1.
Seat of local government
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In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre, a guildhall, a Rathaus, or a municipal building, is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city or town council, its associated departments and it also usually functions as the base of the mayor of a city, town, borough, or county / shire. By convention, until the mid 19th-century, a large open chamber formed an integral part of the building housing the council. The hall may be used for meetings and other significant events. This large chamber, the hall, has become synonymous with the whole building. The terms council chambers, municipal building or variants may be used locally in preference to town hall if no such large hall is present within the building, the local government may endeavor to use the town hall building to promote and enhance the quality of life of the community. In many cases, town halls serve not only as buildings for government functions and these may include art shows, stage performances, exhibits and festivals. Modern town halls or civic centres are designed with a great variety and flexibility of purpose in mind. As symbols of government, city and town halls have distinctive architecture. City hall buildings may also serve as icons that symbolize their cities. The term town hall may be a one, often applied without regard to whether the building serves or served a town or a city. This is generally the case in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, english-speakers in some regions use the term city hall to designate the council offices of a municipality of city status. This is the case in North America, where a distinction is made between city halls and town halls, and is also the case with Brisbane City Hall in Australia. The great hall of the town-house or municipal building, now commonly applied to the whole building city hall. Conversely, cities that have subdivisions with their own councils may have borough halls, in Scotland, local government in larger cities operates from the City Chambers, otherwise the Town House. Elsewhere in English-speaking countries, other names are occasionally used, in London, the official headquarters of administration of the City of London retains its Anglo-Saxon name, the Guildhall, signifying a place where taxes were paid. In a small number of English cities the preferred term is Council House, this was also the case in Bristol until 2012, when the building was renamed City Hall. In Birmingham, there is a distinction between the Council House, the seat of government, and the Town Hall, a concert
2.
Edwardian architecture
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Edwardian architecture is an architectural style popular during the reign of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Architecture from up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style, Edwardian architecture is generally less ornate than high or late Victorian architecture, apart from a subset - used for major buildings - known as Edwardian Baroque architecture. The Victorian Society also campaigns to preserve Edwardian Architecture, patterns, Decorative patterns were less complex, both wallpaper and curtain designs were more plain. Clutter, There was less clutter than in the Victorian era, ornaments were perhaps grouped rather than everywhere. And Victorian Art Nouveau Georgian Arts and Crafts Edwardian era Edwardian Baroque architecture Federation architecture Gray, A. S. Edwardian Architecture, the Edwardian House, the Middle-Class Home in Britain 1880-1914
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
City of Cape Town
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The City Council is the legislative body of the City of Cape Town. It is composed of 231 councillors elected by a system of mixed member proportional representation,116 councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting, one from each of the 116 wards of the City, while the other 115 are elected from party lists to create overall proportionality. The mayor of the City is elected by the City Council, the Cape Town City Council is unusual among municipal legislatures, both in and out of South Africa, in its numerical size, which is larger than the national legislatures of many countries. The council is divided into 24 subcouncils which deal with local functions for between three and six wards, a subcouncils consists of the ward councillors and a similar number of proportionally-elected councillors assigned to the subcouncil. Subcouncils are consist of geographically clustered wards with proportional councillors assigned to them, the following table shows the results of the election of 18 May 2011 in the City of Cape Town, The Democratic Alliance won 78 of the individual ward elections, and the ANC won 33. As a result, the seat allocation was as follows
5.
Cape Town
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Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
6.
Castle of Good Hope
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The Castle of Good Hope is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of Table Bay, following land reclamation the fort is now located inland, in 1936 the Castle was declared a historical monument and following restorations in the 1980s it is considered the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. Built by the Dutch East India Company between 1666 and 1679, the Castle is the oldest existing building in South Africa. It replaced an older fort called the Fort de Goede Hoop which was constructed from clay and timber, two redoubts, Redoubt Kyckuit and Redoubt Duijnhoop were built at the mouth of the Salt River in 1654. During 1664, tensions between Britain and the Netherlands rose amid rumours of war and that same year, Commander Zacharias Wagenaer, successor to Jan van Riebeeck, was instructed by Commissioner Isbrand Goske to build a pentagonal fortress out of stone. The first stone was laid on 2 January 1666, work was interrupted frequently because the Dutch East India Company was reluctant to spend money on the project. On 26 April 1679, the five bastions were named after the titles of William III of Orange-Nassau, Leerdam to the west, with Buuren, Katzenellenbogen, Nassau. In 1682 the gated entry replaced the old entrance, which had faced the sea and it was used to announce the time, as well as warning citizens in case of danger, since it could be heard 10 kilometres away. It was also rung to summon residents and soldiers when important announcements needed to be made, the fortress housed a church, bakery, various workshops, living quarters, shops, and cells, among other facilities. The yellow paint on the walls was chosen because it lessened the effect of heat. The original was built in 1695, but rebuilt in its current form between 1786 and 1790, from the balcony, announcements were made to soldiers, slaves and burghers of the Cape. The balcony leads to the William Fehr collection of paintings and antique furniture, during the Second Boer War, part of the castle was used as a prison, and the former cells remain to this day. Fritz Joubert Duquesne, later known as the man who killed Kitchener, the walls of the castle were extremely thick, but night after night, Duquesne dug away the cement around the stones with an iron spoon. He nearly escaped one night, but a large stone slipped and pinned him in his tunnel, the next morning, a guard found him unconscious but alive. In 1936, the Castle was declared a monument, the first site in South Africa to be so protected. Extensive restorations were completed during the 1980s making the Castle the best preserved example of a Dutch East India Company fort. The Castle acted as headquarters for the South African Army in the Western Cape. The Castle is also the home of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, fortifications of the Cape Peninsula History of Cape Colony Pre-1806 Noon Gun List of castles and fortifications in South Africa Lalou Meltzer
7.
Bath, Somerset
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Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859, Bath is in the valley of the River Avon,97 miles west of London and 11 miles south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage Site in 1987, the city became a spa with the Latin name Aquæ Sulis c. AD60 when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, Bath Abbey was founded in the 7th century and became a religious centre, the building was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries. In the 17th century, claims were made for the properties of water from the springs. Many of the streets and squares were laid out by John Wood, the Elder, and in the 18th century the city became fashionable, Jane Austen lived in Bath in the early 19th century. Further building was undertaken in the 19th century and following the Bath Blitz in World War II, the city has software, publishing and service-oriented industries. Theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues have helped make it a centre for tourism with more than one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. There are several museums including the Museum of Bath Architecture, Victoria Art Gallery, Museum of East Asian Art, the city has two universities, the University of Bath and Bath Spa University, with Bath College providing further education. Sporting clubs include Bath Rugby and Bath City F. C. while TeamBath is the name for all of the University of Bath sports teams. Bath became part of the county of Avon in 1974, and, the hills in the locality such as Bathampton Down saw human activity from the Mesolithic period. Several Bronze Age round barrows were opened by John Skinner in the 18th century, solsbury Hill overlooking the current city was an Iron Age hill fort, and the adjacent Bathampton Camp may also have been one. A long barrow site believed to be from the Beaker people was flattened to make way for RAF Charmy Down, messages to her scratched onto metal, known as curse tablets, have been recovered from the sacred spring by archaeologists. The tablets were written in Latin, and cursed people whom the writers felt had wronged them, for example, if a citizen had his clothes stolen at the baths, he might write a curse, naming the suspects, on a tablet to be read by the goddess. A temple was constructed in AD 60–70, and a complex was built up over the next 300 years. Engineers drove oak piles into the mud to provide a stable foundation, in the 2nd century, the spring was enclosed within a wooden barrel-vaulted structure that housed the caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium. The town was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century. After the failure of Roman authority in the first decade of the 5th century, in March 2012 a hoard of 30,000 silver Roman coins, one of the largest discovered in Britain, was unearthed in an archaeological dig
8.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
9.
