My Cape Town - a touch of history and cultural contrasts

Many of us locals forget that the original inhabitants of the region were the Khoi San people. Their ancestry can be traced back thousands of years, through the discovery of fossils and artifacts, to the origins of humanity in Central Africa.

The "Mother City" as we have become known over the years was the first South African port established by European settlers in the 16th century.

Dutch sailors working for the VOC - Dutch East India Company set up a refreshment station at the Cape. They also established the Company Gardens in the city which was used to provide passing ships on route to the West Indies with fresh produce. The gardens still exist, have been stocked with exotic plants and trees and are now a place of relaxation for us Capetonians.

Early Culture and language
The first slaves were brought in to the growing city from Madagascar in the 17th century to help run the refreshment station. This immigration continued until 1834 and was expanded to include slaves from African countries such as Angola and Mozambique, the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Various languages were spoken in those early days but the most predominant was Malay. Gradually the Afrikaans language, a simplified form of Dutch containing elements of Malay and originally used for communicating with their masters, developed among the slaves. Afrikaans spread inland throughout South Africa when descendants of Cape Dutch and French settlers trekked north with their ox wagons to colonise the interior and eventually establish the Afrikaner nation.

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The Cape Malay people of today with their unique Muslim cultural heritage, and the Christian 'coloured' community descended from mixed blood unions between the early settlers, the indigenous Khoi and the slaves who brought their different cultures into the region.

In the 17th century British settlers arrived and annexed the Cape declaring it a British Colony. They developed the city using slave labour. Slavery was eventually abolished in the 19th century.
The British went on to develop and colonise South Africa. Elements of their influence in the Cape are still visble in the architecture of many buildings in the surrounding coastal towns eg. Simonstown

Read more about our history here: Cape Town History

For information about some of the most relevant pages on this site: click here

Trying to find your way around? Here's a useful map page

Booking your flight ticket online
Always make sure you know which airline you're going to be booked on when flying to South Africa in case you need to make changes before you leave. Once you've booked and paid for a specific flight ticket, expect to pay extra if you want to move to another flight.

One of the best ways to find and book a cheap flight is by using an online system which searches for and compares the rates charged by all the airlines servicing the route you require. You simply enter your departure and arrival points and the dates of your flights, and you are presented with a list of the different airline ticket rates. You then select and book the airline you require.

I have placed such a script to the right of this text. Also use it to search for hotels and car hire at cheaper rates.

For more useful information go to my Cheap Flights page.

The following areas offer a wide range of accommodation
City Bowl	Cape Winelands	V&A Waterfront
South Peninsula	Atlantic Seaboard(N)	Atlantic Seaboard(S)

Here are some more of my Cape Town Information pages:

Top accommodation choices What to do on your holiday

Beaches Guide Discounted Guided Tours

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