CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest building in South Africa. Built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch East India Company, better known as the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), this pentagonal fortification replaced a small clay and timber fort built in 1652 by Commander Jan van Riebeeck, founder of the maritime replenishment station at the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1664 there were renewed rumours of war between Britain and the Netherlands and they feared a British attack on the Cape. During that same year Commander Zacharius Wagenaer was instructed to build a five-pointed stone castle. On 26 April 1679 the five bastions were named after the main titles of Willem, the Prince of Orange. The western bastion was named Leerdam; followed in clockwise order by Buuren, Catzenellenbogen, Nassau and Oranje. In 1682 the gateway replaced the old entrance, which faced the sea. The bell tower, situated above the main entrance was built in 1684. The original bell, the oldest in South Africa was cast in Amsterdam in 1697 by Claude Framy and weighs 670 lbs. It was used to tell the hours and warn citizens of danger and it could be heard about 10 km away. It was also rung to call residents and soldiers to the Castle for important announcements.

Read More

DIAZ MUSEUM

The Place Where Cultures and Nature meets Some of the things you can see at the Diaz Museum are the following: the famous 500 year old Post office Tree, Life-size replica of the Dias Caravel, Shell Museum & Aquarium Culture Museum, Ethnobotanical Garden and 5 National Heritage Sites on terrain. Open All year round except Christmas & Good Friday.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Dias sailed along the coast of Africa as far South as a harbour later known as Baia dos Tigres. Thus he sailed round the southern tip of Africa without realising it. It was when he steered eastward and could not find any land that he took a northerly course, thereby seeing land again at the Gourits River or Rio dos Vaquerios. This was later renamed Mossel Bay by the Dutch.

Read More

ROBBEN ISLAND

For nearly 400 years, Robben Island, 12 kilometres from Cape Town, was a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment. It was here that rulers sent those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society.

During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. The duty of those who ran the Island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs.

Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded on a psychological and political level in turning a prison 'hell-hole' into a symbol of freedom and personal liberation. Robben Island came to symbolise, not only for South Africa and the African continent, but also for the entire world, the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity.

Read More