Cape Town - geography.

Cape Town - geography. I INTRODUCTION Cape Town (Afrikaans Kaapstad), city in southwestern South Africa, the legislative capital of the country and the capital of Western Cape province. Cape Town is one of three national capitals, along with Pretoria (the executive capital) and Bloemfontein (the judicial capital). It is situated at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, about 50 km (about 30 mi) north of the Cape of Good Hope. The city has a spectacular setting, cradled by the steep slopes of Table Mountain to the south, Devil's Peak to the southeast, Lion's Head to the southwest, and Signal Hill to the west. Table Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, lies to the northwest. The site of the first European settlement in South Africa (founded in 1652), Cape Town is today a major port, an industrial hub, and a center of culture and tourism. The city has a Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. II DESCRIPTION Central Cape Town, the oldest part of the city, is situated between Table Mountain and Table Bay. Today this area is home to numerous high-rise buildings and the city's commercial center. Sprawling suburbs surround central Cape Town, with residential areas spreading up the lower slopes of Table Mountain and around the mountain to the southwest and southeast. Residential and industrial areas also extend across the Cape Peninsula to the south. One of Cape Town's most important historic sites--and the oldest building in the city--is the Castle, a stone fort built between 1666 and 1679 by Cape Town's original Dutch settlers. In the city center, other notable landmarks include the Dutch Reformed Groote Kerk (Great Church, built between 1699 and 1704) and the South African Houses of Parliament. Old mosques and Dutch-style buildings are found in the Malay quarter on the lower slopes of Signal Hill. Cape Town and its surrounding areas also hold many recreational attractions. The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront on Table Bay, revitalized in the early 1990s, contains many shops, pubs, and restaurants. Canal Walk, located in a part of Cape Town known as Century City, is a modern, multistory shopping complex complete with stores, cinemas, restaurants, and a children's science center. South of Table Mountain, the Kirstenbosch National Botanic Gardens were a gift to the nation from British colonial statesman and financier Cecil Rhodes. There are many walking trails on Table Mountain, which is also served by a cable car, and in the mountains of the Cape Peninsula. The peninsula also contains numerous wineries and many protected areas, including the 7900 hectare (19,400 acre) Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Table Mountain Nature Reserve is the natural habitat of the silver tree, a species native to this area. III POPULATION AND CULTURE Cape Town's city population in 2003 was 2,967,000, and its metropolitan area population was 2,893,247. In the mid-1990s, 48 percent of Cape Town's inhabitants were Coloured (people of mixed race), 27 percent were black, 23 percent were white, and 2 percent were Asian. Most of the city's inhabitants are Protestants; however, the Cape Malays form a distinctive Muslim minority within the Coloured population, and adherence to Islam has grown among other Coloured people in recent years. Afrikaans is the language of at least half of the city's Coloureds and almost half of the whites, with the rest of those groups speaking English or identifying themselves as bilingual. Most blacks speak Xhosa as their primary language. Under apartheid--that is, South Africa's system of racial segregation that was in effect between 1948 and the early 1990s--whites, Coloureds, blacks, and Asians were forced to live in separate residential areas. Although segregation laws are no longer in effect, many of Cape Town's neighborhoods remain largely segregated by race. Predominantly white neighborhoods are located northeast of the city center and on the Atlantic coast west of Lion's Head. Cape Flats, in the east, and Mitchell's Plain, in the southeast, are traditionally Coloured areas. Black neighborhoods, most located far from the city center, include the townships of Langa, Nyanga, and Guguletu, along with Khayelitsha, a township in which the housed population is now greatly exceeded by the squatter population. Black shantytowns such as Marconi Beam have developed closer to the city. Since the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, more affluent blacks, Coloureds, and Asians have begun moving into the historically white areas of Cape Town. The University of Cape Town (founded as South African College in 1829 and established as a full university in 1918) is one of South Africa's leading universities. The University of the Western Cape (1960), founded originally as a university for Coloureds but now open to all races, is located on the city's outskirts. Cape Town has a municipal Symphony Orchestra, and the ARTSCAPE Theatre Complex stages operas, plays, ballets, and concerts. Important museums and libraries in Cape Town include the South African Museum (1825), the South African National Gallery (1871), and the South African Library (1818). The Michaelis Collection (1914) houses 16th-century to 18th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings. The South African Cultural History Museum (1966), housed in a former slave lodge, also manages several smaller museums. IV ECONOMY Cape Town's industries include oil refining; shipbuilding and repair; diamond cutting; food processing; printing; and the production of chemicals, fertilizers, cement, clothes, plastics, and leather goods. The city's tourism industry is growing, with visitors attracted to Cape Town's cultural sites, dramatic setting, and the scenery of the Cape Peninsula. A large port complex on Table Bay handles millions of tons of cargo each year. A national railway and road network connects the city to other major South African cities, as well as Botswana and Zimbabwe. Cape Town International Airport is located east of the city. Trains, buses, and minibuses provide public transportation. V HISTORY Cape Town was founded in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck, an official of the Dutch East India Company, as a supply base for the company (see East India Company). The area developed as a farming community for the company, and later for employees who left the company to work on their own. In 1658 the company began to import slaves from India and Southeast Asia to aid the farming community. Cape Town became the administrative center of an expanding Dutch colony in southern Africa, which later became known as Cape Colony. The Dutch maintained control of Cape Town and the rest of Cape Colony throughout most of the 18th century, aided by the presence of French troops beginning in 1781. Then in 1795 Britain seized and occupied Cape Colony. The area reverted to Dutch control in 1803 but was reoccupied by the British in 1806. In 1814 Britain declared Cape Colony a crown colony with Cape Town as its capital. Cape Town officially became a municipality in 1840 and acquired fully elective selfgovernment in 1867. The town's population and industry grew rapidly following the opening of port facilities in 1870 and the discovery of diamonds and gold in the South African interior in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1910 Cape Town became the legislative capital of the Union of South Africa (later the Republic of South Africa). Satellite towns that developed around Cape Town were amalgamated into the City of Greater Cape Town in 1913. Cape Town grew into a major metropolis in the period following World War II (1939-1945). When the system of apartheid ended in the early 1990s, the city limits were expanded to include Cape Town's large black and Coloured suburbs. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.