Cape Town
From Encyclopædia
Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad) is the legislative capital and the largest
city of South
Africa, with a population of 776,617 (1985) in the
city proper and 1,911,521 in the metropolitan area. It is situated on Table Bay at the foot of
Table Mountain and its three ridges--
lion's Head, Signal Hill, and Devil's Peak--at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula. Its climate is typically Mediterranean: winters are cool and wet, and summers are warm and dry.
average annual rainfall is 635 mm (25 in), and the temperature ranges from an
average low of 7 deg C (45 deg F) in winter (July) to an
average high of 27 deg C (81 deg F) in summer (February). Cape Town's industries today include food processing, especially fruit and vegetable canning--wine production,
fishing, clothing,
publishing, and engineering.The
city center focuses on the Public Gardens, a remnant of the original settlement, and on the Houses of Parliament. The
castle, begun in 1666 and completed in 1677, was a seat of government in the 17th century and is now a museum. Cape Town is the headquarters of several banks and insurance companies and has theaters, museums, and an orchestra. It has two universities: the
university of the Western Cape and the
university of Cape Town. The latter
university is situated on the grounds of Groote Schuur, the estate of Cecil
Rhodes, which he bequeathed to South
Africa.Cape Town was founded in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck to serve as a supply station for the Dutch East India Company. In 1795 it was captured by a British force but was returned to the Dutch by the Treaty of
Amiens in 1803. In 1806 it again came under British
Control. Following the discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) in the interior, Cape Town became one of the country's largest ports and
rail terminals.Alan C. G. BestMap Location[s]Pietersburg,
Pretoria, Soweto, Johannesburg, Vereeniging, Klerksdorp, Welkom, Upington,
Bloemfontein, Ladysmith, Richard's Bay,
Pietermaritzburg,
Durban, Queenstown,
East London, Saldanha, Mosselbaai, Port
Elizabeth, Oudtshoorn, Worcester, Doorn, Groot, Orange, Caledon, Tugela, Vaal, Olifants,
Atlantic Ocean, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Agulhas, Indian Ocean, Limpopo, Orange.
