| Cape Town History | ||
| The first Capetonian People | ||
| The KhoiSan | ||
| The earliest human communities ever witnessed to live in sight of Table Mountain were the Khoikhoi and the San. The San people lived by hunting and gathering in small nomadic groups in the mountains north of Cape Town for perhaps 100.000 years, until the 19th century. The Khoikhoi, migrating from Southern Africa 2.000 years ago brought animal herding to the Cape. By keeping sheep and cattle along the rivers and coastline north and east of Cape Town they enjoyed a stable, balanced diet. Genetically the groups were very similar, although the Khoi, tended to be taller and bigger than the San. They also shared a similar distinctive language made up of clicks. They traded with one another - for instance swapping meat for milk - and in times of difficulty or for the sake of marriage perhaps exchanged lifestyle. Together, they are known as 'the Khoisan'. Today the independence and culture of the Khoi is completely destroyed and there are no distinct communities of San left, although their 'cousins' the Bushmen are still evident in the Kalahari, Namibia and Botswana. | ||
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| The Bantu | ||
| 'Bantu' is a generic name covering many black tribes. Bantu migration into South Africa began in the 3rd century AD with the occupation of the fertile eastern and coastal stretches of the country, where they came into contact with the Khoikhoi. The Xhosa people are a Bantu tribe that settled along the south coast a thousand kilometers east of Cape Town. They encountered European and English settlers along their western border, the Great Fish River, from the seventeenth century onwards. Their ability to resist Afrikaners encouraged the Great Trek away from the area. Labour migration of Xhosa to Cape Town began in the mid-eighteenth century and their first township was created at Langa. | ||
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| The Coloureds | ||
| The largest group of people living in Cape Town today are known as the 'coloured' community. The term refers to people of mixed racial origin. In the early years of European settlement there was inter-racial marriage and European procreation by slaves. Soldiers and sailors also had a reputation for fathering children at the Slave Lodge. In the outlying districts there were offspring from relations between Trekboers and Khoisan. In the nineteenth century many coloureds lived in slums but many also held positions as skilled artisans, and some as professionals. Coloureds struggled to gain equality with whites throughout the twentieth century. They held a higher status than Bantu under apartheid, still they suffered discrimination, particularly the humiliation of forced removals from their homes to 'coloured areas'. | ||
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| The Cape Malays | ||
| A movement of lasting consequence was the practise of Islam among many slaves. Although slaves and convicts came from various cultures and religions, the Islamic influence became a strong force. The tradition of Islam at the Cape is credited to the influence of Malaysian political prisoners sent to the Cape in the seventeenth century. Over the years this religious community became known as the 'Cape Malays'. The Cape Malay helped to pioneer not only Islam at the Cape but also Afrikaans and traditional Cape cuisine and music. The area of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town is associated with this group that retains a strong sense of identity to this day. | ||
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| The Afrikaners | ||
| When the Dutch East India Company established a trading station at the Cape they had no intention of allowing it to become a colony. However, as demand for food exceeded supply they allowed Europeans to establish farms. From this European community developed an independent people at the Cape, who regarded the Cape as their home and, when the British took over, distinguished themselves from the English by the name Afrikaners'. In reaction to British liberalism they developed their own culture and many left on the Great Trek to establish new republics beyond British control. In due course the British and these independent republics went to war in the South African War. During the early twentieth century Afrikaners asserted their politics and language in the newly formed Union of South Africa. Right-wing Afrikaner nationalism led to the election of the National Party in 1948 with its policy of Apartheid that sought racial purity and Afrikaner dominance over South Africa. |
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| Other Immigrants | ||
| Other than Western Europeans, who were favoured by immigration policy, Jews were the largest group of immigrants. Poor families settled in Woodstock, District Six or Salt River among West Indians, Indians and Malays, moving later to Gardens, Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht or Sea Point. They retained much of their cultural traditions and valued education highly especially in medicine and the law. Portuguese and Italian immigrants shared Catholicism with other Capetonians, and were easily assimilated. It was more difficult for Greeks who were isolated by church and language. By 1946 the population of Cape Town had reached approximately half a million. According to the census, just under half these were white, with an almost equal number of coloured people. African and Asian residents made up about 8 percent of the official figures. Due to rising numbers of immigrants, whites became a minority for the first time since the mid 19th century. | ||
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