Bo-Kaap and Downtown

On Saturday we had a house trip that ended up being a tour of downtown Cape Town and Bo-Kaap. We started out at the Castle, which was originally built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch East India Company and is the oldest building in South Africa. The Cape was a strategic point because ships needed a place to stop for food and water on the way to India to trade for spices and other goods. The Dutch built the castle to defend it from the threat of a British attack.

The flags represent the different eras of South Africa's history: Dutch rule under the Prince of Orange, British rule, Dutch rule again, British rule again, Apartheid rule, and the current democratic South Africa.

We also walked past the Cape Town City Hall, where Nelson Mandela made his first speech after he was released from Robben Island.


Although most people think of slaves as having been captured from the west coast of Africa and being brought to the Americas, slavery was also an important part of Cape society during the colonial period. The Dutch were ordered not to enslave the local population in the interest of preventing conflicts, so many slaves were imported from India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. Today, their descendants are broadly know as Cape Malays. Along the way, we stopped in at the slave lodge, which is now a museum.

By the time we made it to Bo-Kaap, it was super hot outside! Bo-Kaap is a neighborhood that was originally built to house soldiers but instead was used to house the descendants of former slaves who lived in the Cape Town area. During the apartheid era, everybody who was not classified as a Cape Malay was forced to move out of the area, but now it is known for its beautiful houses!