Turret clock
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A turret clock or a public clock is a clock that is larger than a domestic clock and has a mechanism designed to drive a visual time indicator such as dials and or bells as a public amenity. Turret clocks specifically had mechanisms mounted high in a building often a purpose built tower such as churches, town halls, clocks were not referred to as turret clocks by clockmakers until recent times, often old clocks were recognised as turret clocks by their location. A true turret clock has mechanical and latterly electrical power and therefore sits late in the history of timekeeping, the following timeline of clocks is not comprehensive but does indicate the placement of turret clocks. Water clocks are reported as early as 4000 B. C, in Europe, water clocks were used from around 1000 A. D. to around 1350 A. D. Mercury clocks used a drum with several chambers that were connected through calibrated holes, a rope was wound around the drum with a weight connected to one end. The movement of the drum could be used to measure time, the first all-mechanical clocks which emerged in the 14th century kept time with a verge escapement and foliot. In the second half of the 14th century, over 500 striking turret clocks were installed in buildings all over Europe. This was the first time public clocks became easy to maintain, as water clocks needed more or less constant attention, the verge and foliot mechanical clocks were relatively easy to maintain and so found their way into many churches, bell towers and town halls. This new technology spread quite fast, the fourth generation of clocks were mechanical clocks with a pendulum, which was invented in 1657 by Christiaan Huygens. As the pendulum was more exact than the foliot, some clocks were converted to pendulum. Again, this new technology was adopted quickly throughout Europe, with many clocks being converted, electric turret clocks and hybrid mechanical/electric and were introduced in the late 19th century. Some mechanical turret clocks are wound by electric motor and these still are considered mechanical clocks. This table shows some of the clocks which were installed throughout Europe. It is not complete and mainly serves to illustrate the rate of adoption, there are hardly any surviving turret clock mechanisms that date before 1400, and because of extensive rebuilding of clocks the authenticity of those that do survive is disputed. What little is known of their mechanisms is mostly gleaned from manuscript sources, the country column refers to the present international boundaries. For example, Colmar was in Germany in 1370, but is now in France, during the fourteenth century, the emergence of the foliot replaced the high-maintenance water clocks. It is not known when that happened exactly and which of the early 14th century clocks were water clocks, the Heinrich von Wieck clock in Paris dating from 1362 is the first clock of which it is known with certainty that it had a foliot and a verge escapement. The fact that there is a increase in the number of recorded turret clock installations points to the fact that these new clocks use verge & foliot
10.
John Taylor & Co
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John Taylor & Co, commonly known as Taylors Bell Foundry, Taylors of Loughborough, or simply Taylors, is the worlds largest working bell foundry. It is in Loughborough, in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, the business originated in the 14th century and became Taylors after the Taylor family took over in 1784. In 2009 Taylors went bankrupt but was out of administration by a consortium called UK Bellfoundries Ltd which successfully re-financed and re-established the business. Since then the company has re-established its presence both in the UK and in the North American Carillon and other export markets, the company manufactures bells for use in clock towers, change ringing peals, chimes, and carillons. In 2005 John Taylors had merged with Eayre & Smith Ltd, the Foundry has a museum of bells and bellfounding which is the only one of its kind in the UK. The restoration of the buildings began with the re-opening in 2012 of the foundrys own Campanile which contains the most-pealed bells in the World. It is one of the few Victorian purpose-built manufacturing sites still being used for its original purpose, the present company is part of a line of bellfounders dating back to Johannes de Stafford in the 14th century who was also a mayor of Leicester. The Taylor family became involved in 1784 and a foundry was established on the current site in 1839, the Taylors also had foundries in Oxford and St Neots between 1786 and 1854. Taylors were the first bellfounder to adopt true-harmonic tuning in the late 19th century, the foundry is based in buildings on Freehold Street which are Grade II* listed. In 1963, Paul Taylor, last of the Taylor family in the business, challenging the panel with his occupation as a bell maker. On 18 September 2009 the company went into administration, mazars, who had previously been acting as advisors to the company during attempts to secure extra funding were appointed Administrators. On 2 October 2009 it was reported that the administrators were optimistic about its future, before September 2009 the foundry was employing 26 people, and since then the new company employs 21 including 4 apprentices. The National Twelve Bell Contest is competed for annually by the teams in England for The Taylor Trophy. In 1881 Taylors cast at Loughborough, Great Paul, which is the largest British cast bell in Britain, for St Pauls Cathedral London, weighing 17,002 kilograms or more than 17 metric tons. Rock band AC/DC used a 2000-pound cast bronze bell for the song, Hells Bells, liverpool Cathedral bourdon bell Great George, at 14,900 kg or more than 14 long tons 13 cwt, it is the second largest bell in Britain. A60 bell carillon Yale Memorial Carillon,54 bell carillon Kibbey Carillon,53 bell carillon, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, designed by Michael Sandle and erected in 1992
11.
J. B. Joyce & Co
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Joyce & Co, clockmakers, were founded in Shropshire in England. The company claim to be the oldest clock manufacturer in the world, originally established in 1690, the claim is challenged by another English firm of clockmakers, Thwaites & Reed, who claim to have been in continuous manufacture since before 1740 with antecedents to 1610. William Joyce began in the North Shropshire village of Cockshutt making longcase clocks, the family business was handed down from father to son and in 1790 moved to High Street, Whitchurch, Shropshire. Joyce moved to Station Road, Whitchurch, in 1834 Thomas Joyce made large clocks for local churches and public buildings. In 1849 the company copied the Big Ben escapement designed by Lord Grimthorpe, the firm made large clocks for many public buildings, both at home and overseas, and for some of the principal railway companies. Since 1945 the company installed over 2,000 large public clocks in Britain and Ireland, the majority being the synchronous mains-controlled type, in 1964, Norman Joyce, the last member of the Joyce family, retired and sold the company to Smith of Derby. Many clocks were changed to electric motors made by its parent company Smith of Derby during the 1970s, Joyce brand name has been upheld by Smith of Derby Group, who now maintain many original J. B. Joyce heritage pieces still in operation in places around the world. On 28 November 2012 a timed-bid auction was held to dispose of the surplus items accumulated at the Station Road premises, Joyce joined with interior designers and collectors of historic items in bidding to own a piece of horological history
12.
Nelson Mandela
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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the countrys first black head of state and the first elected in a representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism, ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress party from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa, Mandela was born in Mvezo to the Thembu royal family and he studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943, after the National Partys white-only government established apartheid—a system of racial segregation that privileged whites—he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANCs Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he joined the banned South African Communist Party. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, in 1962, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid and organised the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory, internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a presidential term and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy. Mandela became a statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a figure for much of his life. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba. Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning troublemaker, in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of South Africas modern Eastern Cape province, one of Ngubengcukas sons, named Mandela, was Nelsons grandfather and the source of his surname. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrates unreasonable demands
13.
History of Cape Town
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The area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. All knowledge of the inhabitants of the region was derived from fossil evidence. The first Europeans to discover the Cape were the Portuguese, with Bartholomeu Dias arriving in 1488 after journeying south along the west coast of Africa. The next recorded European 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 António de Saldanha, a Portuguese admiral and explorer. He called it Taboa da caba, the name given to the mountain by the Khoi inhabitants was Hoeri kwaggo. Van Riebeecks party of three vessels landed at the cape on 6 April 1652, the group quickly erected shelters and laid out vegetable gardens and orchards, and are preserved in 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 southern and eastern flanks of Table Mountain provided timber for ships, at this point, the VOC had a monopoly on trade and prohibited any private trade. The first wave of Asian immigration to South Africa started in 1654 and 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 and Cape Malay populations, the first large territorial expansion occurred 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 control of them. The first slaves were brought to the Cape from Java and Madagascar in the year to work on the farms. Work on the Castle of Good Hope, the first permanent European fortification in the area, the new castle replaced the previous wooden fort that Van Riebeeck and his men built. Finally completed in 1679, the castle 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 and 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 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 Great Britain went to war against each other
14.
