114-862: The Kaapse Klopse (or simply Klopse ), officially named the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival , is a traditionally Cape coloured minstrel festival that takes place annually on 2 January in Cape Town , South Africa . The festival is also referred to as Tweede Nuwe Jaar ( Afrikaans for Second New Year ). As many as 13,000 minstrels take to the streets, garbed in bright colours, carrying colourful umbrellas and playing an array of musical instruments. The minstrels are self-organised into klopse ("clubs" in Kaapse Afrikaans , but more accurately translated as troupes in English). The custom has been preserved since
228-479: A Mediterranean climate type, with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. The winter rain is a consequence of frontal depressions developed from the circumpolar westerlies, which occur at least once per week in normal mid-winter from June to August. The summer climate is controlled by the South Atlantic High, which produces south-easterly winds, which blow offshore over the west coast. Much of the roughly 25% of
342-670: A chick each in any given year. With the commencement of formal monitoring in 1993, two breeding pairs were recorded on the Cape Peninsula Mountain Chain in 2004: one below the upper cable station at the western end of Table Mountain, in Blinkwater Ravine, the other on the cliffs below Noordhoek Peak. The nest near the cable station was abandoned in 2006, leaving only the Noordhoek pair, which continued to fledge chicks reasonably regularly till 2013, at which point one member of
456-530: A crucial part of the event. More than 60 minstrel troupes, some a thousand strong have been known to participate in the marches. Minstrel troupes are fiercely competitive and the preparations leading towards the parade, costumes and performances are kept as secrets until the big reveal on the day. They compete for trophies such as the "Champion of Champions award". This award has been won by the Pennsylvanians for 10 years in succession. The minstrel troupes give
570-460: A diverse group of people, young and old. The singing and dancing has been proven a source of income and engendered a sense of pride in the communities where joblessness is a concern and frustration. During apartheid, children from previously disadvantaged communities were denied access to performance arts at school. Residents of the Bo-Kaap have complained about the noise and petty crime that accompanies
684-595: A major gap at the Fish Hoek–Noordhoek valley. In the south much of the area is a low sandstone plateau with sand dunes. Maximum altitude is 1113 m on Table Mountain. Mountains and peaks: Passes ( cols ): Valleys and gorges: If using the river drainage to define the extent of the peninsula, the coastline extends from the mouth of the Salt River in Table Bay to the mouth of Sandvlei at Muizenberg. Landmarks of
798-543: A marine protected area in 2004, include several no-take zones, and are part of the national park. The waters of this marine protected area are unusual in that they are parts of two fairly distinct coastal marine ecoregions , namely the Agulhas ecoregion and the Benguela ecoregion . The boundary is at Cape Point. The Cape Peninsula has an unusually rich biodiversity. Its vegetation consists predominantly of several different types of
912-414: A person was a Cape Coloured, or belonged to one of a number of other related subgroups such as the " Cape Malays ", or "Other Coloureds". A group of Cape Coloureds were interviewed in the documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs . One of the gang members who participated in the interview mentioned that black South Africans have been the main beneficiaries of South African social promotion initiatives while
1026-472: A result of a too rapid sequence of fires. The fires that occur on the mountains today are still largely due to unregulated human activity. Fire frequency is therefore a matter of chance rather than conservation. Despite intensive conservation efforts the Table Mountain range has the highest concentration of threatened species of any continental area of equivalent size in the world. The non-urban areas of
1140-572: A result of the prevailing wind and Coriolis forces . The Benguela Current, therefore, effectively starts at Cape Point, and flows northwards from there, although further out to sea it is joined by surface water that has crossed the South Atlantic from South America as part of the South Atlantic Gyre . Thus the Benguela and Agulhas currents do not strictly "meet" anywhere, although eddies from
1254-421: A sense of pride and community to the group members. The "ghoema" drum is the common thread that binds together all the music of the carnival. Until mid-1900s, competitions were organised by individual promoters. Boards appeared and disappeared – "Cape Peninsula Coon Carnival Board", "Western Province Jubilee Carnival Board" (Jimmy WG Allen), "Cape Western Coon Carnival Board" (directed by Sonny Loyd). The majority of
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#17330853685001368-417: A subset of the larger Coloured race group. At least one genetic study indicates that Cape Coloureds have an ancestry consisting of the following cultural frames: The genetic reference cluster term "Khoisan" itself refers to a colonially admixed population cluster, hence the concatenation, and is not a straightforward reference to ancient African pastoralist and hunter ancestry, which is often demarcated by
1482-611: A tradition. The events continued in 1908 and 1909, but discontinued thereafter until 26 January 1920, when the leader of the African People Organization, Abdullah Abdurahman , re-instated the "Grand Carnival on Green Point Track". In 1921, the Cape Town Cricket Club held a rival carnival in Newlands and this was the start of minstrel competitions in various venues and by various organising boards. New Year Carnivals of
1596-508: A variety of habitats, mostly in moist, relatively fertile soils that are protected from fire. Species diversity is relatively low. Fynbos: Other: The most common mammal on the mountain was the dassie (the South African name, from Afrikaans , pronounced "dussy"), or rock hyrax . Between about 2000 and 2004 (no one is certain about the exact year or years) their numbers suddenly plummeted for unknown reasons. They used to cluster around
