Table Bay to distant mountains: a view across central Cape Town and harbour complex from Table Mountain
Portuguese ocean explorer Bartholomew Diaz anchored in Table Bay in 1488, but Cape Town was established by the Dutch on 6 April 1652, when Jan van Riebeeck established a supply station for ships of the Dutch East India Company, as they sailed around the Cape to and from the Dutch East Indies. A British army landed, to secure Cape Town's strategic location, after the fall of Holland to France in 1795, British sovereignty being recognised by the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1814-15. The historic Victoria and Alfred Basins, dating to 1860, are seen on the left side of the harbour complex. The two main commercial docks today are the Ben Schoeman Dock, featuring a container terminal, and the older, inner Duncan Dock, featuring a tanker basin, fruit terminal and repair facility for vessels, including oil rigs, two of which are visible. Breakwaters protect the harbour complex from strong westerly winds, which are common in the Cape winter. The railway, joining the 'Mother City' to the rest of Cape Province, was built in 1859. A high interior plateau surrounded by a lower coastal zone is a feature of South African geography, assisting settlement from the sea. The land rises to a series of mountain ranges in the background of this view.
Size: 5201px × 3483px
Location: Table Mountain, Cape Town, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa
Photo credit: © robert harrison / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: alfred, bartholomew, bay, ben, breakwaters, cape, city, diaz, docks, duncan, harbour, history, jan, landscape, mountain, mpother, riebeeck, schoeman, table, tourism, town, van, victoria, waterfront, western