Timeline of Cape Town
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The following is a timeline of the history of Cape Town, South Africa. 1651 - Jan van Riebeeck visits the Cape as part of a mission to save stranded sailors. 16526 April, Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company arrives,1653 - Arrival of the first slave, Abraham van Batavia. 1658 - Conflict between the Khoi and settlers,1679 Castle of Good Hope built. Simon van der Stel becomes commander of Dutch colony,1688 - French Huguenot immigrants begin arriving. 1786 - Committee of the High Court established,1787 - Württemberg Cape Regiment in residence. 1790 - Castle of Good Hope rebuilt,1795 British in power in Cape Colony. Johann Christian Ritter sets up printing press,1802 - Freemasons Lodge built on Bouquet Street. 1803 - Dutch regain power in Cape Colony by the Treaty of Amiens,1804 - Coat of arms of Cape Town in use. 1806 British in power in Cape Colony again,1807 Palm Tree Mosque congregation formed. 1814 - Cape Town ceded to Britain by the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1814,1821 South African Public Library founded. Flagstaff erected on Lions Rump hill, South African Commercial Advertiser begins publication. 1825 - South African Museum founded,1827 - Colonist newspaper begins publication. 1829 Vagrancy and pass laws of 1809 repealed,1830 - Cape of Good Hope Literary Gazette begins publication. 1831 - De Zuid-Afrikaan newspaper begins publication,1834 Slaves freed in British Empire. 1839 - Cape Town Municipality established,1841 - Cape Town Mail newspaper begins publication. 1844 - Nurul Islam Mosque founded,1845 - Mutual Life Assurance Society of the Cape of Good Hope established. 1847 - Anglican Diocese of Cape Town established,1848 Hercules Crosse Jarvis becomes mayor
15.
Houses of Parliament, Cape Town
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The Houses of Parliament of South Africa are situated in Cape Town. The building consists of three sections, with the original building completed in 1884, with later editions added in the 1920s. The original parliament building was built in a Neoclassical design incorporating features of Cape Dutch architecture, the later additions have been designed in such a way to blend in with the original building. Queen Victoria granted permission for the establishment of a parliament in the Cape Colony in 1853, the first sittings were held in the Governors residence, the Tuynhuys, after which sittings were held in the Goede Hoop Masonic Lodge. The then upper house was housed in the old supreme court building, mPs noted that the masonic lodge building was unimposing, and did not command any respect. Although opposed by then Prime Minister Molteno due to financial considerations, the committee selected an elaborate design by architect Charles Freeman, and construction began on 12 May 1875, with the then Governor of the Cape Colony, Henry Barkly, laying the cornerstone. Almost immediately it was discovered that Freemans plans were faulty, for his incompetence, Freeman was fired, and Henry Greaves was appointed architect in 1876. Freemans plans were altered to exclude seemingly unnecessarily expensive features such as a dome, statues, parapets. Building re-commenced, but was delayed – this time by the British overthrow of the Cape government in 1878, the ensuing Confederation Wars, Greaves tenaciously completed the job however, and the large, stately, but relatively unpretentious building was finally opened in 1884. Cape Prime Minister Thomas Scanlen, and British Governor Henry Robinson led the ceremony in the building. In the 1920s, Parliament commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to build an extension to the building, including a new chamber for the House of Assembly, the old Assembly chamber became the Parliamentary Dining Room, run by the catering department of South African Railways & Harbours. Further constitutional changes moved the centre of power away from the old building, union Buildings Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
16.
Rhodes Memorial
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Rhodes Memorial on Devils Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to English-born, South African politician Cecil John Rhodes. The memorial was designed by the architect, Sir Herbert Baker. The memorial is situated at Rhodess favourite spot on the slopes of Devils Peak. Rhodess own wooden bench is situated below the memorial. The magnificent view facing north-east can be imagined as the start of the Cape to Cairo road, Rhodes owned vast areas of the lower slopes of Table Mountain, most of which he gave to the nation on his death. Part of his estate was used for the University of Cape Town upper campus, part is now the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, while much else of it was spared from development. The architect, Sir Herbert Baker, allegedly modelled the memorial after the Greek temple at Segesta although it is closer to the temple of Pergamon in design. It consists of a staircase with 49 steps leading from a semi-circular terrace up to a rectangular U-shaped monument formed of pillars. The memorial is built of Cape granite quarried on Table Mountain, at the bottom of the steps is a bronze statue of a horseman, Physical Energy by George Frederic Watts. Eight bronze lions by John Macallan Swan flank the steps leading up to the memorial, the inscription on the monument is To the spirit and life work of Cecil John Rhodes who loved and served South Africa. Living he was the land, and dead, His soul shall be her soul, the monument was completed and dedicated in 1912. Today the memorial is part of the Table Mountain National Park and it is also a starting point for walking and hiking on Devils Peak. Around the memorial are groves of oaks and stone pines from Europe, just up the slope from Rhodes Memorial there is a small forest of a famous native tree called the Silvertree. Table Mountain is possibly the place on earth where this majestic tree grows wild. Alien fallow deer used to live in the area, although they are now being eliminated to make way for the re-introduction of indigenous antelope species, below the memorial is a game enclosure where eland, zebra and wildebeest are kept. Rhodes Memorial is not generally used for events but does host occasional performances, an annual Easter sunrise service, for safety reasons, the area is closed from sunset to sunrise. Not far below the memorial are the University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, above the memorial is the Kings Blockhouse, and not far away is the Groote Schuur Zoo site, originally established as Rhodess private zoo. The zoo was closed in the late 1970s, and only the lions den now remains, Rhodess Groote Schuur estate nearby is now a South African presidential residence
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Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope
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The Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, is the oldest continuously existing scientific institution in South Africa. Founded by the British Cape Colony in 1820, it now forms the headquarters building of the South African Astronomical Observatory, the institution was located on a small hill 5 kilometres south-east from the centre of Cape Town. Over the following century a suburb of the city grew up in the area and it has also been the subject of an ICOMOS/IAU Case Study. The Royal Observatory was founded in 1820 by an Order in Council of King George IV of the United Kingdom and it remained a separate entity until 1972 when it was amalgamated with the Republic Observatory Johannesburg to form the present-day South African Astronomical Observatory. Its site is now the headquarters of the South African Astronomical Observatory, in accordance with its mandate, the principal activity of the Observatory was Astrometry and it was over its existence responsible for publishing many catalogues of star positions. An agreement to facilitate this was ratified on 23 September 1970, nevertheless, several telescopes remained in operation until the 1990s. These are rarely made use of today except for public outreach events, alan Cousins was the last serious observer to work from the Royal Observatory site. The Royal Observatory was responsible for a number of significant events in the history of astronomy, the second HM Astronomer, Thomas Henderson, aided by his assistant, Lieutenant William Meadows, made the first observations that led to a believable stellar parallax, namely of Alpha Centauri. However, he lost priority as the discoverer of stellar parallax to Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel who published his own observations of 61 Cygni before Henderson got around to his. This led him to undertake in collaboration with J. C. Kapteyn of Groningen the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, in 1886 he proposed to Admiral A. E. B. Mouchez of Paris Observatory the holding of a congress to promote a photographic catalogue of the whole sky. In 1887 this congress took place in Paris and resulted in the Carte du Ciel project, the Cape Observatory was assigned the zone between declinations −40° and −52°. The Carte du Ciel is regarded as the precursor of the International Astronomical Union and this paper also contains the first suggestion that stars obey a mass-luminosity relationship. A later 20th-century HM Astronomer, H, spencer Jones, was active in an international project for determining the solar parallax through observations of the minor planet Eros. During the 19th century the Observatory was regarded as the advisor to the colonial government on scientific matters. It served as the repository for standard weights and measures of the Colony and was responsible for timekeeping, a magnetic observatory was constructed in 1841 but burned down during the following decade. The Observatory also possesses a series of meteorological records. The history of the Royal Observatory has been the subject of several works, the Royal Observatorys directors were known as His or Her Majestys Astronomers at the Cape