1710-712: A wide range of habitats and ecological communities. The peninsula lies within the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa. It is the home of some 2285 plant species and is a global hot-spot of diversity for plants and invertebrates. Vegetation is dominated by about 12 types of fire-prone fynbos shrubland. Invertebeate community structure is poorly understood, and vertebrate communities are thought to be strongly influenced by recurring fire and nutrient limitations, so most vertebrates are small and population densities are low. Table Mountain National Park , previously known as
1824-453: Is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south, with an area of about 470 km , and it displays more topographical variety than other similar sized areas in southern Africa, and consequently spectacular scenery. There are diverse low-nutrient soils, large rocky outcrops, scree slopes, a mainly rocky coastline with embayed beaches, and considerable local variation in climatic conditions. The sedimentary rocks of
1938-670: Is a derogatory term used to refer to Khoisan people and coloureds in South Africa. The term originated from the Dutch language, where "Hottentot" was used to describe a language spoken by the Khoisan people. It later came to be used as a derogatory term for the people themselves, based on European perceptions of their physical appearance and culture. The term is often used to demean and dehumanize Khoisan and coloured people, perpetuating harmful stereotypes and discrimination against them. The term "Kaffir"
2052-399: Is a fire-prone sclerophyllous shrubland with a high cover of restiods. Renosterveld is also a fire-prone scrubland, but with restioids replaced by grasses, without proteoid shrubs, and with the shrub component dominated by ericoid shrubs. The third formation is Forest and thicket, which is characterised by broad-leafed, Afromontane evergreen trees and shrubs, and is not fire-prone. It grows in
2166-403: Is a racial slur used to refer to coloured people and black people in South Africa. It originated from Arabic and was used to refer to non-Muslims. Later, it was used by European-descended South Africans to refer to black and coloured people during the apartheid era, and the term became associated with racism and oppression. While it is still used against Coloured people, it is not as prevalent as it
2280-590: Is a well known region of metamorphic rocks formed by the granite intrusion into the Malmesbury rocks. These rocks were later unconformably covered by the Cape Supergroup , which is divided into eight formations, the three oldest of which are present on the Peninsula. The lowest present is the reddish Graafwater formation which consist of shales and sandstone . The Graafwater Formation can be clearly seen in
2394-552: Is against black people. Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( Afrikaans : Kaapse Skiereiland ) is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope . On the northern end is Table Mountain , overlooking Table Bay and
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#17330853685002508-604: Is believed that this contributed to the birth of the Cape Minstrels and the Coon Carnival. The visitors' influence on the Coon Carnival included the tradition of painting their faces black and whited out their eyes to look like "racoons". In the 1900s, the celebrations took place at various locations. In 1907 Green Point Cricket Club organised the first formal Carnival and moved it to the Green Point Track which later became
2622-483: Is important to note that Coloureds or Cape Coloureds, as a group of mixed-race individuals, also have African ancestry and can be considered as part of the broader African diaspora . Under Apartheid, under the Population Registration Act as amended, the term Cape Coloured referred to a subset of Coloured South Africans, with subjective criteria having been used by the bureaucracy to determine whether
2736-519: Is in the "Aqueduct" off the Smuts Track, halfway between Skeleton Gorge and Maclear's Beacon . Remnant patches of indigenous forest persist in the wetter ravines. However, much of the indigenous forest was felled by the early European settlers for fuel for the lime kilns needed during the construction of the Castle . The exact extent of the original forests is unknown, though most of it was probably along
2850-488: Is judged by a panel of independent adjudicators and every group scores in each of the categories. The winners of the 2013 competition can be viewed on the Cape Town Minstrels Carnival Association. While many troupes now are supported by corporate sponsors, many refuse and remain sticklers for tradition. The 2005 carnival was nearly cancelled due to an alleged lack of funding, while the 2006 carnival
2964-409: Is our day"). It is a day when the local working class community which survived slavery, segregation and Apartheid celebrates its existence and perseverance. In 1880–1890, celebration bands and groups linked as societies with sports clubs with distinguishable emblems and dress paraded through the city and suburbs on New Year's Eve. These societies prepared special costumes for New Year's and these became
3078-417: Is substantial at higher elevations. Snowfall is unusual, restricted to Table Mountain, and melts within a day or two. Variations in temperature are not great due to the moderating effect of the adjacent sea, the narrow land mass, and fairly low maximum altitudes of the mountains. Annual mean temperature at sea level in the north facing areas of the north peninsula are around 22 °C. and about 16 °C on
3192-548: The Cape Floral Region protected areas. These protected areas are a World Heritage Site , and an estimated 2,200 species of plants are confined to Table Mountain range - which are at least as many as occur in the whole of the United Kingdom. Many of these species, including a great many types of proteas , are endemic to these mountains and can be found nowhere else. The Disa uniflora , despite its restricted range within
3306-638: The Cape Supergroup , of which parts of the Graafwater and Peninsula Formations remain, were uplifted between 280 and 21S million years ago, and were largely eroded away during the Mesozoic. The region was geologically stable during the Tertiary, which has led to slow denudation of the durable sandstones. Erosion rate and drainage has been influenced by fault lines and fractures, leaving remnant steep-sided massifs like Table Mountain surrounded by flatter slopes of deposits of
