The Table Bay off Cape Town
Monday, 3 March 2014 - 01:00 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Africa / Afrika General
Reading Time: 5 minutes
Table Bay with Robben Island and Cape Town from Table Mountain © AlterVista/cc-by-sa-3.0-de
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Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by
Cape Town (founded 1652 by
Van Riebeeck ) and is at the northern end of the
Cape Peninsula , which stretches south to the
Cape of Good Hope . It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped
Table Mountain .
Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this region in 1486. The bay, although famous for centuries as a haven for ships, is actually a rather poor natural harbour and is badly exposed to gales from both the SE and NW. Many sailing ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 17th and 18th centuries were driven ashore by storms.
Table Bay with Robben Island and Cape Town from Table Mountain © AlterVista/cc-by-sa-3.0-de
The Dutch colonists nevertheless persisted with their efforts on the shores of Table Bay, because good natural harbours along this coastline are almost non-existent. The best of them-
Saldanha Bay – lacked fresh water and the only realistic alternatives-
Simon’s Bay and
Houtbaai – were rightly inaccessible at the time and only marginally less exposed to the weather, which is notoriously bad often enough in the Cape Peninisula. Eventually a harbour was built in Table Bay by a process of land reclamation and was defended by breakwaters to protect shipping. The older part of this structure is called the Victoria Dock. The newer part is called the Duncan Dock.
Robben Island , where
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, is in this bay.
Read more on
Royal Cape Yacht Club ,
Cape Town ,
Cape Town Tourism and
Wikipedia Table Bay . Learn more about the
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