 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Cape Town, one of South Africa's three capital cities (the others are Pretoria and Bloemfontein), and capital of the Western Cape Province, is most famous for its mountain, aptly named Table Mountain because of its flat top. The agglomeration is estimated to have a population of about 2.9 million (estimate from 2001 census).
It was founded by the Dutch East India Company to be used as a replenishing station for ships sailing on the trade route to Indonesia. The location was chosen for its sheltered bay which formed a natural harbour and protected ships from the strong prevailing wind, the South-Easter. The first European settlement was led by Jan van Riebeek, who arrived on 6 April 1652.
The seas around Cape Town are notorious and it was referred to as the "Cape of Storms". However the Dutch displaced the Khoi and San who were the native inhabitants. The Dutch imported slaves from Asia. The descendants of these slaves (known as the "Cape Malays"), along with the mixed race-offspring of natives and white settlers, eventually became the ethnic group called the "Coloureds". Later the English conquered the Dutch to gain control of this strategic port.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on an island near Cape Town, Robben Island until his transfer to a prison near Paarl.
Today, Cape Town is a popular tourist destination, offering the visitor a wide variety of activities such as water sports (including diving, surfing and sailing), angling, Victoria & Alfred waterfront, a popular shopping venue with thousands of shops, a fine hotel, a world-class marina and an aquarium; Table Mountain, which can be accessed either by walking or a cable car; Cape Point; and Boulders Beach, home to a colony of penguins.
Boat trips can be undertaken from the Victoria & Alfred marina to visit Robben Island. It is a well known spot for windsurfers/kitesurfering, mainly in the summer seasons (September to February).
Local wineries offer tastings and informative tours are available. August and September are the best time to visit the west coast, because the desert comes to life after the winter rains and the wild flowers bloom in profusion.
A cable car system takes visitors to the top of Table Mountain, though it only operates in good weather as gale-force winds can make it dangerous or clouds can obscure the view from the summit. The operating status (open or closed) of the cable car is posted on a signboard at Kloof Nek.
The area is also famous for its unique plant life: Fynbos (an Afrikaans word meaning "fine bush"), a shrubby vegetation type similar to other winter rainfall shrublands, in which Proteas are prominent and characteristic and which occurs nowhere else but the Cape coastal belt, the adjacent mountains and some isolated inland mountain tops. Fire is a necessary stage in the lives of almost all fynbos plants. In readiness for fire, most proteas retain their seeds on the bush for at least one year, a habit known as serotiny. They do this in structures which resemble the original flowerheads. In some species these structures are strikingly beautiful and long-lasting, which accounts for their use in dried floral arrangements.
The airport in Cape Town is Cape Town International Airport, code CPT.
Cape Town boasts three soccer teams in the Premier League, Santos (based in Athlone), Ajax Cape Town (based in Newlands) and Hellenic Football Club.
The Cape Town suburb of Newlands, besides being the home of Ajax Cape Town, is also the home of the Western Province rugby team, one of the powerhouses in South African rugby, as well as Western Province cricket. Newlands is also home to one of South Africa's four Super 12 rugby franchises, the Stormers.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
