Cape Town
- This page is for Cape Town. For the municipality, see City of Cape Town
Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad /ˈkɑːpstɑt/; Xhosa: iKapa) is the third most populous city in South Africa. Cape Town is the provincial capital of Western Cape Province as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the national Parliament and many government offices are located. Cape Town is famous for its harbour as well as its natural setting, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. It is the most popular South African destination for international tourists.
Cape Town originally developed around its harbour, as a refueling station for Dutch ships sailing to Eastern Africa, India, and Asia. Founded in 1652, it was the first permanent European settlement in sub-Saharan Africa. It quickly outgrew the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, and remained the largest city in South Africa until outpaced by the new city of Johannesburg following the discovery of gold and diamonds in the Transvaal in 1887.
Cape Town is also served by Cape Town International Airport, the second-busiest airport in South Africa, and a major gateway to the city for tourists.
According to the 2001 Census, the city has a population of 2.9 million [1]. Cape Town's land area of 2,499 km² [2] is comparatively larger than other South African cities, resulting in a comparatively lower population density of 1,158/km².
History
- Main article: History of Cape Town
The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz in 1486. Thus, all knowledge of the previous inhabitants of the region comes through fossil evidence. The first known inhabitants of the Western Cape area arrived around 100,000 BC. These people were Stone Age hunter-gatherers who used stone tools and fire. They survived the Ice Age, when water levels were around 120 metres lower than their current levels and the Cape — and in particular the Cape Flats — was covered in forests due to increased humidity. Fossils from around 8000 BC indicate that by that period the inhabitants of the region had developed bows and arrows which they used to hunt. Nearly 6000 years later, a large migration of tribes further inland brought the inhabitants of the Cape into contact with skilled agriculturalists, prompting them to grow crops.
The first Europeans, under the command of Bartholomew Diaz, discovered the Cape in 1486. The next recorded sighting of the Cape was by Vasco da Gama in 1497 while he was searching for a route that would lead directly from Europe to Asia. Table Mountain was given its name in 1503 by Antonio da Saldanha, a Portuguese admiral and explorer. He called it Taboa da caba, or Table of the Cape. The original name given to the mountain by the first Khoi inhabitants was Hoeri 'kwaggo, or Sea Mountain.
The area fell out of regular contact with Europeans until one of the most pivotal years in South African history, 1652. Jan van Riebeeck and other employees of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) were sent to the Cape to establish a halfway station to provide fresh water, vegetables, and meat for passing ships travelling to and from Asia. Van Riebeeck's party of three vessels landed at the cape on 6 April 1652. The group quickly erected shelters and laid out vegetable gardens and orchards. These gardens still exist today and are known as the Company Gardens. Water from the Fresh River , which descended from Table Mountain, was channelled into canals to provide irrigation. The settlers bartered with the native Khoisan for their sheep and cattle. Forests in Hout Bay and the south and eastern flanks of Table Mountain provided timber for ships and houses. At this point, the VOC had a monopoly on trade and prohibited any private trade. The Dutch gave their own names to the native inhabitants that they encountered, calling the pastoralists "Hottentots," those that lived on the coast and subsided on shellfishing "Strandlopers," and those who were hunter-gatherers were named "Bushmen."
The first wave of Asian immigration to South Africa started in 1654. These first immigrants were banished to the Cape by the Dutch Batavian High Court. These Asians helped to form the foundation of the Cape Coloured population as well as bringing Islam to the Cape. The first large territorial expansion occured in 1657, when farms were granted by the VOC to a few servants in an attempt to increase food production. These farms were situated along the Liesbeeck River and the VOC still retained financial control of them. The first slaves were imported to the Cape from Java and Madagascar in the same year to work on the farms. The first of a long series of border conflicts between the inhabitants in the European-controlled area and native inhabitants began in 1658 when settlers clashed with the Xhosa, who realised that they were losing territory. Work on the Castle of Good Hope, the first permanent European fortification in the area, began in 1666. The new castle replaced the previous wooden fort that Van Riebeeck and his men built. The Castle, competed in 1679, is the oldest building in South Africa.
