The city site
The first settlement of Cape Town was situated between Table Mountain and Table Bay. It was bounded on the northwest by the ridges known as
Lion’s Head
and Lion’s Rump (later called
Signal Hill), on the north by Table Bay, on the south by
Devil’s Peak
, and on the east by marshlands and the sandy
Cape Flats
beyond. The nearest tillable land was on the lower eastern slopes of Devil’s Peak and Table Mountain and, farther to the southeast, at Rondebosch, Newlands, and Wynberg. From the
fortress
that protected the settlement, a track led south past these lands to False Bay on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula and on beyond Muizenberg and Kalk Bay to Simon’s Bay, where the
East Indiaman
trade ships could find shelter from northwesterly winter gales. The constraints of mountain, sea, and sand shaped the direction of Cape Town’s growth, and the pattern was followed in subsequent road and rail construction. A railway line reached Wynberg in 1864 and Muizenberg in 1883, and another line ran eastward from Cape Town across the Flats to the interior.
Climate
The climate of Cape Town is Mediterranean in type; it is locally modified by the mass of Table Mountain and by the cold
Benguela Current
of the South
Atlantic Ocean
. The average high temperature is 70° F (21° C), in January and February, and the average low is 55° F (13° C), in July, but temperatures are cooler on the mountain slopes and on the coast. Freezing occurs infrequently. On the average, rain falls on 69 days of the year; about half of the 26 inches (660 millimetres) of annual rainfall occurs between June and August, the southern winter. The amount of rainfall varies with
proximity
to the mountain, with areas close to the slopes receiving as much as twice the
precipitation
of areas farther away. The winds, generally strong, come from the northwest in winter and vary from between southeast and southwest in summer. Southerly winds produce a cloud cover over Table Mountain known as the “tablecloth.” These winds are collectively referred to as the “
Cape doctor” because they keep
air pollution
at a low level.
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.
Subscribe Now
The city layout
The narrow streets of the early settlement ran parallel to the shore. The road that led from the shore inland to the Dutch East India Company’s produce garden became the main thoroughfare. Originally called the Heerengracht, for the canal in Amsterdam of that name, it was renamed
Adderley Street in 1850. Other main roads paralleled it as the town grew. In Strand Street, on what once was the shore of Table Bay, stands the
Castle of Good Hope, built by the company between 1666 and 1679. Near the Castle are the Botanic Gardens, which are bisected by Government Avenue and overlooked by government buildings. A parliament building, constructed for the use of the colonial government and first occupied in 1885, became the seat of the Parliament of the Union of South Africa in 1910 and of the Republic of South Africa in 1961. Additions to the building were opened in 1987.
The opening of the Alfred Dock in 1870 led to renewed development along the shore. The breakwater was lengthened and piers were built in 1890?95, and the newly sheltered area was named
Victoria Basin. Dredging for the Duncan Dock, built between 1938 and 1945 to accommodate larger vessels, and for the Ben Schoeman Dock in 1977, resulted in the reclamation of 480 acres (194 hectares) along the shore, referred to as the
Foreshore. Adderley Street was extended to the new harbour, and the extension was named the Heerengracht.
The building of a modern system of freeways has greatly
facilitated
movement between the city and its suburbs. There has been a considerable increase in population and commercial activity in the southern suburbs, especially in Claremont and Wynberg. Particularly favoured residential areas are on the slopes east of Table Mountain and on the slopes of Signal Hill, overlooking
Bantry Bay
and the beaches of Clifton.
Much of Cape Town’s early architecture reflected
prototypes
from the Netherlands that were modified for the region. Characteristics included flat roofs, projecting porches, and distinctive gables.
Louis-Michel Thibault, a French architect who arrived in 1783, designed much that was then fashionable, including the Old Supreme Court building, now the South African Cultural History Museum. Notable buildings of the period include the Old Town House and the
Lutheran Church
. Of the original Groote Kerk (Great Church), opened in 1704, only the steeple and vestry remain; the rest was rebuilt in the 1830s. Today buildings in the central business district and on the Foreshore follow modern international
trends
in architecture.