Commemoration of our heritage

Did you know that Cape Town just turned 360 years old this year? We have created a rich heritage and history during this time. Let us take a look at some interesting historical fact to commemorate this wonderful place...

• Asian immigration to South Africa started in 1654 when slaves from Malaysia were brought to the Cape, in turn encouraging the spread of the Islamic faith in Cape Town culture.

• Britain seized Cape Town from the Dutch in 1795. In 1803 it was returned to The Netherlands and, by 1806, was back in the hands of the British. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was conceded to Britain, becoming the capital of the Cape Colony.

• Cape Town has its own unique mix of indigenous music called Ghoema, closely associated with the Cape Malay culture having its origins linked to the musical culture of the Malay slaves.

• Cape Town has the oldest wine industry outside Europe and the Mediterranean, dating back to 2 February 1659 when Jan van Riebeeck produced the first wine recorded in South Africa.

• Cape Town is situated on an underground river called Camissa, meaning “place of sweet waters”.

• Cape Town’s City Hall was built in 1905. On 11 February 1990 Nelson Mandela made his first public speech after his release from Robben Island, on the balcony of the City Hall.

• Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant in the world in 1967 in Cape Town at Groote Schuur Hospital.

• Hand axes made by Homo Erectus, dating back 750 000 years, have been found near Cape Town.

• In the 1500s, Portuguese sailors encountered storms as they sailed around the Cape Peninsula and dubbed it “the Bay of Storms”.

• Jan Van Riebeeck and Dutch East India Company settlers landed at the Cape on April 6, 1652. They had been sent to the Cape to establish a supply station for ships travelling to the Dutch East Indies.

• The oldest living tradition in Cape Town is the firing of the Noon Day Gun at Lion Battery on Signal Hill. The Noon Day cannons are also two of the oldest cannons in the world still in daily use.

• The original Table Mountain Cableway opened for business on 4 October 1929, transporting millions of visitors, as well as the current Queen of England, Elizabeth ll, to its smooth summit.

• The San and the Khoikhoi are the first recorded peoples of the Cape. The San were hunter-gatherers while the Khoikhoi were mainly herders.In later years, the Khoisan generation called the area Hoerikwaggo, meaning “mountain that rises from the sea”.

(Please note: Sources consulted - www.capetown.travel/blog/)



A historical photograph of Cape Town station 1896 taken from capetowngazette.com