Simon van der Stel, after whom the town of Stellenbosch is named, arrived in 1679 to replace Van Riebeeck as governor. Van der Stel founded the Cape wine industry by bringing grape vines with him on his ship, an industry which would quickly grow to be important for the region. He also promoted territorial expansion in the Colony. The first non-Dutch immigrants to the Cape, the Huguenots, arrived in 1688. The Huguenots had fled from anti-Protestant persecution in Catholic France to the Netherlands, where the VOC offered them free passage to the Cape as well as farmland. The Huguenots brought important experience in wine production to the Cape, greatly bolstering the industry.
By 1754, the population of the settlement on the Cape had reached 5,510 Europeans and 6,729 slaves. But by 1780, France and England went to war against each other. The Netherlands entered the war on the French side, and thus a small garrison of French troops were sent to the Cape to protect it against the English. These troops, however, left by 1784. By 1795, however, the Netherlands was invaded by France and the VOC was in complete financial ruin. The Prince of Orange fled to England for protection, which allowed for the establishment of the Dutch Batavian Republic. Due to the long time it took to send and receive news from Europe, the Cape Commissioner of the time knew only that the French had been taking territory in the Netherlands and that the Dutch could change sides in the war at any moment. British forces arrived at the Cape bearing a letter from the Prince of Orange asking the Commisssioner to allow the British troops to protect the Cape from France until the war. The British informed the Commissioner that the Prince had fled to England. The reaction in the Cape Council was mixed, and eventually the British successfully invaded the Cape in the Battle of Muizenberg. The British immediately announced the beginning of free trade.
Under the terms of a peace agreement between England and France, the Cape was returned to the Dutch in 1802. Three years later, however, the war resumed and the British returned their garrison to the Cape. This period saw major developments for the city, and can be said to be the start of Cape Town as a city in its own right. Taps and iron pipes were installed along major streets in the city. The native inhabitants were forced to declare a fixed residence and were not permitted to move between regions without written permission. The war between France and England ended in 1814 with a British victory. The British draw up a complex treaty whereby pieces of real estate were exchanged for money by various countries. The Cape was permanently taken from the Dutch by the British in return for a large sum of money. In this period, the British saw the control of the Cape as key to their ability to maintain their command in India. The Dutch government was too impoverished and depleted to argue, and agreed with the condition that they be allowed to continue to use the Cape for repairs and refreshment.
The vagrancy and pass laws of 1809 were repealed in 1829. Thus, the Hottentots, in theory, were equal with the Europeans. As in the rest of the British Empire, slaves — estimated to be around 39,000 in number — were emancipated in 1834. This led to the establishment of the Bo-Kaap by a Muslim community after being freed. The Cape Town Legislative Council was also established in the same year. One of the most momentous events in South African history, the Great Trek, began in 1836. About 10,000 Dutch families, for various reasons, left for the north in search of new land, thereby opening up the interior of the country. Further political development occured in 1840 when the Cape Town Municipality was formed. At its inception, the population stood at 20,016, of which 10,560 were white.
The area known today as Cape Town was first settled around 100 000 BC by stone age hunter-gatherers who used stone tools and fire. Around 8000 BC, the inhabitants of the Cape had progressed and developed bows and arrows for hunting. 6000 years later, migration of inland tribles occured, which brought agricultural skills to the inhabitants of the Cape. The descendants of these inhabitants would later be known as the Khoisan. There was no written mention of the area until the arrival of Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz in 1497, so all knowledge about the previous inhabitants is through fossil record, of which not much exists.
The area today known as Cape Town was settled by the San and Khoikhoi (previously called "Bushmen" and "Hottentots", respectively), collectively known as the Khoisan, long before the arrival of the Dutch East India Company. In 1652, the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; VOC) arrived and established a supply depot in Cape Town to service and restock boats traveling between the Netherlands and Dutch colonies in Asia and India. The indigenous Khoikhoi mostly refused to deal with the Dutch or help them in their endeavours, so the VOC imported slaves from Madagascar, India, Ceylon, Malaya, and Indonesia to alleviate the colony's chronic labour shortage. Due to a shortage of women among the European population of the colony, European men intermarried with the slaves and Khoisan in the area. The offspring formed the first Cape Coloured population and also helps to explain the unique character of the city's Cape Malay population.