3420-481: The Cape of Good Hope from Indonesia , Malaysia , Sri Lanka , India and East Africa ( Madagascar ), creating a melting pot of culture and influence. The British garrisons of the era influenced the marching processions of the minstrel troupes and a substantial collection of songs draw their origins from the Netherlands . The Cape slaves together with the local Khoisan population were known to sing in choirs as part of
3534-557: The City Bowl of Cape Town , South Africa . The peninsula is 52 km long from Mouille point in the north to Cape Point in the south. The Peninsula has been an island on and off for the past 5 million years, as sea levels fell and rose with the ice age and interglacial global warming cycles of, particularly, the Pleistocene . The last time that the Peninsula was an island was about 1.5 million years ago. Soon afterwards it
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3648-671: The Karoo during the 18th century and after British annexation of the Cape in the 19th century. By the mid 18th century, the territory of the Dutch Cape Colony had reached to present-day Swellendam and by the end of the Dutch rule (after British annexation in 1814), the territory of the Cape had already reached certain parts of the Eastern Cape and the Northern Cape . With the gradual expansion of
3762-515: The South Atlantic , South Indian and Southern Ocean currents, known collectively as the " West Wind Drift ", which flow eastwards round Antarctica. The Benguela Current, on the other hand, is an upwelling current which brings cold, mineral-rich water from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean to the surface along the west coast of southern Africa. Having reached the surface it flows northwards as
3876-670: The Western Cape , is relatively common in the perennially wet areas (waterfalls, streamlets and seeps) on Table Mountain and the Back Table, but hardly anywhere else on the Cape Peninsula. It is a very showy orchid that blooms from January to March on the Table Mountain Sandstone regions of the mountain . Although they are quite widespread on the Back Table, the best (most certain, and close-up) place to view these beautiful blooms
3990-621: The White , the indigenous Khoi and San , the Xhosa plus other Bantu people and slaves imported from the Dutch East Indies (or a combination of all). People from India and the islands within the Indian Ocean region were also taken to the Cape and sold into slavery by the Dutch settlers. Eventually all these ethnic and racial group intermixed with each forming a group of mixed race people that became
4104-440: The rock kestrel . In 2014 three pairs of African fish eagles were believed to be breeding on the Peninsula, but they nest in trees generally as far away from human habitation as is possible on the Peninsula. Their number in 2017 is unknown. Up until the late 1990s baboons occurred on all the mountains of the Peninsula, including the Back Table immediately behind Table Mountain. Since then they have abandoned Table Mountain and
4218-526: The rooikat ( caracal ) and the vaalboskat (also called the vaalkat or Southern African wildcat ) were once common in the mountains and the mountain slopes. The rooikat continues to be seen on rare occasions by mountaineers but the status of the vaalboskat is uncertain. The mountain cliffs are home to several raptors species, apart from the Verreaux's eagle. They include the jackal buzzard , booted eagle (in summer), African harrier-hawk , peregrine falcon and
4332-556: The "Cape Coloureds". Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa , they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape . They are generally bilingual, speaking Afrikaans and English , though some speak only one of these. Some Cape Coloureds may code switch , speaking a patois of Afrikaans and English called Afrikaaps , also known as Cape Slang (Capy) or Kombuis Afrikaans , meaning Kitchen Afrikaans. Cape Coloureds were classified under apartheid as
4446-620: The 17th century (in this case, from 1652–1700), the Dutch Cape Colony consisted only of present-day Cape Town with its surrounding areas such as Paarl , Stellenbosch and Franschhoek . However, from the 18th century until the formation of the Union of South Africa in the year 1910, the territory of the Cape expanded gradually to the North and to the East. This happened, especially after the Trekboers migrated into
4560-517: The 1920s and 1930s brought Minstrels, Privates, Brass Bands, Choirs and Malay Choirs together. The Group Areas Act of 1966 declared District Six a whites only area resulting in approximately 60,000 residents being evicted and moved to parts of the Cape Flats, such as Manenberg and Mitchells Plain. The implementation of the Group Areas Act resulted in communities losing their sense of belonging to
4674-429: The 1970s, the traffic by laws and the "Illegal Gathering Act" were used to place additional challenges on the minstrel festival organizers. From 1971, Athlone Stadium was used for the 'non-white' spectators. In 1977, all Minstrel marches were forbidden in any part of Cape Town and as a result people lost interest in watching the parade. The event was moved between various stadiums in order to keep it alive until 1989, when
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4788-573: The Agulhas current do from time to time round the Cape to join the Benguela Current. Tidal range is moderate, with about 1.8 to 1.9 m range at spring tide on both sides of the peninsula, and tidal currents are negligible. The Bathymetry of False Bay differs in character from the west side of the Cape Peninsula. The west coast seabed tends to slope down more steeply than in False Bay, and although
4902-527: The Back Table, and only occur on the Constantiaberg, and the mountains to the south. They have also abandoned the tops of many of the mountains, in favour of the lower slopes, particularly when these were covered in pine plantations which seemed to provide them with more, or higher quality food than the fynbos on the mountain tops. However these new haunts are also within easy reach of Cape Town's suburbs, which brings them into conflict with humans and dogs, and
