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The first European to anchor at Table Bay and climb Table Mountain was the Portuguese navigator António de Saldanha. He encountered a few hundred indigenous inhabitants, a Khoe people whose economy was based on herding, hunting, and gathering. After Saldanha’s visit, European ships continued to put in at Table Bay to take on fresh water, meat, and other provisions. Survivors of the Dutch vessel Haerlem, wrecked in Table Bay in 1647, brought back such glowing reports of the region that the directors of the Dutch East India Company ordered that a station to supply ships rounding the Cape be established there. On April 7, 1652, the company’s representative, Jan van Riebeeck, stepped ashore to select sites for a fort and a vegetable garden. In 1657 the company began to release men from its employ so that they could become free burghers (citizens) and farmers, and in 1658 the company began to import slaves. Inland from Table Mountain, a second company farm was established at Newlands, and vines were planted on the slopes of Wynberg (“Wine Mountain”).
Van Riebeeck and his senior officials constituted a council of policy and court of justice. Free burghers were invited to join the court when matters concerning burghers were at issue, and burgher-councillors eventually took responsibility for services such as fire protection, road maintenance, and the preservation of order. The colony began to spread beyond the Cape Peninsula, and the council of policy came to rely increasingly on the burgher-councillors for fact-finding and for advice on town affairs.
The importation of slaves, the introduction of political exiles from the Dutch East Indies, and marriage and cohabitation with indigenous Khoekhoe (whom the Dutch called Hottentots, which is now considered to be pejorative) increased the population, but at the beginning of the 18th century the town, known as De Kaap (“The Cape”), still consisted of only 200 houses. Its growth was accelerated by rising international tensions and growing appreciation of the strategic importance of the Cape. During the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), which involved the major European powers, many French and British ships called at the port, which from 1773 onward was referred to by British visitors as “Cape Town” (Afrikaans: Kaapstad). During the American Revolution, which exacerbated tensions between rival European powers, a British fleet sought in 1781 to occupy the Cape, which directors of the English East India Company described as “the Gibraltar of India.” A French fleet, however, reached the Cape first and established a garrison there to help the Dutch defend it. The French presence brought prosperity and gaiety to Cape Town and initiated a surge of building.
The degree of local control over Cape Town’s affairs has varied considerably throughout its history. Burgher representation on the council increased to six, and from 1785 onward a committee of three burghers and three officials formally advised the council on urban matters. This committee acquired official status in 1793. By the time a British force occupied the Cape in 1795, the committee, known as the burgher-senate, had assumed responsibility for the town, which then had 1,000 houses and a population of some 14,000. In 1803 the colony reverted to the Netherlands. The following year the town received its coat of arms, on which was displayed an anchor that symbolized “good hope,” on a field of gold, and three golden rings from van Riebeeck’s personal coat of arms.
Britain reoccupied the Cape in 1806, and its title was confirmed in 1814. In 1828 the burgher-senate was abolished, and two residents were appointed to the governor’s council of advisers. Slaves were freed in 1834, but they were required to serve four years of indenture. In 1840, when the town’s population had reached some 20,000, the municipality of Cape Town came into existence; it incorporated the suburbs of Green Point and Sea Point to the north and west of Signal Hill. The municipality was administered by a board of commissioners and ward masters elected in 12 districts by citizens owning or occupying premises valued at £10 or more per annum, and it was financed by property taxes. In 1867 Cape Town obtained full municipal government, with three councillors from each of six districts; the chairman of the council became mayor.
From 1881 onward a number of separate municipalities came into being, among them Woodstock, Rondebosch, Claremont, Newlands, Wynberg, and Kalk Bay. The improved roads, the introduction of an electric tramway, and a common concern for water supplies and sewers prompted proposals for amalgamation of the urban sprawl. It was not until 1913, however, three years after the formation of the Union of South Africa, that the town councils of Cape Town and several of the adjacent towns combined to form the City of Greater Cape Town.
Suburban development, largely inland to the east and down the Cape Peninsula to the south, followed the radial roads and the railway line, construction of which began in 1859. The Alfred Dock, opened in 1870, encouraged shipping. An influx of people followed the discovery inland of diamonds in 1870 and gold in 1886. These developments, as well as the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902) between Britain and the combined forces of the Boer republics, brought about a modest industrialization in Cape Town.
The years after World War II were marked by increased urbanization and by enormous growth in both industry and population. The harbour and industrial sites were extended again, and modern buildings rose in the central business district. Handsome residential areas spread along the lower mountain slopes, and modern freeways were constructed.
During much of the 20th century there were no racial bars in Cape Town, and both whites and nonwhites could vote and hold office. In 1972 (when there were six nonwhite councillors) national legislation removed nonwhites from the electoral rolls over protests from the citizens. The municipality continued to oppose apartheid legislation and in 1985 formally reiterated its belief that all people, regardless of race, colour, or creed, have the democratic right to participate fully in the affairs of the city and its council. A peaceful protest march of some 40,000 people in September 1989 helped to create the climate for similar demonstrations in other parts of South Africa, the subsequent release from prison of the African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela, and the end of the system of apartheid.
With the dismantling of apartheid, Cape Town’s government was converted to majority rule. The new ANC-led government passed the Municipal Structures Act in 1998, which expanded the city’s municipal boundaries and restructured and integrated the city’s government and services in an attempt to better serve all city residents.