During the 150 years of Dutch rule, Kaapstad, as the Cape settlement became known, thrived and gained a reputation as the "Tavern of the Seas," a riotous port used by every sailor travelling between Europe and Asia. Settlers intending to farm had also expanded outwards from the city to the surrounding area, resulting in ever-increasing amounts of land coming under the control of Cape Colony, the name of the administrative division of which Cape Town was the capital. The settlers fought several wars against the Xhosa and Khoikhoi, to put down border rebellions against European expansion. The burden of these wars, as well as a decline in trading fortunes, resulted in the near-bankruptcy of the VOC as the 18th Century was drawing to a close. The financial constraints of the VOC hampered investment in the defence of the city, making Cape Town an easy target for British imperialist interests in the region. Following the Dutch defeat against the British in 1806 at Bloubergstrand, the colony was ceded to the British monarchy on 13 August, 1814. The slave trade was abolished by the British in 1808 and all slaves were emancipated in 1833. By 1867, District Six was developing as a thriving multi-cultural community.
The discovery and subsequent exploitation of diamonds and gold in the Transvaal region in the central highveld in the 1870s and 1880s led to rapid change in Cape Town, as well as in Cape Colony as a whole. Cape Town lost its position as the single dominant city in the region, but, as the primary port, it benefitted from the increased trade to the region. The mineral wealth generated in this period laid the foundation for an industrialized society. This period marked the first incident of segregation in the city. Following an outbreak of bubonic plague which was blamed on the native Africans, the natives were moved to two locations outside of the city, one of which was near the docks and the other at Ndabeni, about six km east of the city. The latter settlement was the start of what would later develop into the townships of the Cape Flats. In 1948, the National Party stood for election on its policy of racial segregation, later known by the Afrikaans word apartheid. After a series of bitter court and constitutional battles, the already limited voting rights of the Coloured community in Cape Province were revoked. In 1966, the once-vibrant District Six area was bulldozed and declared a white-only area. This and many similar declarations under the Group Areas Act resulted in whole communities being uprooted and relocated to the Cape Flats.
Under apartheid, the Cape was considered a "Coloured labour preference area", to the exclusion of Black Africans. The government tried for decades to remove largely Xhosa squatter camps, such as Crossroads, which were the focal point for black resistance in the Cape area to the policies of apartheid. In the last forced removal, between May and June 1986, an estimated 70,000 people were expelled from their homes. Hours after being released from prison on 11 February, 1990, Nelson Mandela made his first public speech in decades from the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall, heralding the beginning of a new era for South Africa. Much has improved in Cape Town since; property prices have increased greatly and violent crime rates in the city centre continue to fall. Increasingly, loft-style apartments are being developed in grandiose colonial-era structures such as the Old Mutual Building and the Board of Executors building. Full integration of Cape Town's mixed population, however, has progressed slowly. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Capetonians who live in the Cape Flats are still split along racial lines and and economic, social, and health problems are widespread. Cape Town is struggling with major problems such as AIDS, tuberculosis and violent drug-related crime in these areas, including one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
Geography and climate
Cape Town is located at the edge of the continental escarpment and is located on the coast. This results in somewhat severe topography in the city. The northern face of Table Mountain is an almost vertical cliff, while a spine of mountains runs to the south all the way to Cape Point. There is a large plain across from the Indian Ocean, which is now the location of the Cape Flats. Most of the City Bowl and the Atlantic Seashore is built on a steep gradient from the sides of the escarpment to sea level.
The Cape Peninsula has a Mediterranean climate with well-defined seasons. In winter, which lasts from May through August, large cold fronts come across from the Atlantic Ocean with heavy precipitation and strong north-westerly winds. The winter months are cool with an average minimum temperature of around 7°C (45°F). Most of the city's annual rainfall occurs in wintertime, but due to the mountainous topography of the city, rainfall amounts for specific areas can vary dramatically. The valleys and coastal plains average 515 millimetres (20in) of rain per annum, while mountain areas can average as much as 1500mm (60in) per annum. Summers, which last from November through February, are warm and dry, and the Peninsula gets frequent strong winds from the south-east known locally as the Cape Doctor because it blows away pollution and cleans the air. The south easterly wind is caused by a high-pressure system which sits in the South Atlantic to the west of Cape Town. Summer temperatures are mild with an average maximum of 26°C (79°F). [3]
Government
Cape Town's local government is the City of Cape Town, a metropolitan municipality. Cape Town is governed by a 200-member city council, who answer to a 28-member executive council. This in turn is presided over by a city manager and an executive mayor. The city is divided into 100 electoral wards; each ward directly elects one member of the council. The other 100 councillors are elected by a system of party-list proportional representation. The mayor is chosen by the city council.