5016-792: The Cape Coloured community, a small minority of them have retained their community and culture, therefore, they became known as the Cape Malay . However, during the Apartheid regime , the Cape Malays were classified as a sub-group of the Cape Coloured due to similar ancestries and because South Africa's population was grouped into 4 races under the Population Registration Act, 1950 : Black , White , Coloured and Indian . Therefore, many Cape Malays were forced to live in Coloured townships of Cape Town. During
5130-533: The Cape Coloured. As a result, the Cape Coloureds ended up having the most diverse ancestry in the world with a blend of so many different cultures mixed together. The census in South Africa during 1911 played a significant role in defining racial identities in the country. One of the most noteworthy aspects of this census was the instructions given to enumerators on how to classify individuals into different racial categories. The category of " coloured persons "
5244-442: The Cape Coloureds have been further marginalised. The 2009 film I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured – Identity Crisis at the Cape of Good Hope (Monde World Films, US release) is one of the first historical documentary films to explore the legacy of Apartheid through the viewpoint of the Cape Coloured community, including interviews with elders, pastors, members of Parliament, students and everyday people struggling to find their identity in
5358-446: The Cape Flats and 30kph at Cape Point. In summer the southeasterly and southwesterly winds may blow at gale force for over a week uninterrupted, but there are locally sheltered areas where the wind is much lighter which vary depending on wind direction. The peninsula is highly topographically varied, and has a wide range of annual rainfall variation over a small area, and a large diversity of nutrient poor soils, and consequently supports
5472-537: The Cape Malay Choirs or "nagtroepe" march through Cape Town. Thereafter, the minstrels parade through the city and on Tweede Nuwe Jaar , 2 January, the troupes and choirs take to the Green Point Stadium. Present day, the competition starts on the afternoon of 1 January and continues on 2 January and the following two Saturdays. Categories that are judged as part of the competitions include, The competition
5586-403: The Cape Peninsula (mainly on the mountains and mountain slopes) have suffered particularly under a massive onslaught of invasive alien plants for well over a century, with perhaps the worst invader being the cluster pine , partly because it was planted in extensive commercial plantations along the eastern slopes of the mountains, north of Muizenberg. Considerable efforts have been made to control
5700-533: The Cape Peninsula National Park, was proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, and in particular the rare fynbos vegetation. The park comprises a large part of the undeveloped area of the Cape Peninsula, and is managed by South African National Parks Board . The coastal waters surrounding the Cape Peninsula were proclaimed as
5814-558: The Cape and the additional arrival of various European nationalities (such as the British, Irish etc.), there were more interracial unions, this time between the white and the Khoisans in the Northern Cape and between the white and the Xhosa in the Eastern Cape with more mixed race children being conceived, adding on to the Coloured population of the entire Cape. After British annexation in
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#17330853685005928-529: The Cape grew up and got married amongst themselves, forming a community that would later be known as the " Cape Coloured ". The first interracial marriage in the Cape was between Krotoa (a Khoi Khoi woman who was a servant, a translator and a crucial negotiator between the Dutch and the Khoi Khoi. Her Dutch name was "Eva Van Meerhof") and Peter Havgard (a Danish surgeon whom the Dutch renamed as "Pieter Van Meerhof"). Having conceived 3 mixed-race children, Krotoa
6042-764: The Cape. Some of the Khoi Khoi became labourers in the Cape. Despite this, there was resistance by the Khoi Khoi, which led to the Khoikhoi-Dutch Wars . As a result of this resistance, the Dutch imported slaves from other parts of the world, especially the Bantu people from other parts of Southern Africa and Malay people from present-day Indonesia . To a smaller extent, slaves were also imported from Malaysia , Sri Lanka , India , Madagascar , Mauritius and other parts of Africa . The slaves were almost invariably given Christian names but their places of origin were indicated in
6156-545: The Cape. There was also interracial mixing between the slaves and mixed-race children were also conceived from these unions as well because the slaves were of different races ( African and Asian ). . Unlike the One-drop rule in the USA , mixed-race children in the Cape were not viewed as "white enough to be white", "black enough to be black" nor "asian enough to be asian", therefore, mixed race children from all these interracial unions in
6270-450: The Constantiaberg to the front of Devil's Peak, and even on top of the mountains, but these have now been largely cleared allowing fynbos to flourish in the regions where the indigenous Afromontane forests have not survived, or never existed. Fynbos is a fire adapted vegetation, and evidence suggests that in the absence of regular fires all but the drier fynbos would become dominated by trees. Regular fires have dominated fynbos for at least
6384-415: The False Bay coastline: The characteristics of the rivers and wetlands of a region are a complex emergent product of the influences of geology, hydrology, ecology, and more recently, technology, over the long-term history of both the region and its surroundings. The rivers of the Cape Peninsula are generally steep and narrow following the current topography of the region. The current geomorphology determines
6498-465: The Graafwater formation rests is visible. And in the cutting at the first hairpin bend, the ocher-colored, gritty clay into which the granite weathers is clearly displayed. The relatively thin Graafwater layer (no more than about 60–70 m thick on the Cape Peninsula) is overlain by the prominent Peninsula Formation , which consists mainly of hard, erosion resistant, quartzitic sandstones, which form
6612-643: The Indigenous San and Khoe and Malagasy, East African, Indonesian, Indian, Bengal and Sri Lankan slaves. The term " coloureds " is currently treated as a neutral description in Southern Africa, classifying people of mixed race ancestry. "Coloured" may be seen as offensive in some other western countries, such as Britain and the United States of America. The most used racial slurs against Cape Coloureds are Hottentot or hotnot and Kaffir . The term "hotnot"