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Koopmans-de Wet House
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Koopmans-de Wet House is a former residence and current museum in Strand Street, Cape Town, South Africa. The house became part of the South African Museum in 1913 and was opened to the public on 10 March 1914 and it was declared a National Monument under National Monuments Council legislation on 1 November 1940. It is the oldest house museum in South Africa, Strand Street is one of the oldest and widest streets in Cape Town. Between 1664 and 1702 Strand Street was spoken of as Zee Straat, a Dutch East India Company record of 1704 refers to it as Breete Strand Straat, while another calls it Breete Opgaande Straat no. I. In 1790 the matter was settled and name-boards with Strand Straat affixed to the corner houses, for two centuries Strand Street was home to the residences of citizens of the Cape Colony. The first house was occupied on 8 February 1664 by the baker Thomas Christoffel Mulder, another resident was the wealthy butcher Henning Huysing, who built one of the first two-storeyed houses in the Cape Colony in the street. The Dutch East India Company granted erven to these employees, who would play important roles as citizens of the colony. Ironically, Huysing would be instrumental in getting Willem Adriaan van der Stel, the Company had imposed a grid of streets on the settlement, which divided it into blocks. Block J was bordered by Strand Street, Long Street, Castle Street, erven 7 and 8, on the Strand Street side, were granted by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel to Reijnier Smedinga in 1699 and 1701 respectively. Erf 8 is the site of the Koopmans-de Wet House, the early dwelling, now substantially extended and altered, was built in 1701 by Reijnier Smedinga, silversmith, goldsmith, jeweller and joint assayer to the Dutch East India Company. In 1722, Anthonij Hoesemans, lessee of a Companys wine license, took ownership of the house, both Hoesemans and his wife, Rijkje van Donselaar, had died earlier that year. Claas van Donselaar was uncle to Rijkje van Donselaar and was executor of the estate, along with Daniel Thibault. The property was transferred to Jacob Leever in 1724, to Hendrik van Aarde in 1730, a German carpenter, Johan Fredrik Willem Böttiger, the owner from 1748 to 1771 increased the area of the property and enlarged the house. Böttiger was a Burgher Councillor and is distinguished for being a member of the very first town council in South Africa. It is also in his time that the current façade was added, when Malet died, Hendrik Vos bought the house from his widow. Vos and his wife, Maria Anna Colyn, lived in the house from 1796 to 1806 and they had four children while living in there. Margaretha Jacoba Smuts, the widow of the President of the Burgher Council, Hendrik Justinus de Wet, some time after her husband died in 1802, she had sold their house on the corner of Heerengracht and Castle Street and moved with their five children and her stepson. De Wet left an estate, including slaves
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Iziko South African Museum
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The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town a city that is a capital of South Africa and has the famous prisoner site of Robben Island. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country and it has been on its present site in the Companys Garden since 1897. The museum houses important African zoology, palaeontology and archaeology collections, Iziko is a Xhosa word meaning hearth. The South African Museum was founded by Lord Charles Somerset in 1825 as a general museum comprising natural history and material culture from local, the focus on natural history encouraged the notion that very little divided the animal world from the human subjects who were documented. As such, they became the subject of research, particularly from 1906 onwards under the directorship of Louis Péringuey. The title of Drurys book, Bushman, whale and dinosaur, detailing his 40-year affiliation with the South African Museum, with accompanying museum labels in which they were continually referred to in the past tense, the Bushmen were consigned to history and extinction. However, the newly revised label once again emphasised the narrative of extinction, the Bushman Diorama was not the only South African Museum display that historicised ethnic groups in this way. The African culture gallery also featured a series of displays of casts or models of dark-skinned people who live in areas and are located in timeless places such as tribes or groups. The Bushman Diorama deserves particular attention though, as it has been at the centre of much contestation but also a popular tourist attraction for foreigners, locals and schools. In 1989, in recognition of the ethical and unequal power dimensions involved in the display and this came in the shape of an adjoining exhibition that investigated the rationale for the casting project and explored the backgrounds and identities of the people who had been cast. Photographs from the process were shown and one of the figures was dressed in early twentieth century attire to alert viewers to the constructed nature of the diorama. The exhibition that was most seriously aimed at a revisionist history of the diorama was also the most controversial, the curator, Pippa Skotnes, used installation art as a medium, which focussed on the visual elements of the exhibition and the visitors experiences. However, installation art, which allows a degree of freedom for the artist. These were contrasted with photographs on the walls of contemporary Bushman life taken between 1984 and 1995, the exhibition also brought to the fore politics of identity and representation. After Miscast there have been various exhibitions at the South African Museum and South African National Gallery with a focus on Bushmen rock art. One of the exhibitions ended with a Bushman healing ceremony that included the lighting of a peace pipe and traditional song. In April 2001, the Bushman Diorama was closed, the museum is organized on four levels and hosts a variety of exhibitions, from rock art to fossils, marine animals and meteorites. Karoo fossils dioramas of mammal-like reptiles that lived in the Karoo region 250 million years ago, world of water depicting life in South Africas oceans, comprises, Coelacanth, Ocean Giants
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Iziko South African National Gallery
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The Iziko South African National Gallery is the national art gallery of South Africa located in Cape Town. It became part of the Iziko collection of museums - as managed by the Department of Arts and it became an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture Its collection consists largely of Dutch, French and British works from the 17th to the 19th century. This includes lithographs, etchings and some early 20th-century British paintings, contemporary art work displayed in the gallery is selected from many of South Africas communities and the gallery houses an authoritative collection of sculpture and beadwork. At a meeting in the Cape Town Public Library, convened on 12 October 1850 and this occasion was the inaugural meeting of the South African Fine Arts Association, founded by Thomas Butterworth Bayley and Abraham de Schmidt. The Association went on to arrange the first ever exhibition of art in South Africa. This took place on 10 May 1851 in the rooms in the Companys Garden in Cape Town. Its primary raison dêtre remained the establishing of a permanent home for a National collection, the National collection was founded in 1872 with a bequest of paintings from the estate of Thomas Butterworth Bayley. In 1875 the Association was able to purchase premises in the current Queen Victoria Street where the nucleus of the Art Gallery was exhibited. By the South African Art Gallery Act of 1895 the South African Government took over the collection in trust, a board of five trustees were elected in 1896 to manage the collection. The National Gallery Act made provision for the building of new premises, the collection was kept in a wing of the South African Museum from 1900 and the current building only officially opened to the public on 3 November 1930, by the Earl of Athlone. Notable contributions by Dr Alfred de Pass, Sir Abe Bailey, Sir Edmund and Lady Davis, in 1937, the building was expanded to accommodate purchases that included South African artists. The first pieces by South African artists, by Anton van Wouw, ronald Kitaj Michael Porter Gerard Sekoto Penny Siopis Irma Stern John Walker Moses Kottler Lippy Lipshitz The Abe Bailey collection
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Groot Constantia
