Much has been learned about Cape Town history over the years. The fascinating stories go back thousands of years, to the stone ages before the first of the European arrivals.

The Stone Age people’s to first arrive at the Cape Peninsula were known as Bushmen, Hottentots, ‘strandlopers’, or Khoisan. Their existence can be viewed by various engravings visible in various caves around Cape Town.

Further proof became apparent when in 1995, a woman’s footprint was found in a rock along the west coast of Cape Town. It was determined that the embedded footprint was 117,000 years old. Later the footprint came to be known as “Eve’s Footprint”.

Many centuries later, the Portuguese explore Bartholomew Diaz, founded the Cape. The year was 1486. Later, about the mid 1600s, the area was developed into a stop-off station for traders on their way to the East. The Dutch East Indian Company would use the Cape as a refreshment stop along their route.

To man the refreshment stand European laborers were transplanted to the area. Local inhabitants along Cape were not familiar with the manual labor requirements of the station, so slaves were brought from the northern parts of Africa to help with the work required. At this time the station was managed by Jan van Riebeeck.

Asians began arriving to the area in 1654. The migration began as a result of banishments by the High Court in Batavia. Having no other place to go, they made stakes in the Cape area.

Today’s population is a culmination of these early Asian transplants, local blacks who inhabited the area at the time, and the white communities descended from Europe.

Simon van der Stel first arrived in Cape in the 1660s as one of the first to govern the area. He ended up founding the rich wine industry that the Cape is now famous for. Adding to the wine developments were Holland immigrants who arrived in the area after fleeing religious persecution in their homeland.

The first signs of apartheid began in 1936, when a series of laws were passed diminishing the voting rights of all non-white inhabitants in the Cape area.

The National Party, the party encouraging and spreading the apartheid regime, won office following World War II and remained in power until 1994.

The apartheid laws resulted in the prohibition of race-mixed marriages, separation of public transportation for whites and non-whites, and other restrictive laws which entrenched the division of individuals into groups of “white”, “Asian” and “native”.

Political measures were also utilized to help crush rebellions. The use of Cape Town’s Robben Island was paramount to this effort where, from 1962, the island was used as a maximum security prison, where thousands, including Nelson Mandela, were sent for political infidelities.

A dark period of Cape history began in 1985 when the National Party declared a state of emergency. During this period, under the direction of P.W. Botha, thousands were detained without benefit of a trial, and many were tortured and killed. Colored schools were closed in Cape Town, following the forced removal of an entire black district of Cape Town in 1966.

Since 1989, however, Cape Town has experienced more positive developments. The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront was developed in 1989 along the historic docklands of the cape coast. Today this area is the biggest tourist attraction in South African.

The first national and provisional elections took place in 1994, bringing a state of the “New South Africa”, and in 1995, Cape Town hosted the opening game of the Rugby World Cup. South Africa went on to win the first game and the series that year.

Political change commenced in 1999 when Thabo Mbeki was elected South African president. He instituted the Unicity Commission, designed as a temporary political establishment to ensure the transition from the previous seven municipal councils would be a smooth one.

Today Cape Town thrives, with businesses growing after such a tumultuous history. The city is a vibrant tourist location with day and night entertainments and activities. The town is clean, well policed, and includes an award-winning improvement district.