Nov
23
2009
Bits and Pieces of Cape Town
Author: SamCape Town South Africa was originally built up by the Dutch East India Company around 1652. This interesting city on the shoreline of Table Bay quickly turned into busy port of ships. It was the supply station for many Dutch ships that were working their way up and the coast of Africa, India and the far east. The first permanent settlement made here by the Europeans was by Jan Van Riebeeck. It quickly became the economic and cultural center of the whole Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush, made Johannesburg grow, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa. Now modern day Cape Town has about 3 and half million people living in it. Fortunately, the square mileage of the area is rather large so there is more room per person to live here.
The area is such old land who knows how long people have been coming and going from here. Archeologists have been digging away here for many years and have found a few interesting things. The farthest back they can find so far dates 12,00 to 15,000 years ago. The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias left some written literature in 1486. Vasco da Gama recorded seeing the Cape of Good Hope back in 1497. Then the Dutch arrived. They had a hard time developing the area because there was not enough labor. Slaves were brought in from Indonesia and Madagascar to work for the Dutch company and now they are the ancestors of the first Cape Colored community.
From then on you have the history with the British trying to take over the Dutch colonies and how that affected the town. Of course, Britian capture Cape Town in 1795 but then give back in a treaty to the Netherlands in 1803. The British came and took the town again in 1806 after the Bloubergstrand battle. Because of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, the British gained permanent control and the town has expanded along with the whole colony substantially during the 1800s. So find one of the best Cape Town hotels and take in all the city has been built up too.