As mentioned above, most Non-Whites lived close to the rail-axis. The older working-class tracts were multi-racial; there, the socio-economic statuses of Whites, Coloureds, Indians, a few Chinese, and even sometimes Black Africans were similar.
Settlement Growth
History
Cape Town did not come into being until the seventeenth century when Jan van Riebeeck arrived with the first Dutch settlers in 1652. His intention, however, was not to create a city but rather a refreshment station that would provide fresh water, meat, and vegetables for weary sailors on their way to the East Indies. The oldest section is in the area south of the Lion's Rump. This is where the castle lay close to the sea shore and therefore dominated the harbour. Between 1938 and 1945, 358 acres were reclaimed from Table Bay. This allowed the building of the central business area and the Duncan and other docks.
The castle, which was built between 1666 and 1677, contains also the Supreme Court and part of a slave barracks. Some other seventeenth and eighteenth-century buildings also remain. The Groote Kerk (Great Church) of 1836 replaces earlier buildings. However, the former Dutch appearance of the old city has been obscured by modern constructions.
From very early on, the city was divided into quarters, of which the name Malay quarter, along with that area's mosque, is a survival. Suburban development began about 1859. It increased following the discovery of diamonds fields inland in 1870, and then gold fields in 1886.
The population rose from 33,239 in 1875 to 77,668 in 1904 and on to 168,257 in 1911. This is the period when rapid capitalist industrialization took place. In Cape Town, such unconstrained urban growth did not apply merely to the White section of the population, because there was almost no legislated racial segregation here, as there was in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. Plots that were unavailable were sold to the highest bidder; persons of lesser means obtained what was not wanted by others.
Most Non-whites lived in high-density working class housing close to the industrial areas developing along the docks-Observatory rail axis.
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As mentioned above, most Non-Whites lived close to the rail-axis. The older working-class tracts were multi-racial; there, the socio-economic statuses of Whites, Coloureds, Indians, a few Chinese, and even sometimes Black Africans were similar. |
One of the interesting patterns of social and spatial structure in preapartheid Cape Town, is that compared to other South African cities there was no unambiguous break between black and white residential districts in the city.
The growth of settlement building was furthur stimulated by the South African War (1899-1902). The greatest enlargements, with a straggle of suburbs, were developed in the twentieth century. They include a town for Coloureds, Mitchell's Plain, and several separate townships for Africans. The map below shows how the growth of the city has spread from 1823 onwards.
Cape Town Today
Due to the topography of Cape Town, the metropolitan district forms a horse-shoe curve around Table Mountain. To see a view of the city from Table Mountain, click here
For a majority of Cape Town's inhabitants, home is in one of the townships out on the desolate Cape Flats. To learn more about the Cape Flats, click here
Coloureds make up more than half of the residents of Cape Town. Afrikaans is the home language of half of all Coloureds, whites and Asians. A quarter are English speakers, while another quarter is at home in both languages. Among Africans a majority are Xhosa speakers.