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Groot Constantia is the oldest wine estate in South Africa and provincial heritage site in the suburb of Constantia in Cape Town, South Africa. Groot in Dutch and Afrikaans translates as great in English, in 1685, during an annual visit to the Cape, Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein granted the grounds of Groot Constantia to Simon van der Stel the VOC Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. Van der Stel built the house and used the land to produce wine as well as fruit and vegetables. Following Van der Stels death in 1712 the estate was broken up, the wine cellar was added by Cloete in 1791. The house remained in the possession of the Cloete family until 1885, in 1885 Groot Constantia was purchased by the government of the Cape of Good Hope and was used as an experimental wine and agricultural estate. Following a disastrous fire in 1925 the house was extensively restored, in the year 1925 the manor house completely burnt down. Fortunately funds could be raised to reconstruct it to its original Cape-Dutch splendour, in 1969 the manor house became part of the South African Cultural History Museum, and in 1993 the estate passed into the ownership of the Groot Constantia Trust. The exhibition in the house is managed by Iziko South African Museum, and is focused on rural slavery. Today, other estates have joined Groot Constantia to form the scenic Constantia wine route and these estates include Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, Constantia Uitsig, Steenberg, Constantia Glen, Eagles Nest and High Constantia. Groot Constantia is noted particularly for its production of high-quality red wines, including Shiraz, Merlot, in 2003 the estate began production of a Constantia dessert wine, called Grand Constance, for the first time since the 1880s. A number of scenes for the 1955 movie Untamed was set at and within Groot Constantia after the protagonist discovers a diamond, list of Castles and Fortifications in South Africa Media related to Groot Constantia at Wikimedia Commons Official website Groot Constantia on Iziko Museums of South Africa
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Cape Medical Museum
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The Cape Medical Museum is situated in the Old City Hospital Complex in Green Point, Cape Town, South Africa. Its exhibitions center around the history of the Cape and includes exhibitions on dentistry, hospital care, traditional African medicine. It was founded by a group of volunteers in the 1980s led by Prof J C De Villiers, since its conception it was proclaimed as a Provincial Museum of the government of the Western Cape province. South African history and its encounters with Europe, was due to medical reasons. The Cape Medical Museum was proclaimed as a Provincial Museum of the Western Cape government on 24 September 1981 in proclamation 299 of the Government Gazette. The proclamation of provincial museums in the Western Cape province of South Africa is governed by legislation known as the Museum Ordinance 8 of 1975, the museum features several turn-of-the-century medical exhibitions, featuring a Doctors Consulting Room, Dentist Room, Hospital Ward and Operating Theater. Furthermore, the focuses on the unique contribution of the indigenous people of the Western Cape in compiling the pharmaceutical knowledge of Doctors. The Doctors consulting room is furnished with items dating from the late 19th, the Dispensary room is a typical example of what could be found in a Cape Dispensary in the days of 1910. Pharmacy was only recognized as a profession in 1885 with the establishment of the South African Pharmaceutical Association, diseases have played a role in shaping the history of the world. It has defeated armies, paralyzed trade, thereby influencing economies, the disease and history exhibition commemorates the most prominent outbreaks of diseases throughout history which includes scurvy, leprosy, Spanish Influenza and the most recent HIV/AIDS. In prehistoric times, operations were performed as magical remedies for the pain, a more scientific approach evolved as knowledge of the human anatomy improved. Further progress was made by the great anatomists of the Renaissance such as Vesalius, during the war of the subsequent centuries surgical skills developed in treating the wounded. John Hunter The Hospital Ward exhibition portrays a view of a typical hospital recovery ward from the early 20th century. It includes contemporary nursing and midwifery equipment, the museums educational programmes are aligned to the National School Curriculum of South Africa, and specifically focuses on the History of Medicine and medicinal plants. The museum offers guided tours through its exhibition spaces, for additional information see photo gallery above. The Cape Medical Museum is situated in the Old City Hospital Complex, Green Point, see Photospheres of Cape Medical Museum
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Cape Town Holocaust Centre
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The Cape Town Holocaust Centre began as Africas first Holocaust centre. The facility is one of three centres established by the South African Holocaust and Genocide Foundation, the other two are located in Johannesburg and Durban. It is in the Albow Centre in Gardens, central Cape Town and they aim to bring to light stories of the survivors and ensure that the atrocities of the Holocaust are not forgotten. The museum boasts a permanent exhibition that combines text, archival photographs, film footage, documents, multimedia displays and they also offer educational programs of many kinds, for groups such as students or educators. The Holocaust is taught within a South African context, lessons on racism, the Centre is open from 10 am to 5 pm from Sunday-Thursday and 10-2 on Friday. Visitors can contact the centre at 021-4625553 or admin@holocaust. co. za, the permanent exhibition is made up of three different galleries. The first is dedicated to Racism and Discrimination, the second to the Third Reich and the third to Ghettos
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Cape Town Science Centre
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The Cape Town Science Centre is a not-for-profit science centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It forms part of a range of non-classroom initiatives to improve the quality of science understanding. Until early 2010, the MTN Sciencentre was located in the Canal Walk shopping mall and it will reopen in Observatory later in 2011. The MTN Sciencentres Ericsson cell phone is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the worlds largest working cell phone
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District Six Museum
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District Six Museum is a museum in the former inner-city residential area, District Six, in Cape Town, South Africa. The floor of the museum is covered with a big map of the district with hand written notes of former inhabitants, one former resident is jazz musician, Abdullah Ibrahim, better known under the name, Dollard Brand. Other pieces in the museum are old signs, exhibits of moments in history and lives of families from the area, historical declarations. Furthermore, the museum offers programs for current inhabitants to develop the district, the museums goal is to join people into a community where there is respect for dignity, identity and the co-existence of different races. In 2003, the museum was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands
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Heart of Cape Town Museum
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The Heart of Cape Town Museum is a museum complex in the Observatory, Cape Town suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is in the Groote Schuur Hospital on Main Road, the museum opened on December 3,2007 marking the 40th anniversary of the heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard. The Heart of Cape Town Museum honors everyone who played a role in a surgical feat that created a new medical era. It also brings attention to ethical and moral implications that came up at the time and it also highlights the ways in which Barnards accomplishment put South Africa and the University of Cape Town on an international stage. The museum is laid out in the Old Main Building of the Groote Schuur Hospital in the rooms where the first heart transplant surgery occurred. It utilizes the same operating theaters originally used in December 1967 when Denise Darvall, the recipient of Darvals heart was Louis Washkansky, a 54-year-old grocer, suffering from diabetes and incurable heart disease. A two-hour guided tour provides insight into the donor of the heart, the recipient, from there one can tour a model of Denise Darvalls bedroom and Christiaan Barnards office before seeing a recreation of the surgery in the actual operating theaters where it occurred. Finally, visitors see a recreation of Louis Washkanskys recovery room after which they can be assisted by guides to register as organ donors. The museum also features a long hallway filled with letters of acclaim and criticism for Barnard showing the ethical backlash, the museum was ranked by Lonely Planet travelers as #67 of 918 things to do in Cape Town. The travel website Whats Up Cape Town has called it a museum in Cape Town. The museum is open from 9, 00-17,00, with guided tours available at 09,00,11,00,13,00,15,00 with specially pre-arranged tours available at 17,00. Admission to the tour costs R150 for South African citizens, R75 for students, for an additional R50, a shuttle to and from visitors hotels can be arranged. Christiaan Barnard Norman Shumway Denise Darvall Louis Washkansky Marius Barnard Heart of Cape Town Museum Website Virtual Tour of Heart of Cape Town
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South African Air Force Museum
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The South African Air Force Museum houses, exhibits and restores material related to the history of the South African Air Force. The Museum is divided into three locations, AFB Swartkop outside Pretoria, AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town and at the Port Elizabeth airport, AFB Swartkop is home to the headquarters and largest of the three museum locations, occupying at least five hangars. The Douglas C-47 Dakota here, is the used in 1952 by the SAAF to help Professor J. L. B. Smith acquire a coelacanth fish specimen from the Comoros Islands. Static exhibits are housed in the original 42-Air School Air Gunnery Training Centre used during the Joint Air Training Scheme in World War II, active restoration is being performed on a number of North American Harvards and there is a project to restore an Airspeed Oxford. One of the more unusual exhibits is a Jorg IV Skimmerfoil ground effect craft