The African National Congress (ANC) gained control of the city council when the New National Party joined it in coalition and later merged with the ANC. In the local government election of 1 March 2006, no party won a majority, with the Democratic Alliance marginally ahead of the ANC. Negotiations for the city government are underway.
Before the unification of Cape Town's local government into the so-called "Unicity", it was divided into six regional "Administrations"; many functions of the Unicity are still divided according to the old Administrations. The administrations were Cape Town, which included the City Bowl, the Atlantic seaboard, the southern suburbs, Pinelands, Langa, and Mitchell's Plain. South Peninsula included Hout Bay, Wynberg, Constantia, Fish Hoek, Kommetjie, Noordhoek, and Simon's Town. Blaauwberg included Milnerton, Tableview, and Bloubergstrand. Tygerberg included Tygerberg, Durbanville, Bellvile, Khayelitsha. Oostenberg included Kraaifontein, Brackenfell, Kuilsrivier, Blue Downs, and Eerste River. The last administration, Helderberg, included Somerset West, Strand, and Gordon's Bay.
Demographics
According to the South African National Census of 2001 [1], the population of Cape Town is 2,893,251 people, who live in 759,767 formal households, of which 87.4% have a flush or chemical toilet, and 94.4% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week. 80.1% of households use electricity as the main source of energy. 16.1% of households are headed by one person.
Coloureds account for 48.13% of the population, followed by Black Africans at 31%, Caucasians at 18.75%, and 1.43% Asian. 46.6% of the population is under the age of 24, while 5% are over the age of 65. The median age in the city is 26 years old, and for every 100 females, there are 92.4 males. 19.4% of city residents are unemployed. 58.3% of the unemployed are black, 38.1% are Coloured, 3.1% are Caucasian, and 0.5% are Asian.
41.4% of Cape Town residents speak Afrikaans at home, 27.9% speak English, 28.7% speak Xhosa, 0.3% speak Zulu, 0.7% speak Sesotho, and 0.1% speak Setswana, 0.7% of the population speaks a non-official language at home. 76.6% of residents are Christian, 10.7% have no religion, 9.7% are Muslim, 0.5% are Jewish, and 0.2% are Hindu. 2.3% have other or undetermined beliefs.
4.2% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling, 11.8% have had some primary school, 7.1% have completed only primary school, 38.9% have had some high school education, 25.4% have finished only high school, and 12.6% have an education higher than the high school level. Overall, 38.0% of residents have completed high school. The median annual income of working adults aged 15-65 is R25,774. Males have a median annual income of R28,406 versus R 22,265 for females.
Economy
Cape Town is the economic centre of the Western Cape and thus serves as the regional manufacturing centre as well as the port by which most goods made in the interior of the province are shipped elsewhere. Cape Town's economy is also partially based on tourism, as it receives the most visitors by far of any city in South Africa. The large government presence in the city, both as the capital of the Western Cape and the seat of Parliament, has increased revenue for the city as well as growth in industries that serve the government. Cape Town also hosts many conferences, particularly in the new International Convention Centre, which opened in June 2003. The city is also currently undergoing a real estate and construction boom. High school attendance rates and a superior higher education infrastructure has also helped Cape Town to compete globally when compared to other cities in South Africa that have less developed infrastructure and education.
The Western Cape also generates a quarter of the South African agricultural sector's total gross income and more than half of South Africa's exports overseas, which benefits Cape Town as much of the produce is either shipped from the Port of Cape Town or Cape Town International Airport. The Western Cape is the most important tourist region in South Africa. The tourism industry alone accounts for 9.8% of the GDP of the province and employs 9.6% of the province's workforce. In 2002, over one million overseas tourists visited Cape Town.[2] The Province is also a centre of energy development for the country, especially now that oil and natural gas hvave been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast.[3]
Almost all major ship-building companies have offices and manufacturing locations in Cape Town, who manufacture many ships that are then exported overseas.[4] The city is currently undergoing a massive expansion in construction and real estate, as many people are buying summer homes in the city as well as relocating there permanently.
Tourism
Cape Town's warm climate, dramatic scenic beauty, outdoor sports and cultural variety make it one of South Africa's most popular tourist destinations, particularly in the summer from October to March.