6726-657: The L0 haplogroup ancestry common in the general South African native population, which is also integral part of other aboriginal genetic reference cluster terms like "South-East African Bantu". A separate Dutch Reformed Church, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC), was formed in 1881 to serve the Cape Coloured Calvinist population separately from the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) . It
6840-416: The celebration of freedom. The klopse has played a significant role in addressing social challenges like crime, drug abuse, and AIDS. It is also used to build bridges between the communities after the apartheid era. Apart from providing entertainment, the Kaapse Klopse has also become a means of building skills in the community. The Kaapse Klopse and associated choir singing give the participating children
6954-516: The celebrations. They also watched the colonial troops parade in Cape Town while singing "God Save the Queen". Traces of African, Asian and European music can be heard in the minstrel music. The ghoema beat reflects rhythmic similarities of India, Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East. Therefore, "Ghoemaliedjies" (Ghoema songs) are reminiscent of the music from Africa, Asia and Europe. "Melodies" and "moppies" have Western origins and were strongly influenced by African–American music (possibly associated with
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#17330853685007068-413: The close inshore waters are also shallow, the 100 m contour is mostly within about 10 km of the west coast, while the entire False Bay is shallower than about 80 m. The bottom of False Bay slopes down relatively gradually from the gently sloping beaches of the north shore to the mouth, and is fairly even in depth from east to west except close to the shorelines. Much of the Western Cape has
7182-418: The communities they grew up in because of the forced removals. The Minstrel performances were spread across the Cape Peninsula to various areas. In 1967, the Carnival was banned from its home at the Green Point stadium. In 1968 there were no Minstrels parading in the Cape Town CBD. Transportation to attend rehearsals became an additional challenge and expense for the different competing minstrel groups. During
7296-399: The cutting on the second hairpin bend as the Ou Kaapse Weg (road) goes up the slope from Westlake on to the Silvermine plateau. In the cutting one can also see the abrupt and obvious transition into the Table Mountain Sandstone (or, as it is currently known, the Peninsula Formation Sandstone ) above it. Looking up the slope from below to the first hairpin bend, the granite basement on which
7410-481: The early 19th century, slavery was abolished in the Cape, which lead to the Great Trek when the Boere left the Cape as Voortrekkers and migrated into the interior of South Africa to form the Boer republics . Most of the freed slaves(who became Cape Coloureds) remained behind. Many freed slaves moved to an area in Cape Town that became known as District Six and by the turn of the 20th century, District six became more established and populated. Although its population
7524-596: The east by False Bay in the south and the Cape Flats in the north. The peninsula is mostly the mountainous remnant of very old durable sandstone formations with low dip, deposited unconformably on an ancient underlying granite peneplain. The climate is of the Mediterranean type, with predominantly winter rainfall and mild temperatures, and the natural vegetation is exceptionally diverse, with an unusually large number of endemic plant species for an area of this size, many of which are endangered, and threatened by human activity and encroachment, but are to some extent protected on
7638-457: The east side of the mountains north of Muizenberg and south of the Liesbeek catcment into False Bay: The Liesbeek Valley on the north-eastern side of Table Mountain drains the northeastern side of the mountains into table Bay: The Cape Peninsula is underlain by the oldest rocks in the area, the Malmesbury Group , and the granite intrusions of the Peninsula pluton . The Malmesbury Group has been dated from between 830 and 980 Mya, and
7752-407: The eastern slopes of Devil's Peak , Table Mountain and the Back Table where names such as Rondebosch, Kirstenbosch, Klaassenbosch and Witteboomen survive (in Dutch "bosch" means forest; and "boomen" means trees) . Hout Bay (in Dutch "hout" means wood) was another source of timber and fuel as the name suggests. In the early 1900s commercial pine plantations were planted on these slopes all the way from
7866-421: The equatorial region along the east coast of Africa. In fact the south flowing Agulhas Current swings away from the African coastline between about East London and Port Elizabeth , following the edge of the Continental shelf roughly as far as the southern tip of the Agulhas Bank , 250 km (155 miles) south of Cape Agulhas. From there it is retroflexed (turned sharply round) in an easterly direction by
7980-428: The eroded material overlaying the older rocks, There are two internationally notable landmarks, Table Mountain and Cape Point , at opposite ends of the Peninsula Mountain Chain, with the Cape Flats and False Bay to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The landscape is dominated by sandstone plateaux and ridges, which generally drop steeply at their margins to the surrounding debris slopes, interrupted by
8094-431: The eve of 30 December, people gather in the Bo-Kaap (Malay Quarter in Signal Hill) to await the Tweede Nuwe Jaar (2 January) with the songs of Malay choirs and ghoema drums ushering in the dawn of a New Year . During the 19th century, the New Year was celebrated by the Dutch and was considered to be the biggest annual feast. Slaves would get a day off on 2 January and were allowed to celebrate in their own manner. Slavery
8208-474: The event returned to its original route: from District Six to the Green Point stadium. Tweede Nuwe Jaar ("Second New Year") is a day that is unique to Cape Town and stems from practices associated with slavery, and its history is linked with the Coon Carnival. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Cape slaves were given a day off from their duties on 2 January every year. During this alternative New Year celebration,