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South African Naval Museum
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The South African Naval Museum at the South African Navys base in Simons Town is a project by the South African Naval Heritage Trust. The SA Navy Museum is housed in and around the original Dockyard Magazine/Storehouse and is staffed by Naval Personnel, a major exhibit of the museums is the SAS Assegaai, a Daphné class submarine. It is the first and thus far only former SA Navy submarine to have converted into a museum ship. It is open to the public for guided tours by former submariners, the submarine is currently afloat in the Navy base, but there are plans to bring her ashore. The building was declared a Provincial Heritage Site in 1997, South African Navy South African National Museum of Military History South African Air Force Museum Military history of South Africa Simons Town Museum SA Naval Museum official website
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South African Sendinggestig Museum
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The South African Sendinggestig Museum was established in 1977 and is currently situated in the centre of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. It is a museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape Province. The South African Sendinggestig Museum is housed in the oldest indigenous mission church in the built by local Christians. In 1801, the Board of Directors of the South African Society for the Advancement of Christs Kingdom acquired a property in Long Street, Cape Town, the existing buildings were demolished and the Sendinggestig built. It was inaugurated on 15 March 1804 by Rev, J. P. Sеrumer of the Dutch Reformed Churchs Groote Kerk, Cape Town congregation. The Sendinggestig was not originally used for worship services, instead people went there for prayer meetings, Bible studies or other religious and literacy classes. For this reason it was not called a church, but a “gestig” or “oefeninghuis” which is the Dutch equivalent of an American “meeting house”, twenty years later it did become a fully-fledged church. This congregation included the poor, Khoekhoen or Khoikhoi and Slaves who converted to Christianity, the museum building is architecturally unique as it was South Africas first building in the form of a basilica with an Apsis. All its windows are small scale replicas of this floor plan and it has the only surviving example of a steeply pitched lime-concrete roof - a form of construction developed at the Cape specifically for flat roofs. Its façade features Corinthian pilasters carrying a moulded Cornice and a Gable with a circular ventilator, by the 1970s the building was in a dilapidated state and required major restoration work to both its exterior and interior. During the winter of 1977 storms caused damage and part of its northern wall collapsed. The restoration team was able to reproduce the buildings 1830s Facade according to a print by Frederick Willem de Wet. The historical interior of the church was also reproduced, including replicas of the wall-paintings discovered during the restoration process. Since its construction the South African Gestig was closely linked to slaves, between 1801 and 1804 slaves and free-blacks demolished the existing house on the property and cleared the site. They built the walls with stones from the Vlaeberg quarry and bricks they made, some assisted the carpenters working on the building while others painted its walls with lime wash made with slave-labour. The front steps and floor were made from Robben Island slate, the roof used to be water-proofed with Whale oil. After the Sendinggestig opened its doors in March 1804 slaves were encouraged to attend prayer meetings there, however, these prayer meetings could not be held at the same time as church services or inconvenience slave-owners. From early 1813 “heathen” children, including children, were taught to read
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Two Oceans Aquarium
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The Two Oceans Aquarium is an aquarium located at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Atlantic Ocean Gallery - This gallery allows you to discover the life of the Atlantic Ocean, such marine life as translucent jellyfish, tiny and rare Knysna seahorse and giant spider crabs. AfriSam Activity Centre Cape Fur Seal Exhibit Predator Exhibit - This exhibit is now closed due to renovations underway, i&J Ocean Exhibit - Recently opened,16 June 2016. It is possible to dive in this tank at the aquarium if you hold a PADI Open Water Certificate. Indian Ocean Gallery - Showcases six exhibits of life found in the Indian Ocean. The anemonefish seen in the movie Finding Nemo and his friends, kelp Forest Exhibit - One of the aquarium’s biggest attractions, this underwater forest is home to shoals of silver fishes sparkling through the sunlight. Sappi River Meander Exhibit Official Website http, //www. waterfront. co. za - For more tourist activities around Two Oceans Aquarium
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De Waal Park
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De Waal Park is a public park and heritage site in the Oranjezicht suburb of Cape Town. The park, which contains over 120 species of trees, is popular with dog walkers, molteno Dam borders the park to the south, with the other three sides bordered by roads. There are four tennis courts belonging to the Gardens Tennis Club in the South West corner, in summer, the park hosts free outdoor concerts on Sunday afternoons. De Waal Park was Cape Towns first and largest public park, after the Companys Gardens, in 1877 the City Council of Cape Town purchased land from the Van Breda family who owned the farm Oranjezigt. The land in between formed a natural park, david Christiaan de Waal, who was the city councillor at the time and also a member of the Legislative Council of the Cape Colony, decided to develop the park. At his instigation thousands of trees were planted in Cape Town, as Mayor of Cape Town, 1889-1890, he developed the park further and it was opened to the public officially in 1895. At one stage it was called Jubilee Park but it reverted to the name it bears today. Two gates with piers and wrought-iron arches in Art Nouveau style at the lower corners and a wall along Camp Street were built in 1899. Molteno Road was extended down to meet Camp Street at about this time, the bandstand was built in 1904/5 for the Cape Town Exhibition which was held in Green Point and moved to the park after the exhibition was over. It was used for performances for some years. The Victorian fountain in De Waal Park is an artesian well. On 22 March 1968 the park was proclaimed a National Monument to be maintained in perpetuity as public gardens and it is now listed as a Provincial Heritage Site
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Table Mountain
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Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, the main feature of Table Mountain is the level plateau approximately 3 kilometres from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devils Peak to the east and by Lions Head to the west and this broad sweep of mountainous heights, together with Signal Hill, forms the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl and Table Bay harbour. The highest point on Table Mountain is towards the end of the plateau and is marked by Maclears Beacon. It is 1,086 metres above sea level, nou en about 19 metres higher than the station at the western end of the plateau. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a pirate called Van Hunks. When the table cloth is seen, it symbolizes the contest, immediately to the south of Table Mountain is a rugged plateau at a somewhat lower elevation than the Table Mountain Plateau, called the Back Table. The Back Table extends southwards for approximately 6 km to the Constantia Nek-Hout Bay valley, the Atlantic side of the Back Table, is known as the Twelve Apostles, which extends from Kloof Nek to Hout Bay. It is better known by the names of the areas on its the lower slopes, Groote Schuur Estate, Newlands Forest, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cecilia Forest. The upper approximately 600 m portion of the 1 km high table-topped mountain, or mesa, the Graafwater rocks can best be seen just above the contour path on the front of Table Mountain, and around Devils Peak. They can also seen in the cutting along Chapmans Peak Drive. These rocks are believed to have originated in shallow tidal flats, in which a few Ordovician fossils, the overlying TMS probably arose in deeper water, either as a result of subsidence, or a rise in the sea level. The Graafwater rocks rest on the basement consisting of Cape Granite, Devils Peak, Signal Hill, the City Bowl and much of the Cape Flats, however, rest on heavily folded and altered phyllites and hornfelses known informally as the Malmesbury shales. The Cape Granite and Malmesbury shales form the lower, gentler slopes of the Table Mountain range on the Cape Peninsula and they are of late Precambrian age, pre-dating the Graafwater rocks by at least 40 million years. The basement rocks are not nearly as resistant to weathering as the TMS, but significant outcrops of the Cape Granite are visible on the side of Lions Head. The weathered granite soil of the slopes of the Peninsula Mountain range are more fertile than the nutrient-poor soils derived from TMS. Most of the vineyards found on the Cape Peninsula are therefore found on granitic slopes of the Table Mountain range
