English East India Company described as “the Gibraltar of India.” A French fleet, however, reached the Cape first and established a garrison there to help the Dutch defend it. The French presence brought prosperity and gaiety to Cape Town and initiated a surge of building.

      The degree of local control over Cape Town's affairs has varied considerably throughout its history. Burgher representation on the council increased to six, and from 1785 onward a committee of three burghers and three officials formally advised the council on urban matters. This committee acquired official status in 1793. By the time a British force occupied the Cape in 1795, the committee, known as the burgher-senate, had assumed responsibility for the town, which then had 1,000 houses and a population of some 14,000. In 1803 the colony reverted to the Netherlands. The following year the town received its coat of arms, on which was displayed an anchor that symbolized “good hope,” on a field of gold, and three golden rings from van Riebeeck's personal coat of arms.

      Britain reoccupied the Cape in 1806, and its title was confirmed in 1814. In 1828 the burgher-senate was abolished, and two residents were appointed to the governor's council of advisers. Slaves were freed in 1834, but they were required to serve four years of indenture. In 1840, when the town's population had reached some 20,000, the municipality of Cape Town came into existence; it incorporated the suburbs of Green Point and Sea Point to the north and west of Signal Hill. The municipality was administered by a board of commissioners and ward masters elected in 12 districts by citizens owning or occupying premises valued at £10 or more per annum, and it was financed by property taxes. In 1867 Cape Town obtained full municipal government, with three councillors from each of six districts; the chairman of the council became mayor.

      From 1881 onward a number of separate municipalities came into being, among them Woodstock, Rondebosch, Claremont, Newlands, Wynberg, and Kalk Bay. The improved roads, the introduction of an electric tramway, and a common concern for water supplies and sewers prompted proposals for amalgamation of the urban sprawl. It was not until 1913, however, three years after the formation of the Union of South Africa, that the town councils of Cape Town and several of the adjacent towns combined to form the City of Greater Cape Town.

      Suburban development, largely inland to the east and down the Cape Peninsula to the south, followed the radial roads and the railway line, construction of which began in 1859. The Alfred Dock, opened in 1870, encouraged shipping. An influx of people followed the discovery inland of diamonds in 1870 and gold in 1886. These developments, as well as the South African (Boer) War (South African War) (1899–1902) between Britain and the combined forces of the Boer republics, brought about a modest industrialization in Cape Town.

      The years after World War II were marked by increased urbanization and by enormous growth in both industry and population. The harbour and industrial sites were extended again, and modern buildings rose in the central business district. Handsome residential areas spread along the lower mountain slopes, and modern freeways were constructed.

      During much of the 20th century there were no racial bars in Cape Town, and both whites and nonwhites could vote and hold office. In 1972 (when there were six nonwhite councillors) national legislation removed nonwhites from the electoral rolls over protests from the citizens. The municipality continued to oppose apartheid legislation and in 1985 formally reiterated its belief that all people, regardless of race, colour, or creed, have the democratic right to participate fully in the affairs of the city and its council. A peaceful protest march of some 40,000 people in September 1989 helped to create the climate for similar demonstrations in other parts of South Africa, the subsequent release from prison of the African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela (Mandela, Nelson), and the end of the system of apartheid.

      With the dismantling of apartheid, Cape Town's government was converted to majority rule. The new ANC-led government passed the Municipal Structures Act in 1998, which expanded the city's municipal boundaries and restructured and integrated the city's government and services in an attempt to better serve all city residents.

Additional Reading

Overviews of the city are provided by John R. Shorten, Cape Town (1963); A.H. Honikman (ed.), Cape Town: City of Good Hope (1966); T.V. Bulpin, Discovering Southern Africa, 5th ed. (1992), with a chapter on Cape Town; and relevant portions of J.J. Obersholster, The Historical Monuments of South Africa, trans. from Afrikaans (1972). Bibliographic information can be found in Christopher Saunders, “The History of Cape Town: A Select Guide to Recent Work,” in Christopher Saunders (ed.), Studies in the History of Cape Town, vol. 3 (1980), pp. 175–179.The geographic setting is described by W.J. Talbot, “Kapstadt als Weltstadt,” in Joachim H. Schultze (ed.), Zum Problem der Weltstadt (1959), pp. 56–82. P.W. Laidler, The Growth and Government of Cape Town (1939), is historically valuable. The most colourful descriptions of the history are found in Hymen W.J. Picard, Gentleman's Walk: The Romantic Story of Cape Town's Oldest Streets, Lanes, and Squares (1968), and Grand Parade: The Birth of Greater Cape Town, 1850–1913 (1969); C. Pama, Vintage Cape Town: Historic Houses and Families in and Around the Old Cape (1973), and Regency Cape Town: Daily Life in the Early Eighteen-Thirties (1975); and Eric Rosenthal, Fish Horns and Hansom Cabs: Life in Victorian Cape Town (1977). Historical views of racial integration are found in Peter Scott, “Cape Town: A Multi-Racial City,” The Geographical Journal, 121(pt. 2):149–157 (June 1955); John Western, Outcast Cape Town (1981; reprinted 1996); V.C. Malherbe, “Khoikhoi in Cape Town,” Cabo, 3(2):4–10 (1983); and Vivian Bickford-Smith, Ethnic Pride and Racial Prejudice in Victorian Cape Town: Group Identity and Social Practice, 1875–1902 (1995).Eric Axelson Ed.

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