Some of the main tourist attractions are:
- Table Mountain, the dramatic backdrop to the city, which can be accessed on foot or by cable car
- Cape Point, a dramatic headland at the end of the Cape Peninsula
- The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a popular shopping venue with hundreds of shops, fine hotels, a marina and an aquarium
- Robben Island, most famous for the prison where Nelson Mandela was held
- Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, set in a stunning location below the mountain
- Chapman's Peak Drive
- Signal Hill with the Noon gun
- The nearby winelands of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek
- The Beaches
Outdoor activities
The mountainous geography of the Cape Peninsula means that Cape Town has a wide variety of white sand beaches. Blouberg beach has the classic view of Table Mountain and is a world class spot for windsurfing and kitesurfing between September and February. Boulders Beach is famous for its colony of penguins.
Scenic boat trips can be undertaken from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Hout Bay and Simon's Town. Tours to Robben Island are popular, and other cruises take tourists close to the population of thousands of Cape fur seals on Seal Island and Duiker Island.
The Cape Peninsula and the region around Cape Town offer many walking and hiking routes, with Table Mountain, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak) set in the centre of the city, and the surrounding mountain ranges offering further opportunities.
Other water sports and outdoor activities include surfing, diving, kite-surfing, sailing, angling, scenic drives, mountaineering, hiking, mountain-biking, kite-flying, hang-gliding and parasailing, boat trips, bird watching and whale watching.
Whale watching is popular, with Southern Right Whales found off the coast during the breeding season (August to November), and Bryde's Whale occuring year-round. The nearby town of Hermanus is renowned for whales, as they often come within 100m of the shore, but they can also be seen in False Bay. Heaviside's Dolphin is endemic to the area and can be seen from the coast north of Cape Town. Dusky Dolphin occur along the same coast, and may be seen from the ferry to Robben Island.
August and September are the best time to visit the Namaqualand region on the west coast of South Africa. After the winter rains, the desert comes to life and wild flowers bloom in profusion.
Cultural tourism
Local jazz music, wine tasting, township tours, and visits to historic Cape Dutch buildings, add a wide cultural variety to the city's tourism.
The annual Cape Town Minstrel Carnival or Kaapse Klopse is a minstrel festival held annually on 2 January or 'Tweede Nuwe Jaar'. Competing teams of minstrels parade in brightly coloured costumes, either carrying colourful umbrellas or playing an array of musical instruments.
Communications and media
Several newspapers and magazines have their offices in the city, as it is the transportation hub for the south western region of South Africa. Media24, the largest media conglomerate in South Africa, has a large office in the Central Business District. Media24 publishes local Cape Town community newspapers as well as the major Afrikaans language paper, Die Burger. Media24's publishing rival in the city, Independent News and Media (INM), publishes the major English language papers in the city, the Cape Times and the Cape Argus. INM also publishes the business-themed newspaper, the Cape Business News every three months. The University of Cape Town also publishes its own student newspaper, the Varsity
Cape Town has a vibrant collection of community newspapers. Almost every suburb or region of the city has its own newspaper which publishes local news as well as national news. Some of the largest community newspapers in English are the Athlone News from Athlone, the Atlantic Sun, the Constantiaberg Bulletin from Constantiaberg, the City Vision from Bellville, the False Bay Echo from False Bay, the Helderberg Sun from Helderberg, the Plainsman, the Sentinel News, the Southern Mail, the Southern Suburbs from the Southern Suburbs, the Table Talk, the Tygertalk. Afrikaans language community newspapers include the Landbou-Burger, the and the Tygerburger. Vukani, based in the Cape Flats, is published in Xhosa.
Cape Town is also a centre for broadcast media, and has several radio stations that only broadcast within the city. The University of Cape Town has its own station, UCT Radio 104.5 fm which plays a diverse selection of music. Good Hope FM and KFM 94.5 fm mostly play pop music. The Voice of the Cape 95.8 fm and Cape Talk 567 mw are the major talk radio stations for the city.
Cape Town is also the location of regional offices of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and M-Net.
Suburbs
Sports teams and stadiums
Three main team sports are played in the city: rugby, cricket and football.
Cape Town boasts two soccer teams in the Premier League, Santos (based in Athlone) and Ajax Cape Town (based in Parow).
The Cape Town suburb of Newlands is the home of the Western Province rugby team, one of the powerhouses in South African rugby. The current team captain is Schalk Burger. Newlands is also the base for the Stormers team, which plays in the Super 14.