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Table Mountain National Park
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The park is managed by South African National Parks. The property is included as part of the UNESCO Cape Floral Region World Heritage Site, the park contains two well-known landmarks, Table Mountain, for which the park is named, and the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern extremity of Africa. Arguments for a park on the Cape Peninsula, centred on Table Mountain. The Table Mountain Preservation Board was set up in 1952, and in 1957 its recommendation to the National Monuments Board was accepted, in the mid 1960s, the Cape Town City Council declared nature reserves on Table Mountain, Lions Head, Signal Hill, and Silvermine. This laid the foundations for the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment area, however, environmental management was still bedeviled by the fragmented nature of land ownership on the Peninsula. Following a big fire above the city bowl in 1991, Attorney General Frank Kahn was appointed to reach consensus on a plan for rationalising management of the CPPNE. In 1995, Prof. Brian Huntley recommended that SANParks be appointed to manage the CPPNE, on 29 May 1998, then-president Nelson Mandela proclaimed the Cape Peninsula National Park. The park was renamed to the Table Mountain National Park. The park is not a contiguous area, the undeveloped mountainous areas which make up most of the park are separated by developed urban areas on shallower terrain. Thus the park is divided into three sections, as listed below. This section covers Signal Hill, Lions Head, Table Mountain proper, including the Back Table, Devils Peak, the Twelve Apostles, and Orange Kloof. It borders on central Cape Town in the north, Camps Bay and the Atlantic coast in the west, the Southern Suburbs in the east and this section was formed from the Table Mountain National Monument, Cecilia Forest, and Newlands Forest. Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is not officially part of the national park and this section runs northwest-southeast across the Peninsula from the Atlantic seaboard to the False Bay coast. It covers Constantiaberg, Steenberg Peak and the Kalk Bay mountains and it borders on Hout Bay in the north-west, the suburbs of Constantia and Tokai in the north-east, Kalk Bay in the south-east, and Fish Hoek and Noordhoek in the south-west. This section was formed from the Tokai State Forest and the Silvermine Nature Reserve and it was formed from the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. This area forms part of the Cape Floristic Region and as such supports a diversity of flora, much of which is rare. Protea, erica, restio and Asteraceae species, as well as geophytes, are all found in abundance, the main indigenous vegetation types are Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos and Cape Granite Fynbos, both of which are endangered and endemic to Cape Town - occurring nowhere else in the world. In addition, some sections of the park are the home of deep
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Lion's Head (Cape Town)
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Lions Head is a mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, between Table Mountain and Signal Hill. Lions Head peaks at 669 metres above sea level, the peak forms part of a dramatic backdrop to the city of Cape Town and is part of the Table Mountain National Park. The suburbs of the city surround the peak and Signal Hill on almost all sides, the area is significant to the Cape Malay community, who historically lived in the Bo-Kaap quarter close to Lions Head. There are a number of graves and shrines of Malay leaders on the lower slopes. In the 17th century the peak was known as Leeuwen Kop by the Dutch, the English in the 17th Century called the peak Sugar Loaf. Lions Head is known for views over both the city and the Atlantic Seaboard, and the hour-long walk to the top is particularly popular during full moon. Its slopes are also a launching point for paragliders. Lions Head is covered in fynbos, with a rich biodiversity that supports a variety of small animals. Three main vegetation types can be found in relatively small area. All three of them are endemic to the city of Cape Town and can be found nowhere else, most of Lions Head is covered in endangered Granite Fynbos, which fades into Peninsula Shale Renosterveld on the lower slopes towards Signal Hill in the north. Right on the summit of Lions Head however, is a patch of endangered Sandstone Fynbos. Signal Hill Table Mountain Lions Head, Table Mountain National Park official site
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Signal Hill (Cape Town)
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Signal Hill, or Lions Rump, is a landmark flat-topped hill located in Cape Town, next to Lions Head and Table Mountain. The hill was known as The Lions Flank, a term now obsolete. Together with Lions Head, Signal Hill looks like a lion sphinx, Signal flags were used to communicate weather warnings as well as anchoring instructions to visiting ships in order to ensure that they prepared adequately for stormy weather while in the bay. Similarly, ships could use flags to signal for assistance if, for example and it is known for the Noon Gun that is operated there by the South African Navy and South African Astronomical Observatory. In this way ships in the bay were able to check their marine chronometers, the daily practice of dropping of the ball continued until 1934, when it was made redundant by radio signals. The guns on Signal Hill were used to notify the public when a ship was in trouble, three guns would be fired from Chavonnes Battery, followed by a single gun in answer from Imhoff Battery. There is a road to the summit and that vantage point provides views over the Cape Town city centre and Atlantic Seaboard and surroundings. Along Signal Hill Road one can find the Appleton Scout Campsite owned and operated by the South African Scout Association. There are several tombs, or kramats, on the hill for Muslim missionaries, the most conspicuous one, a white square building with a green dome, is for the sheikh Mohamed Hassen Ghaibie, a follower of Sheikh Yusuf. Other tombs consist of raised rectangles, decorated with satin and they are still visited by some local Muslim. Signal Hill is one of the places in the world where critically endangered Peninsula Shale Renosterveld vegetation can be found. Peninsula Shale Renosterveld used to be the dominant ecosystem of the Cape Town City Bowl, urban growth has now covered most of this ecosystem and — along with a tiny patch on Devils Peak — Signal Hill has the only surviving sample of this vegetation in the world. Lions Head Table Mountain Photographs of a summer dawn taken from Signal Hill
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Noon Gun
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The Noon Gun has been a historic time signal in Cape Town, South Africa since 1806. The gun is situated on Signal Hill, close to the centre of the city. The settlement at the Cape of Good Hope was founded by the Dutch in 1652, in 1795 during the Napoleonic Wars, Britain took the Cape Colony from the Dutch East India Company. The VOC transferred its territories and claims to the Batavian Republic in 1798, the British handed the Cape Colony back to the Batavian Republic in 1803. However, in 1806 the Cape was occupied again by the British after the Battle of Blaauwberg, thereafter the British controlled the Cape continuously until it became a part of the independent Union of South Africa in 1910. Shortly after the English took over, the two Dutch guns were removed from the Imoff Battery and placed in town as signal guns, the Castle received the latest English 18 pounders. 6″S 18°24′41. 85″E. The first signal fired from there was on 4 August 1902, sailing ships were slow by modern standards and could not store fresh food for long periods, so the provisioning of vessels was one of the major commercial functions at Cape Town in those olden days. Indeed, the city was renowned as The Tavern of the Seas. There were no telephones or telegraphs before the half of the 19th century. The guns were originally used to announce the arrival of a ship, perhaps requiring provisions for the next leg of its journey. The use of the guns to indicate that a ship was in port was discontinued when more modern means of communication were developed more than a hundred years ago. In addition to the aforementioned signalling duties, the guns have had the task of firing a time signal since 1806, according to local tradition, the initial purpose of the gun was to allow ships in port to check the accuracy of their marine chronometers. The gun report might be too inaccurate for ships several kilometers away if they did not correctly compensate for the slow speed of sound. For this reason ships marked their time by the puff of smoke rather than the sound, the invention of the more accurate time ball in 1818 soon made time guns redundant for mariners wishing to set their chronometers. The time ball on Signal Hill was used to time from the Cape Town Observatory. At precisely 1, 30pm Cape Mean Time, the ball would be dropped at the Observatory – an observer on Signal Hill would then drop that more prominent ball too. When setting their chronometers, mariners adjusted their observation of the ball on Signal Hill by a second to allow for the relay from the observatory. One day in June 1895 the gun fired at 10,30 rather than 12,00 when a spider interfered with the used to remotely fire the gun
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Devil's Peak (Cape Town)
