60 Fun Facts About Cape Town

Cape Town is which of South Africa's three capitals?

Parliament sits there; Pretoria holds the executive and Bloemfontein the judiciary. It is also the country's oldest city.

Cape Town is South Africa's second-largest city by population after which?

Johannesburg overtook it by the 1936 census, as mining pulled the country's centre of gravity inland.

Which Portuguese navigator, the first European to reach the area in 1488, named it the 'Cape of Storms'?

King John II renamed it the Cape of Good Hope for the optimism of an open sea route to India; da Gama sighted it in 1497.

Who founded the Dutch settlement at the Cape in 1652 as a way-station for East Indies ships?

He worked for the VOC, the Dutch East India Company, and built the Fort de Goede Hoop that the stone Castle later replaced.

What unusual weapon did Khoikhoi warriors use to kill Francisco de Almeida at the 1510 Battle of Salt River?

Sixty-four of his men died with him; the Goringhaiqua clan later traded fresh meat to passing ships for tobacco, copper and iron.

The Castle of Good Hope, built 1666–79, is the oldest existing building in South Africa; what shape is it?

It is considered the best-preserved Dutch East India Company fort; land reclamation has left it inland from Table Bay.

Britain permanently gained Cape Town under which 1814 agreement?

Britain had seized it in 1795, handed it back in 1803 and retaken it in 1806 after the Battle of Blaauwberg.

Which suburb, declared whites-only in 1965, was demolished with over 60,000 residents forcibly removed?

Most were relocated to the Cape Flats under the Group Areas Act; a Homecoming Centre now commemorates the community.

Nelson Mandela served how many of his 27 years in prison on Robben Island?

Two other Robben Island inmates, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma, also went on to become president.

Robben Island's name comes from an archaic Dutch word for which animals?

The flat, oval island lies about 7 km off Bloubergstrand and was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station.

From which building's balcony did Mandela give his first public speech in 27 years on 11 February 1990?

The first democratic election followed four years later, on 27 April 1994.

Nobel Square at the V&A Waterfront has statues of Mandela, Tutu, de Klerk and which other Peace laureate?

Luthuli, the ANC president, won in 1960, decades before the others.

Table Mountain's flat top rises roughly how high above the city?

Its highest point is 1,086 metres above sea level, about 19 metres above the upper cable station.

The thin strip of cloud that sometimes forms over Table Mountain is known colloquially as what?

Locals also call it the 'Karos'; the two flanking peaks are Devil's Peak and Lion's Head.

The strong south-easterly wind of spring and summer is nicknamed the Cape Doctor because it does what?

Cape Town has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers.

About 80 percent of Table Mountain's 2,285 plant species belong to which vegetation type?

The name means 'fine bush'; the national park around the mountain draws 4.2 million visitors a year, more than any other in South Africa.

The Table Mountain cableway first opened in which year?

It has been refurbished three times since, most recently gaining enlarged gondolas.

Table Mountain's highest point is marked by what, built in 1865 for a trigonometrical survey?

Sir Thomas Maclear's stone cairn stands at 1,086 metres at the eastern end of the plateau.

Contrary to popular belief, the Cape of Good Hope is not Africa's southernmost point; which headland is?

Agulhas lies about 150 km to the east-southeast, and it is there, not at the Cape, that the two oceans' currents officially meet.

The Cape Peninsula juts roughly how far south from the city before ending at Cape Point?

More than 70 peaks above 300 metres lie within the metropolitan limits, and the sandy Cape Flats join the peninsula to the mainland.

Boulders Beach near Simon's Town is famous for a colony of which animals?

Ferries from the Waterfront also visit the fur seal colonies on Seal and Duiker Islands.

Kirstenbosch, founded in 1913, was the world's first botanical garden devoted to what?

It cultivates more than 7,000 species and covers five of South Africa's six biomes; its protea collections are the highlight.

The brightly painted, cobblestoned Bo-Kaap on Signal Hill was formerly known as what?

It holds South Africa's largest concentration of pre-1850 buildings; the Nurul Islam Mosque there dates from 1844.

What does the name 'Bo-Kaap' mean?

Jan de Waal built the first small rental houses at the foot of Signal Hill in 1763; more than half of residents today identify as Muslim.

Cape Town's V&A Waterfront is named after Queen Victoria and which of her sons?

It sits on the oldest working harbour in the Southern Hemisphere and is the city's most-visited attraction, home to the Two Oceans Aquarium.

Cape Town Stadium in Green Point was built for which event?

It seated 64,100 for the tournament, later cut to 55,000, and hosted a semi-final; the Stormers rugby side now plays there.

The Cape Town Cycle Tour holds what world record?

It was also the first event outside Europe admitted to the UCI's Golden Bike series.

Which Cape Town hospital, founded in 1938, hosted the first human heart transplant?

It is the teaching hospital of the University of Cape Town's medical school, on the slopes of Devil's Peak.

Which first language was most common among surveyed Cape Town residents, at about 36 percent?

Xhosa came second at 29.8 percent and English third at 28.4, making the city genuinely trilingual.

The Cape Town Minstrel Carnival is held each year on which date, known as 'Tweede Nuwe Jaar'?

