Cape Town was founded in 1652 by Jan van Riebeeck as a supply base for the Dutch East India Company and is the oldest city of European origin in South Africa. It remained under Dutch control, aided by the presence, from 1781 to 1795, of a French garrison, until captured by British forces in 1795 during the Napoleonic Wars. The settlement briefly reverted to Dutch control in 1803 and was again occupied by British troops in 1806. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, before the building of the Suez Canal, Cape Town was a major station for ship-provisioning. It became the capital of the British Cape Colony in 1814 and subsequently was made the legislative capital of the Union of South Africa (1910-1961) and our present Republic.

Historic places of interest include the Castle, the oldest building in Cape Town (begun 1665); the Dutch Reformed Church (begun 1699); Old Town House (1755); and the old Dutch-style buildings and mosques found in the Malay Quarter on Signal Hill. Other important landmarks are the houses of parliament; the South African Museum (1825); the South African National Gallery (1871); the important Michaelis Collection of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish paintings; the South African Library; and Groote Schuur, former home of the British colonial statesman Cecil Rhodes. The University of Cape Town (1829) is in the city, and the University of the Western Cape (1960) is on the outskirts; the Cape Technikon (1923) is also in the city. Population (1991) city 854,616; metropolitan area 2,350,157.

South African Museum (founded in 1825) is the oldest museum in the country, and specializes in the natural history and anthropology of South Africa.

It was first established to house the zoological collections of Sir Andrew Smith, its first director.

It was placed under trustees appointed by the British colonial government of Cape Province in 1855 and was moved into the present building in 1897. From then until 1930 it shared facilities with the South African National Gallery and until 1966 it included the collections now held separately at the South African Cultural History Museum, also in Cape Town. The South African Museum now owns and displays numerous objects connected with zoology and marine biology, geology and palaeontology, archaeology and ethnography (physical anthropology). Its exhibits on South Africa in particular include rock paintings and other artefacts made by the San, the nomadic hunter-gatherers formerly known as Bushmen. The museum also contains a planetarium and, in its Printing Gallery, a special collection on the history of printing. (There are also Museums at Cape Town University).

Cape Town, University of, institution of higher learning located in Rondebosch, South Africa.

Founded in 1829 through local Church and private effort as the South African College, the University of Cape Town was incorporated as an independent university in 1918. An autonomous institution, it receives roughly 70 per cent of its funding from the state. The governing bodies consist of the University Council and the University Senate. Student enrolment stood at roughly 13,000 in 1992; limited residential facilities are provided for academic staff and about 2,200 students. The language of instruction is English.

The university has faculties in arts, commerce, education, engineering, fine art and architecture, law, medicine, music, science, social science, and humanities.

Additional facilities affiliated with the university include the University Library, incorporating the J. W. Jagger Library, Brand van Zyl Law Library, and W. H. Bell Music Library. Roughly 20 research units and groups are also associated, including the Institute of Oceanography, Freshwater Research Unit, and Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology. There are also a number of museums such as the Irma Stern Museum, with its fine art collection, the Archaeological Museum, and the P. A. Wagner Museum of Mineralogy and Geology.

Western Cape, University of the, institution of higher education at Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa. The university, which is situated just outside Cape Town, was founded in 1960 to provide higher education initially for non-white students in Western Cape Province but is now open to all students. It is on a single-campus site, with teaching, residential, and administrative buildings erected in the past 40 odd years. There are more than 5,000 students; 20 per cent are postgraduates, many of them studying on evening courses for degrees and diplomas. There are eight faculties: arts, community and health sciences, dentistry, economics and management sciences, education, law, science, and theology. Within them they offer a wide range of first degrees in all major university subjects.

The university’s postgraduate research programme is based on research institutes. A notable centre is the Institute for Social Development and others are the Institute for Historical Research, the Institute for Counselling, and the Institute for Small Business, which provides training, consultancy, and research services. 

In 1983 the university opened the Gold Fields Science and Mathematics Resource Centre to improve the quality of education in natural sciences and mathematics in schools. This led to outreach services to schools and the establishment of a teachers’ resource centre. The library, which has a collection of over 200,000 books and subscribes to 600 periodicals, has 1,800 student places.

Hermanus: Located about 120 km (75 mi) south-east of Cape Town, the town is situated on the Onrus River and overlooks Walker Bay. It is the Overberg region’s premier resort due to its proximity to both the mountains and the ocean. The main economic activities in the area are the polishing and cutting of gemstones, winemaking, and fishing. The town was a thriving fishing and whaling centre for over 100 years. Whales, on their way north, visit Hermanus to mate and calve between June and November. As many as 70 whales can be seen at one time at Walker Bay, coming in as close as 10 m (32 ft) to the shore. For this reason, Hermanus is considered by some to have the best whale-watching in the world. Since the new harbour was built, the old harbour has been preserved as a museum and national monument. To the north of the town is the Walker Bay Nature Reserve and the Fernkloof Reserve.

Hermanus was originally called Hermanuspietersfontein after a shepherd who discovered a spring in the area. The nearby Danger Point was so named after the British troopship HMS Birkenhead sank there in 1852 with a loss of 445 lives. The "Birkenhead Drill", which means unyielding discipline in the face of disaster, was named after the soldiers who bravely allowed civilians off the ship first.