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Devils Peak is part of the mountainous backdrop to Cape Town, South Africa. The central districts of Cape Town are nestled within this natural amphitheatre, the city grew out of a settlement founded on the shore below the mountains in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck, for the Dutch East India Company. Some of the first farms in the Cape were established on the slopes of Devils Peak, Devils Peak stands 1,000 metres high, less than Table Mountains 1,087 metres. One can walk to the top but the ascent is more pleasant and safer outside of the cold, wet, on the Eastern slopes of Devils Peak you will find the Rhodes Memorial, to Cecil Rhodes, and the University of Cape Town. From these vantages one can gaze down upon the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town and over the sandy Cape Flats towards Stellenbosch, Somerset West and the distant Boland mountains. Other landmarks on the Eastern slopes are Mosterts Mill, Groote Schuur Hospital, a number of historic military blockhouses are situated on Devils Peak, and a number of cannons. These were intended to defend the city from attack from the South, there is an abandoned fire lookout high up on Mowbray Ridge. For many years a radar reflector beacon stood on Plumpudding Hill above Rhodes Memorial to prevent similar incidents, there are a lot of easy walks on the lower slopes of the mountain. A popular short hike is from Rhodes Memorial to the Kings blockhouse, the only safe ascent of the peak is from the Saddle, between the peak and Table Mountain. There are three routes to reach the Saddle, from Tafelberg Road on the city side, up Newlands Ravine from Newlands Forest, or the contour path from Mowbray Ridge. Once on the Saddle, a path climbs directly to the summit. The 360° view from the summit is well worth the slog, the peak is very exposed to wind and mist, so hikers must always take care. A number of the descents on the Southern Suburbs side are steep and wet. These routes should not be attempted, as many lives have been lost by taking the wrong route. The general rule that applies is to stick to known and well-marked paths, the northern slopes overlooking the city centre are covered in typical Cape Peninsula Shale Fynbos. These slopes are hotter and prone to frequent fires, and as a result the vegetation is low, the slopes on the Southern Suburbs side however, are naturally wetter and more protected from fires, so these slopes were originally partially covered with deep indigenous forests. Some of these dense afro-montane forests still remain in the gorges, near Rhodes Memorial there are a few surviving natural stands of a famous native tree called the Silvertree. This is possibly the last place on earth where the tree grows wild
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De Hel Nature Area
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De Hel Nature Area is a 21. 3-hectare nature reserve protecting a river valley and indigenous forest on the lower eastern slopes of Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa. The Spaanschemat River is surrounded by slopes that are covered in deep indigenous Southern Afrotemperate Forest. At the lower end of the reserve is a piece of land known as “the Meadow” where fruit trees remain from earlier cultivation. The vegetation type is Afromontane forest, with areas of Peninsula Granite Fynbos, several hundred plant species have been identified here, including the striking Silvertree and Erica phylicaefolia. The reserve is home to a variety of local wild animals, including endangered birds like the Knysna warbler. Invasive alien plants are a problem, as such weeds threaten both the indigenous forest and the fynbos, ancient trails used by Khoi-khoi herders ran through this patch of land, and when the Dutch arrived they established a woodcutter’s post here. Subsequently its forests became known as a retreat for runaway slaves and this provides the site with the highest form of protection under South African heritage law. Biodiversity of Cape Town List of nature reserves in Cape Town Southern Afrotemperate Forest Peninsula Granite Fynbos Official website National Heritage Resources Act 25 of 1999
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Newlands Forest
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Newlands Forest is a conservancy area on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, beside the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town. It is owned and maintained by the Table Mountain National Parks Board, along with the City Parks Department of Cape Town, the forest itself is a popular walking and jogging destination, close and easily accessible from the citys southern suburbs. Due to its location on the slopes, there are impressive views eastward over the Cape Flats. Newlands Forest lies at a transition zone between endangered Granite Fynbos and Peninsula Shale Fynbos, in an area that also originally supported large indigenous forests. In the late 1800s, much of the forests were felled, and the fynbos cleared, to make way for commercial pine plantations. This is a vegetation type, which can still be found on the southern edges of Newlands Forest. This ecosystem is endemic to the city of Cape Town and occurs nowhere else in the world, existing only on the Cape Granite Formation, it naturally assumes the form of medium-dense tree vegetation, dominated by a variety of Protea and daisy species. The striking and iconic Silvertree grows in this type and a small population of these massive proteas can still be seen at Newlands forest. Historically this ecosystem supported a great many animals and there are at least 9 plant species which occur nowhere else in the world. This vegetation is severely threatened, mainly by invasive alien plants, a total of 13 of this ecosystems plant species are classed as endangered, two of them critically. One local species, the Wynberg Conebush, is now extinct and this is actually a type of Cape Winelands Shale Fynbos, which is mainly found far to the east of Cape Town in the Boland region. The patch that occurs around Newlands Forest is a natural outlier, the soils are naturally poor and slightly acidic but the biodiversity is incredibly rich. The vegetation consists of an array of Protea, Erica, geophyte and daisy species. In the moister areas, the Ericas predominate over the plant groups. Along with the Granite Fynbos, this is by far the most diverse, as it typically grows on lower mountain slopes, which tend to be developed for housing or cultivated for farming, this vegetation is incredibly vulnerable. A total of 23 of this plant species are officially threatened,7 of which are classified as endangered. Newlands Forest lies in an area used to naturally support large, dense. Such forests proliferated on the Cape Peninsula in areas that were partially or totally protected from seasonal fires, wherever fires are naturally more frequent, the forests give way to various types of fynbos
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Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
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Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of nine National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africas six different biomes, prior to 1 September 2004, the institute was known as the National Botanical Institute. When Kirstenbosch, the most famous of the gardens, was founded in 1913 to preserve the unique flora. Kirstenbosch places an emphasis on the cultivation of indigenous plants. The garden includes a large conservatory exhibiting plants from a number of different regions, including savanna, fynbos, karoo, outdoors, the focus is on plants native to the Cape region, highlighted by the spectacular collections of proteas. Kirstenbosch enjoys great popularity with residents and visitors, from the gardens several trails lead off along and up the mountain slopes and these are much used by walkers and mountaineers. One of the trails, up a ravine called Skeleton Gorge, is an easy and this route is also known as Smuts Track after Prime Minister Jan Smuts who used this route regularly. On the slopes above the cultivated parts of the garden a contour path leads through forests to Constantia Nek to the south. The same contour path can be followed to the north for many kilometres and it will take the hiker past the Rhodes Memorial to the slopes of Devils Peak, Kirstenbosch regularly exhibits Zimbabwean stone sculptures in the gardens. Many of the artists are associated with Chapungu Sculpture Park in Zimbabwe, in summer, a popular series of outdoor concerts are held in the gardens on Sunday evenings. In 1660, by order of Jan van Riebeek, a hedge of Wild Almond, sections of this hedge, named Van Riebeeks Hedge, still exist in Kirstenbosch. The hedge is a Provincial Heritage Site, the area of the botanical garden was used for the harvesting of timber during this period. The Kirsten part of the name is believed to be the surname of the manager of the land, J. F. Kirsten, the bosch part of the name is a Dutch word for forest or bush. The handover of ownership of the colony to Britain in 1811 wrought changes in the use of the Kirstenbosch area, two large land grants were made, with a Colonel Bird building a house, planting chestnut trees, and probably establishing a bath fed by a natural spring. The Ecksteen family acquired the land in 1823, and it came into the possession of the Cloete family. It was under their stewardship that the area was farmed more formally, being planted with oaks, fruit trees, the land was thereafter purchased by Cecil John Rhodes in 1895. After this point, the area became run-down, with groups of pigs feeding on the acorns. The famous Camphor Avenue was planted in 1898, the land now occupied by the Kirstenbosch Gardens was bequeathed to the Nation by Cecil Rhodes, who died in 1902
Media related to Cape Town City Hall at Wikimedia Commons