8322-435: The exposure to the visiting American minstrels). The cinemas across District Six also exerted the jazz influence and the re-enactment of famous actors and singers in the performances. The evolution of the Cape slave "social fabric" included the development of their own music and dance which was used to grow social cohesion and celebrate whatever freedoms they were granted. Well-known songs sung by minstrels: On New Year's Eve,
8436-554: The festival, and, in 2011, the City of Cape Town restricted parading in the Bo Kaap. Following protests by the minstrels, the Minstrels got permission to march in the Bo Kaap the following year. Cape coloured Cape Coloureds ( Afrikaans : Kaapse Kleurlinge ) are a South African group of multiracial people who are from the Cape. Their ancestry comes from the interracial mixing between
8550-535: The form and structure of catchments, and these in turn are determined by the past drainage patterns and geology of the surface at the time, the changes in climate and sea level, and the variations in altitude and slope caused by tectonic movement over the longer time-frame. The courses of most of the rivers of the peninsula are controlled by the structural characteristics of the Table Mountain Group rocks. The major lineaments lie mostly northwest to southeast in
8664-659: The high, prominent, almost vertical cliffs of the Cape Peninsula. At the very top of Table Mountain , at Maclear's Beacon, is a small remnant of the Pakhuis Diamictites , better represented in the Cederberg Mountains , 200 km to the north of Cape Town. The soils of the Cape Peninsula are similar to those of other parts of the Cape Fold Belt, being derived from similar rock, and are mainly sandy and poor in nutrients. The poorest soils are those associated with
8778-761: The large part of the peninsula which is in the Table Mountain National Park . The coastal waters include a major seaport in Table Bay, and a marine protected area in the two adjacent but significantly different marine ecoregions , which meet at Cape Point. Most of the lower lying coastal land of the central and northern peninsula has been developed as first agricultural, and later urban areas. The rocky uplands have historically avoided development because of difficult access, poor soils and steep slopes, and more recently have been legally protected as being of high ecological importance, but are threatened by illegal land invasion and informal settlement. The Cape Peninsula
8892-548: The larger Protea species, a rare local colony of which, the Aulax umbellata (Family: Proteaceae ), was wiped out on the Peninsula by more frequent fires, as have been the silky-haired pincushion, Leucospermum vestitum , the red sugarbush, Protea grandiceps and Burchell's sugarbush, Protea burchellii , although a stand of a dozen or so plants has recently been "rediscovered" in the saddle between Table Mountain and Devil's Peak . Some bulbs may similarly have become extinct as
9006-514: The largest phase of interracial marriages / Miscegenation in South Africa happened in the Dutch Cape Colony which began from the 17th century, shortly after the arrival of Dutch settlers, who were led by Jan van Riebeeck . When the Dutch settled in the Cape in 1652, they met the Khoi Khoi who were the natives of the area. After settling in the Cape, the Dutch established farms that required intensive labour therefore, they enforced slavery in
9120-546: The less accessible upper parts of the mountain. As an exotic species, they were almost eradicated through a culling programme initiated by the South African National Parks to make way for the reintroduction of indigenous klipspringers . Until recently there were also small numbers of fallow deer of European origin and sambar deer from southeast Asia. These were mainly in the Rhodes Memorial area but during
9234-663: The locals, could have contributed to the style of the marching that the Klopse displays today. In 1862, the then-internationally renowned Christy's Minstrels visited the Cape from the United States and in 1890 Orpheus McAdoo 's Virginia Jubilee Singers performed in Cape Town. The Christy's Minstrels were white men and women who had blackened their faces with burnt cork to impersonate the African-American slaves. Between July 1890 and June 1898 they staged many minstrel shows in Cape Town and it
9348-470: The mid-19th century. Under apartheid , the period of government-enforced racial segregation and stratification in South Africa, the festival was known as the Coon Carnival , but local authorities have since renamed the festival the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival as the term coon is widely considered an ethnic slur. There is contention around the continued use of blackface by festival performers. On
9462-451: The mountain top. Elsewhere, averages range between 18 and 20 °C. The range of mean maximum to mean minimum temperatures at any give place is small, ranging from 10 °C on table Mountain to 6 °C at Cape Point. Frost is unusual and not severe, even on the mountains, and is unknown at the coastline. Winds over the peninsula can be strong. In winter, the northwesterly wind often exceeds gale force, with mean wind speeds of 20kph over
9576-447: The new South Africa. The film's 2016 sequel Word of Honour: Reclaiming Mandela’s Promise (Monde World Films, US release) Various books have covered the subject matter of Coloured identity and heritage. Patric Tariq Mellet, heritage activist and author of 'The Camissa Embrace' and co-creator of The Camissa Museum, has composed a vast online blog archive ('Camissa People') of heritage information concerning Coloured ancestry tracing to
9690-537: The opportunity to learn the art of performing music and dance and exposed them to practising music three times a week in preparation for their performances. These activities paved the way for world-famous musicians like Taliep Petersen and Jonathan Butler who both received the "Juvenile Sentimental Trophy" awards in previous competitions. The skills extend beyond singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and sewing but also include skills associated with events management such as planning, project management and mobilising