The name means 'Second New Year', a tradition rooted in the city's Cape Malay and Coloured communities.

As a re-provisioning stop midway along the sea route to the East, Cape Town earned which nickname?

It is also called the Mother City, and its harbour still occupies Table Bay directly north of the CBD.

Cape Town's severe water crisis of 2015–18 was framed around a looming date known as what?

Residents cut consumption from 1.2 billion litres a day to 516 million, and strong rains in June 2018 refilled the dams.

Which two historic estates in Cape Town's southern suburbs still make South Africa's first wine?

Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands are popular day trips for tastings.

Cape Town was named World Design Capital in which year?

It has also been voted the Telegraph's best travel city every year since 2013.

Which liberal party won control of Cape Town in 2006 and improved service delivery?

The Democratic Alliance has governed the city since 2006; polls rate Cape Town the best-governed city in the country, and 21 of the 38 municipalities with clean audits in 2022 were in the Western Cape.

Which was Cape Town's first township, created for Black South Africans under the 1923 Native Urban Areas Act?

Students from Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga staged their own marches during the 1976 Soweto Uprising.

Which two picturesque coastal features frame Cape Town's Atlantic side and its southern shore?

The Cape Peninsula runs between them, and Robben Island sits in Table Bay.

Cape Town lies at latitude 33.55° S, roughly the same as which two other southern cities?

In the northern hemisphere the equivalent is about Casablanca and Los Angeles.

The Cape Dutch architectural style blends Dutch, German, French and which other tradition?

Enslaved people brought from Indonesia and Madagascar in the VOC era are ancestors of the Cape Malay and Cape Coloured communities.

Which is South Africa's oldest park, in the heart of Cape Town's CBD?

It began as the VOC's vegetable garden and sits beside Parliament and the Iziko museums.

Cape Town's rugby team in the Currie Cup, which shares the stadium with the Stormers, is called what?

The city hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup and stages the Africa leg of the World Rugby Sevens each December.

The Cape Flats were stabilised in the 1850s and 60s with which plant imported from Australia?

It fixed the sand so a road could link the peninsula to the mainland, while eucalyptus was planted to drain marshes.

The 5,500 people freed by abolition in the city in 1833 were roughly what share of its population?

The 1849 Convict Crisis then bolstered demands for self-government, and the Cape got its own parliament in 1854.

Which mineral discoveries helped Cape Town's population double between 1891 and 1901?

Diamonds at Griqualand West in 1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in 1886 drew a flood of immigrants through the port.

Cape Town's city-owned bus rapid transit system is called what?

Fares are cashless via tap-to-pay or the myconnect card; Golden Arrow is the private operator alongside it.

Roughly what share of Cape Town's population lives in townships and informal settlements?

Migration from the Northern and Eastern Cape and apartheid's spatial planning have kept it one of the country's most segregated cities.

Cape Town's foreshore reclamation, completed in 1945, added roughly how much land to the CBD?

The Castle of Good Hope, once on the shoreline, now stands well inland as a result.

Which explorer recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 on his way to India?

Ships from Portugal, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and England then made Table Bay a regular stopover through the 16th century.

The Cape Granite batholiths under Cape Town intruded into the older Malmesbury rocks roughly how long ago?

Table Mountain sandstones were laid down on top about 450 million years ago and later folded into the Cape Fold Belt.

Which Cape Town sandwich stuffed with slap chips was first served in Athlone in 1976?

Bobotie and malva pudding, also linked to the city, both date back to the 17th century.

What is a koe'sister, a traditional Cape Malay treat?

It is described as having a cake-like texture, unlike the plaited Afrikaner koeksister.

Which Cape Town CBD café was voted the world's best by the Daily Telegraph in 2015 and 2016?

All four of South Africa's biggest café chains are headquartered in the city, which has ten roasteries.

Cape Town claims to produce more of which vessels than any other city in the world?

Robertson and Caine, one of the biggest catamaran builders anywhere, is based there alongside superyacht maker Southern Wind.

Cape Town's film industry, the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, generated about how much revenue in 2013?

Much of the work is based at Cape Town Film Studios, and the sector supported over 6,000 direct jobs.

Since 2021 commercial flights have linked Cape Town to which Antarctic runway?

Cape Town is one of five recognised Antarctic gateway cities.

Which harbour on False Bay is the main operational base of the South African Navy?

The main commercial port sits in Table Bay just north of the CBD and is the country's second-busiest container port after Durban.

Which shipping company linked Cape Town with the UK and St Helena until the 1970s?

The RMS St Helena carried on the island link until St Helena Airport opened.

Which manufacturer partnered with Golden Arrow to launch South Africa's first electric buses in Cape Town?

The first electric buses entered service in 2024 across a fleet of about 1,200 vehicles on 1,300 routes.

When Cape Town bid for the 2004 Summer Olympics, where did it finish among the candidate cities?

It was one of five cities shortlisted by the IOC in 1996; the Games went to Athens.

How many public libraries does the City of Cape Town operate?

The Central Library in Parade Street, founded in 1954, holds about 200,000 items and gets 5,000 visitors a week.