The Cape Cobras cricket team is based at the Newlands Cricket Ground. It is the amalgamation of the Western Province Cricket and Boland Cricket teams.
The clement weather of the region allows open air sports all year round. Apart from team sports, golf and tennis are very popular and facilities for these exist all over the city. Conditions for scuba diving, surfing and both kite and board sailing are world class and attract many foreign tourists.
Apart from the existing Newlands Rugby Stadium which seats 50,900 and the Newlands Cricket Stadium with a capacity of 25,000, there is the Athlone Stadium which is set to undergo an upgrade as a training venue for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. A completely new facility to seat 70,000 spectators is planned for the Green Point Track on the outskirts of the CBD. The stadium will receive a retractable roof which will open and close depending on the weather. The estimated cost of the stadium is R1.2 billion. The area around the stadium is set to undergo a transformation into a park area, similar to that of Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York City.
Transport
- Mass transit
- Airports
Cape Town is served by Cape Town International Airport for both domestic and international flights.
- Buses
- Taxis
Cape Town has two kinds of taxis, metered taxis and minibus taxis. Unlike many cities, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the city looking for passengers and instead must be called and ordered to a destination. Metered taxis are rare, in comparison to many other cities. The minibus "taxis" are the de facto standard and essential form of transport for the majority of the population. Although essential, these taxis are often of a poor standard in not only road-worthiness, but also in terms of driver quality with a majority of taxi drivers breaking traffic laws regularly (such as driving in the emergency lane while speeding on a highway). With the high demand for transport by the working class of South Africa, minibus taxis are often over-filled with passengers causing yet another hazard for road users. However, without subsidies from Government and a lack of other feasible public transport, minibus taxis will remain an essential form of transport for many of Cape Town's working class.
- Freeways
Three freeways constart in Cape Town: The N1 which links Cape Town with Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Zimbabwe; the N2 which links Cape Town with Durban, and the N7 which links Cape Town with the Northern Cape Province and Namibia. The N1 and N2 both start at the northern end of Buitengracht Street and become an elevated highway through the Central Business District. The N1 and N2 split to the east of the CBD, with the N1 continuing to the north west out of the city, and the N2 heading nearly due east past Cape Town International Airport. The N7 starts in Mitchells Plain and runs north, intersecting with the N1 and the N2 before leaving the city.
Cape Town also has a system of dual carriageway M-roads, which connect different parts of the city. The M3 splits from the N2 and runs to the south, connecting the City Bowl with Muizenberg. The M5 splits from the N1 further east than the M3. The M5 links the Cape Flats to the CBD. The R300 which is also known as the Cape Flats Freeway, links Mitchells Plain with the N2 and the N1.
Shosholoza Meyl operates daily trains to and from Pretoria via Kimberley and Johannesburg, and weekly trains to and from Durban via Kimberley, Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg. These trains terminate at Cape Town Railway Station, and also stop at Bellville.
The city has a large port located in Table Bay directly to the north of the city centre and is a hub of the shipping routes in the Southern Hemisphere. Cape Town is South Africa's second port after Durban; in 2004 it handled 3161 ships and 9.2 million tonnes of cargo.
Cape Town International Airport is the second biggest airport in South Africa and a major gateway for travellers to the Cape region. It offers a number of international flights to destinations in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. Nearly all commercial airports in South Africa are served from here.
Within Cape Town
In addition to the national roads listed above (which are also used for local traffic) the city is served by the M3, M5, M7 and R300 freeways. There is also an extensive network of dual carriageways and main roads.
Metrorail operates a large suburban rail network consisting of 96 stations. Golden Arrow Bus Services operates a network of bus routes, and minibus taxis operate throughout the metropolitan area.
Further education in Cape Town
Cape Town boasts three universities and various colleges.
Both the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape are located within the Cape Town metropole, while Stellenbosch University is within a 50 km reach.
There is also the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, formed after the merging of the Cape Technikon and the Peninsula Technikon, which deals with National Diplomas.
References
- ^ "City of Cape Town". Census 2001 Statistics. Retrieved 2006-03-10.
- ^ "City of Cape Town". Municipal Demarcation Board. Retrieved 2006-03-10.
- ^ "Climate data for Cape Town". South African Weather Service. Retrieved 2006-03-07.
External links
- Official Website
- Brief Historical Overview and Travel Account by Roderick Eime
- Cape Town City Guide Cape Town City Guide
- Template:Wikitravel