9804-418: The pair disappeared. From 2013 till January 2017 only a single Verreaux's Eagle, presumed to be a female, remained on the Peninsula. She continued to maintain the nest under Noordhoek Peak, but seemed unable to attract a mate. But in early 2017 a pair of eagles was seen by at least 7 independent observers during the course of 10 days (27 January - 5 February). It remains to be seen whether they will breed later in
9918-402: The past 12 000 years largely as a result of human activity. In 1495 Vasco da Gama named the South African coastline Terra de Fume because of the smoke he saw from numerous fires. This was originally probably to maintain a productive stock of edible bulbs (especially watsonians ) and to facilitate hunting, and later, after the arrival of pastoralists , to provide fresh grazing after
10032-499: The peninsula's rain that falls during the summer months of October to March is associated with post-frontal conditions. There is a large variation in rainfall over the peninsula. Maclear's beacon at the top of Table mountain in the north has an average of 2270 mm per year, while Cape Point gets about 402 mm per year. 1 Rainfall variations are affected by altitude and aspect, and by topographical features that direct and trap rain-bearing wind. Rain from southeasterly wind clouds
10146-409: The rains. Thus the plants that make up fynbos today are those that have been subjected to a variety of fire regimes over a very long period, and their preservation now requires regular burning. The frequency of the fires obviously determines precisely which mix of plants will dominate any particular region, but intervals of 10–15 years between fires are considered to promote the proliferation of
10260-925: The rapid spread of these invasive alien trees. Other invasive plants include black wattle , blackwood, Port Jackson and rooikrans (All Australian members of the acacia family), as well as several Hakea species and bramble . The flora is typical of the southwestern Cape Floristic Region. The five largest families are Asteraceae (286 spp. of which 47 are in Senecio ), Iridaceae (168 spp.), Fabaceae (162 spp. of which 55 are in Aspalathus ), Poaceae (141 spp.), and Ericaceae (112 spp. of which 103 are in Erica ). There are also 38 spp. in Oxalis ( Oxalidaceae ), and 37 spp. in Ficinia ( Cyperaceae ). The flora includes species typical of
10374-560: The records of sales and other documents so that it is possible to get an idea of the ratio of slaves from different regions. These slaves were, however, dispersed and lost their cultural identity over the course of time. Because most of the Dutch settlers in the Cape were men, many of them married and conceived mixed-race children with the Khoi Khoi, the Southern African Bantu, the Malay from Indonesia and other enslaved ethnic groups in
10488-456: The restaurant at the upper cable station, near areas where tourists discarded or (inadvisably supplied) food. The population crash of the dassies was in all probability responsible for the decline in the Verreaux's eagle population on the Peninsula, which is believed to have consisted of 3 breeding pairs during the period 1950 to 1990, with only 2 pairs, maximally, ever having been reported to fledge
10602-490: The risk of traffic accidents. In 2014 there were a dozen troops on the Peninsula, varying in size from 7 to over 100 individuals, scattered on the mountains from the Constantiaberg to Cape Point. The baboon troops are the subject of intense research into their movements (both of individuals and of the troops), their physiology, genetics, social interactions and habits. In addition, their sleeping sites are noted each evening, so that monitors armed with paint ball guns can stay with
10716-608: The sandstone plateaux and upper slopes, which are grey, acidic, leached and generally shallow. They are mostly well drained, but there are areas of poor drainage on the relatively level plateaux and high ground which get winter rains and south-Easter cloud precipitation in summer, which are very acidic and have a high content of organic matter. The deeper soils of the colluvial slopes which are underlain by shale or granite tend to be heavier, orange to red, less acid and richer in nutrients. Soils associated with older Quaternary deposits tend to be fairly deep, moderately acid and more fertile than
10830-399: The slaves would dress up as minstrels and dance rhythmically to the sounds of banjos, guitars, ghoema drums, whistles, trombones and tubas. Tweede Nuwe Jaar is a celebration of a community's survival. It illustrates the continuity between its past, present and future. The now deceased iconic musician Taliep Petersen , is claimed to have said of Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebrations, "Dis onse dag" ("It
10944-555: The soils derived from the sandstones. Younger sands along the coastline are alkaline and poorly consolidated. The Cape of Good Hope is sometimes erroneously identified as the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans . However, according to the International Hydrographic Organization agreement that defines the ocean boundaries, the meeting point is at Cape Agulhas , about 200 kilometres (120 mi) to
11058-486: The southeast and the most southerly tip of the African continent. The west coast of the Peninsula is referred to as the "Atlantic Coast", "Atlantic Seaboard" or west coast, but the eastern side is generally known as the "False Bay Coast". Similarly, Cape Point is not the fixed "meeting point" of the cold Benguela Current , running northwards along the west coast of Africa, and the warm Agulhas Current , running south from
11172-613: The southern peninsula, and to the northeast in the northern peninsula. Anticlockwise from the east side of Table Bay. Rivers of the City Bowl: The Atlantic Seaboard: Hout Bay Valley: The Noordhoek Wetlands: The catchment areas to the north, east and to some extent the south discharge via poorly defined routes into a large wetland, the Papkuilsvlei, where there are three permanent bodies of water – Lake Michelle and
11286-461: The strictly winter rainfall area of the Western Cape, but also species with a range extending into areas where more rain falls in summer. Three major plant formations are present on the peninsula: Cape Fynbos Shrublands, Renosterveld Shrublands and associated grasslands, and Forest and Thicket. Fynbos has the largest coverage, historically about 92% of the area, and hosts the majority of species. It
