Cape Town has a rich history and is the
oldest city in South Africa. It was here
that the first recorded history of Europeans setting foot on African soil began. It is the legislative capital of the Cape
Province and South Africa and is the second largest city in the South Africa. For many years, Cape Town was known as De
Kaapsche Vlek (the Cape Hamlet). By the
end of the 17th Century, however, it was referred to as Kaapstad
(the Dutch word for Cape Town) or, in French, La Ville du Cap. In 1803, the Dutchman, Abraham de Mist
unsuccessfully attempted to rename the city Van Riebeeck Stad, in honour, by
that time, of its accepted founder, Jan Van Riebeeck.
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| Jan Van Riebeeck - Founder of Cape Town 6th April 1652 |
The Dutch Settlement
In 1651, Jan Van Riebeeck
volunteered to undertake the command of the initial Dutch settlement in the
future South Africa for The Dutch East India Company.
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| Dutch East India Company |
Van Riebeeck landed three ships (Dromedaris; Reijger and Goede Hoop)
at the future Cape Town on 6th
April 1652 and fortified the site as a way station as well as a settlement on the shores of Table Bay at the foot of
Table Mountain for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) trade
route between the Netherlands and the East Indies.
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| Dutch East India Company |
The Huguenots and the British Settlement
The first non-Dutch
immigrants to the Cape, the Huguenots, arrived 37 years later in 1688. The
Huguenots had fled from anti-Protestant persecution in Catholic France to the
Netherlands. The VOC offered them free
passage to the Cape as well as farmland.
By 1795 the Netherlands was invaded by
France and the VOC was in complete financial ruin. The Prince of Orange fled to
England for protection, which allowed for the establishment of the Dutch
Batavian Republic. Due to the long time it took to send and receive news from
Europe, the Cape Commissioner of the time knew only that the French had been
taking territory in the Netherlands and that the Dutch could change sides in
the war at any moment. British forces arrived at the Cape bearing a letter from
the Prince of Orange asking the Commissioner to allow the British troops to
protect the Cape from France until the war. The British informed the
Commissioner that the Prince had fled to England. The reaction in the Cape
Council was mixed, and eventually the British successfully invaded the Cape in
the Battle of Muizenberg. The British immediately announced the beginning of
free trade.
Under the terms of a peace agreement between England and France, the Cape was returned to the Dutch in 1802. Three years later, however, the war resumed and the British returned their garrison to the Cape. This period saw major developments for the city, and can be said to be the start of Cape Town as a city in its own right. (https://www.rhinoafrica.com/en/south-africa/cape-town/history)
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| Wine of the Cape |
Wine
A discussion about Cape
Town would not be complete without some history on winemaking and the Cape
vineyards. The Huguenots brought with
them to the Cape, their important experience in wine production which greatly
bolstered the industry, and provided the wine industry with strong cultural
roots. Cape Town wines are still some of the most sought-after wines in the
world. On the southern slopes of the Table Mountain range and its
world-renowned floral kingdom lies the historic Constantia valley, the cradle
of winemaking in the Cape. The valley, which falls within the Cape Peninsula
district, was the site of Simon van der Stel's 17th-century wine farm and the
origin of the Constantia dessert wines which became famous throughout Europe
during the 18th century. Rooted in ancient soils, the vineyards climb up the
east-facing slopes of the Constantiaberg, where the vines benefit from the cool
sea breezes blowing in from False Bay. The ward receives about 1 000mm of rain
annually, making irrigation unnecessary, and has a mean February temperature of
20.6°C. There are only a handful of cellars in this premier ward, where the
cool climate favours the production of white wines, notably Sauvignon Blanc,
and where the tradition of producing remarkable wines since 1685
continues.
The acclaimed Cape Point
vineyards, some of them a mere 1.2km from the sea, are situated on the western
edges of the Cape Peninsula. This cool-climate maritime pocket in the district
of Cape Town is recognised mainly for its Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
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| Castle of Good Hope |
The Castle
A Cape Town landmark, the Castle of Good Hope, is a prime
example of a “star fort”. It was built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch East
India Company and is the oldest existing colonial building in South Africa. Its
position marks the original shoreline before years of land reclamation changed
the Table Bay coastline. The Castle was planned from a central point with five
bastions, named after the main
titles of Willem, the Prince of Orange.
The Western bastion was named Leerdam,
followed in clockwise order by Buuren, Catzenellenbogen, Nassau and Oranje.
Earlier
History
The official founding of Cape Town was preceded
almost two centuries earlier, when in
(1)
1460, Portuguese navigators,
representing the interests of the Portuguese Royal House and merchants eager to
find a sea-route to India around the south coast of Africa, reached the coast
of Guinea, West Africa; and
(2)
1488, Bartholomeu Dias succeeded
in circumnavigating the Cape, naming it "Cape of Storms" - it was
later renamed "Cabo de Boa Esperança" or the Cape of Good Hope to
stimulate optimism about creating a sea route to India and the East via the
Cape;
(3)
1497, Vasco da Gama was
mandated by King Manuel I and the Royal House of Portugal to expand on Dias'
discoveries. Da Gama departed Targus on 8th July 1497, heading an
expedition consisting of two ships, São Rafael and São Gabriel. They sailed
along the southern African coast on the way to India. They put foot on South
African soil for the first time on 8th November 1497 at present-day
St. Helena Bay on the west coast of Southern Africa. It was here that they
first encountered the Khoi-Khoi/San people (also known later as Bushmen). Da
Gama’s description of the Khoi-Khoi/San in his diary reads as follows: 'The
inhabitants of this country are tawny-coloured. Their food is confined to the
flesh of seals, whales and gazelles, and the roots of herbs. They are dressed
in skins, and wear sheaths over their virile (now that’s an expression I’ve never
heard before...) members. They are armed with poles of olive wood to which a
horn, browned in the fire, is attached...'
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