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 .