11400-483: The traditional anti-Catholicism of their Church, assisted in correcting linguistic errors. By 1996, the majority of Afrikaans-speaking Catholics came from the Coloured community, with a smaller number of Afrikaner converts, most of whom were from professional backgrounds. Sunni Islam remains in practice among Cape Malays , who were generally regarded as a separate ethnoreligious group under apartheid. The first and
11514-463: The troop all day, to ward them off from wandering into the suburbs. From when this initiative was started in 2009 the number of baboons on the Peninsula has increased from 350 to 450, and the number of baboons killed or injured by residents has decreased. Himalayan tahrs , fugitive descendants of tahrs that escaped from Groote Schuur Zoo near the University of Cape Town, in 1936, used to be common on
11628-629: The troupes are represented by the Kaapse Klopse Karnaval Association which is one of the break-away Associations from the Kaapse Karnaval ("Cape Carnival") Association. Today, the Cape Town Minstrels Carnival Association oversees the organisation of the Minstrel Carnival. The music associated with minstrel history and Tweede Nuwe Jaar was influenced by a variety of sources. In the 17th and 18th centuries, slaves were sent to
11742-606: The two Wildevoelvleis. The westward draining rivers of the Cape Point area: There are several seasonal streams, seeps, and vleis, most of which dry up in the summer. Perennial rivers include: The eastward draining rivers of the Southern Peninsula: These rivers are generally fairly short and steep, and some, such as the Silvermine and Elsje rivers, have valley bottom wetlands at the coast. The Sandvlei catchment drains
11856-427: The unique and rich Cape Fynbos . The main vegetation type is endangered Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos , but critically endangered Peninsula Granite Fynbos , Peninsula Shale Renosterveld and Afromontane forest occur in smaller portions on the mountain ranges of the Peninsula. On the sandy Cape Flats lowlands there are a few pockets of protected Cape Flats Sand Fynbos . The Peninsula's vegetation types form part of
11970-536: The year. Dassies are an important part the Verreaux's eagle's prey on the Peninsula. Table Mountain is also home to porcupines , mongooses , snakes , lizards , tortoises , and a rare endemic species of amphibian that is only found on Table Mountain, the Table Mountain ghost frog . The last lion in the area was shot circa 1802. Leopards persisted on the mountains until perhaps the 1920s but are now extinct locally. Two smaller, secretive, nocturnal carnivores,
12084-499: Was deformed during the Saldanian orogenic cycle , both before and during the granite intrusions of 630 to 500 Mya, and there are minor intrusions which precede the granite. The base of this group has not been exposed. The basal rocks were eroded to a relatively featureless peneplain with exposed granites covering most of the peninsula south of Lion's Head and Devil's Peak . The Sea-Point contact zone , described by Charles Darwin
12198-465: Was influenced by the visit to the Cape by American minstrels . Old Cape minstrels, such as "The Ethiopians", had their own collection of Dutch and American songs. These minstrels used to parade the streets of Cape Town and serenade the locals with their songs. An etching by Heinrich Egersdorfer in 1884 depicted those regular marches by the local chapter of the Salvation Army , which included many of
12312-498: Was joined to the mainland by the emergence from the sea of the sandy area now known as the Cape Flats . The towns and villages of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Flats, and the undeveloped land of the rest of the peninsula now form part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality . The Cape Peninsula is bounded to the north by Table Bay , to the west by the open Atlantic Ocean , and to
12426-647: Was known as the mother that gave birth to the Coloured community in South Africa. With the arrival of more Europeans (such as the French Huguenots and the Germans ) and the arrival of more African and Asian slaves in the Cape Colony, there were more interracial unions, whose mixed-race children got absorbed into the Cape Coloured community. The predominant Asian slaves in the Cape were the Malay that came from Indonesia . Although most of them got interracially mixed into
12540-612: Was merged in 1994 with the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA, formed 1963) to form the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa . Success in the spread of Catholicism among Afrikaans speakers, including Coloured communities, remained minimal until the death throes of Apartheid during the mid to late 1980s. As Catholic texts began to be translated into Afrikaans, sympathetic Dutch Reformed pastors, who were defying
12654-490: Was officially abolished in the Cape on 1 December 1834. The Tweede Nuwe Jaar became a celebration that united the "creole culture" in Cape Town. It is estimated that the first carnival troupe was organised in 1887. In the apartheid years, the Cape Minstrels sang songs like "Dis'n nuwe jaar" ("It's a new year"), and many local songs, which were more true to the Cape Province and the local milieu. Modern Cape Minstrel tradition
12768-410: Was officially called off for the same reason. However, the troupe organisations subsequently decided to go ahead with the parade despite continued unhappiness over funding, and the festivities were opened by Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool on 2 January 2006. Modern celebration of Tweede Nuwe Jaar is a reminder of the slave past of colonial Cape Town, the importance of music and dance as part of
12882-455: Was predominantly Cape Coloured, District Six (just like many places in the Cape) was diverse with different ethnicities, races and nationalities living there (this includes Blacks, Whites, Asians etc.) . Many of these groups got absolved into the Cape coloured community. The Cape also attracted many European immigrants of which many of them got married into the Cape Coloured, adding on to the ancestry of
12996-420: Was used to refer to all people of mixed race, and this category included various ethnic groups such as Hottentots , Bushmen , Cape Malays , Griquas , Korannas , Creoles , Negroes , and Cape Coloureds . Of particular importance is the fact that the instruction to classify "coloured persons" as a distinct racial group included individuals of African descent, commonly referred to as Negroes. Therefore, it
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