CAPE TOWN

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. 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 (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). Afrikaans Kaapstad, city and seaport, legislative capital of South Africa and capital of Western Cape province. It lies at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, some 30 miles (50 km) north of the Cape of Good Hope. Cape Town is located in one of the world's most scenic natural settings for urban life, and much of the city and its suburbs winds about the steep slopes of Table Mountain and its neighbouring peaks. Most of the city proper spreads across the area's extensive flatlands. Cape Town is situated in the extreme southwestern portion of South Africa and until recently was the country's major seaport, but by the early 1980s it had been surpassed by the port at Durban. The nearby Benguela Current off southwestern Africa's Atlantic coast has an overall cooling effect on Cape Town's mild climate. About half of the 26-inch (660-millimetre) average annual rainfall occurs during the mild winter (June to August), when temperatures average 55 F (13 C). Summers are warm (70 F ) and dry, with an average rainfall of less than 2 inches (51 mm). Lacking a major river, Cape Town meets its freshwater needs with a system of reservoirs. Petroleum refining, chemical and fertilizer processing, cement production, and automobile assembly are the principal industries in the metropolitan area. Within the city proper the most important industry is ship repair; one of the world's largest dry docks is located in Cape Town. The city's light industry includes food processing, wine making, and the manufacture of clothing, plastics, and leather goods. Tourism is increasing in importance. The first permanent white settlement in the area was begun in April 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck, who had been sent by the Dutch East India Company to build a fort and establish vegetable gardens for ships bound for the East Indies. By the end of the 17th century, the town had already taken shape. The Castle of Good Hope, built by the Dutch between 1666 and 1679, is South Africa's oldest monument. Situated in the city centre, directly south of Cape Town Station (the major railway station), the castle forms a triangle with the colourful Malay Quarter (about 1 mile to the northwest) and the National Botanical Gardens, which are flanked by historic Government Avenue (about 1 mile to the west). The reclamation of 480 acres (194 hectares) from Table Bay during World War II allowed the extension of the central business district northeastward from the older historic centre. South African College (1829) became the University of Cape Town, the city's principal educational institution, in 1918. Since the late 1950s, Cape Town has developed a modern freeway network that serves the entire Cape Peninsula. Cape Town is also the terminus of rail and road networks that extend the length of the country northeastward to Zimbabwe and beyond. The city also has an international airport. Pop. (1991) city, 854,616; metropolitan area, 2,350,157. 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. 175179.The geographic setting is described by W.J. Talbot, Kapstadt als Weltstadt, in Joachim H. Schultze (ed.), Zum Problem der Weltstadt (1959), pp. 5682. 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, 18501913 (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):149157 (June 1955); John Western, Outcast Cape Town (1981); V.C. Malherbe, Khoikhoi in Cape Town, Cabo, 3(2):410 (1983); and Vivian Bickford-Smith, Ethnic Pride and Racial Prejudice in Victorian Cape Town: Group Identity and Social Practice, 18751902 (1995). Eric Axelson The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica History The first European to anchor at Table Bay and climb Table Mountain was the Portuguese navigator Antnio de Saldanha. He encountered a few hundred indigenous inhabitants, a Khoi people whose economy was based on herding, hunting, and gathering. After Saldanha's visit, European ships continued to put in at Table Bay 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, 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 and farmers, and in 1658 the company began to import slaves. Inland from Table Mountain, 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 Khoikhoin (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 (175663), in which the major European powers were involved, many French and British ships called at the port, which from 1773 onward was referred to by British visitors as Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad). During the U.S. War of Independence, 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. In the following year the town received its coat of arms, embodying an anchor, symbolizing 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 (18991902) 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 leader Nelson Mandela, and the end of the system of apartheid.