See Also: Cape Town(encyclopedia)
Cape Town(dictionary)
Cape Town Mediclinic(health)
cape(dictionary)
cape(2)(dictionary)
Cape Air(tourism)
cape(1)(dictionary)
cape(dictionary)
Cape Cod(dictionary)
Cape Cod(encyclopedia)

Cape Town (sh)




Afrikaans Kaapstad

City (pop., 1996 est., metro. area: 2,415,408), legislative capital, South Africa.

Located on Table Bay, it was formerly the capital of Cape Province. Long the country's major seaport, it was surpassed in the 1980s by Durban. The first settlement at Table Bay, it was founded by the Dutch navigator Jan van Riebeeck for the Dutch East India Co., and it soon served as a stopover for ships plying the Europe-to-India route. It was under Dutch rule intermittently until it was taken by the British in 1806. Today it is a commercial and cultural centre. See also Pretoria; Bloemfontein.