Atlantis, Western Cape

Atlantis
Atlantis Location in the Western Cape
Atlantis
Coordinates: 33°34′S 18°29′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Area
• Total	119.66 km2 (46.20 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	53,820
• Density	450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	2.8%
• Coloured	95.6%
• Indian/Asian	0.5%
• White	1.0%
First languages (2001)
• Afrikaans	90.3%
• English	8.9%
• Other	0.8%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)

Atlantis is a town in Western Cape, South Africa, roughly 40 km from Cape Town. It has approximately 210,000 residents. The city suffers under high levels of poverty and unemployment. It was established during the Apartheid era as a community for Cape Town's Coloureds, in order to move them out of the city.

The government of the day attempted, in anticipation of the influx of people, to provide an employment base by instituting a program to encourage industry, through subsidies and other inducements, to locate there; this effort was not particularly successful. Several factors, including the Six Day War between Israel and Arab nations, forced the government of the day to rethink its strategy in terms of subsidisation of industries located in the town.^{[citation needed]}

The withdrawal of subsidies meant that many factories found themselves having to foot bills not formerly anticipated, including high transportation costs. This led to the migration of businesses closer to and into the Cape Town CBD (to be closer to means of transportation, including Paarden Island, Killarney and Epping, as well as the airport and harbour).

Currently, only about 3% of the original companies still have business in Atlantis. But the plethora of organisations lending social and economic assistance to the people of Atlantis are in a struggle to have upper leadership of development here.

See also

• Atlantis Diesel Engines