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Robben Island

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Robben Island

Robbeneiland

Robben Island Village

Robben Island Village

Robben Island is located in Western CapeRobben IslandRobben Island

Robben Island shown within Western Cape

Location within Cape Town

Robben Island is located in South AfricaRobben IslandRobben Island

Robben Island (South Africa)

Robben Island is located in AfricaRobben IslandRobben Island

Robben Island (Africa)

Coordinates: 33.806734°S 18.366222°ECoordinates: 33.806734°S 18.366222°E

Country South Africa

Province Western Cape

Municipality City of Cape Town

Area[1]

• Total 5.18 km2 (2.00 sq mi)

Population (2011)[1]

• Total 116

• Density 22/km2 (58/sq mi)

Racial makeup (2011)[1]

• Black African 60.3%

• Coloured 23.3%

• White 13.8%

• Other 2.6%

First languages (2011)[1]

• Xhosa 37.9%

• Afrikaans 35.3%

• Zulu 15.5%

• English 7.8%

• Other 3.4%

Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)

PO box 7400

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Type Cultural

Criteria iii, vi

Designated 1999 (23rd session)

Reference no. 916

State Party South Africa

Region Africa

See also: Maximum Security Prison, Robben Island

Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres

(4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name
is Dutch for "seal island." Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km (2.1 mi)
long north-south, and 1.9 km (1.2 mi) wide, with an area of 5.08 km2 (1.96 sq
mi).[2] It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient
erosion event. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson
Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before
the fall of apartheid. To date, three former inmates of Robben Island have gone on
to become President of South Africa: Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe,[3] and
Jacob Zuma.

Robben Island is a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO

World Heritage Site.[4][5]

Contents

1 History

2 Access to the island

3 Maritime hazard

3.1 Robben Island lighthouse

4 Wildlife and conservation

5 Gallery

6 See also
7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

History

Main article: Maximum Security Prison, Robben Island

Robben Island as viewed from Table Mountain towards Saldanha Bay.

Since the end of the 17th century, Robben Island has been used for the isolation of
mainly political prisoners. The Dutch settlers were the first to use Robben Island as
a prison. Its first prisoner was probably Autshumato in the mid-17th century.
Among its early permanent inhabitants were political leaders from various Dutch
colonies, including Indonesia, and the leader of the mutiny on the slave ship
Meermin.

After the British Royal Navy captured several Dutch East Indiamen at the battle of
Saldanha Bay in 1781, a boat rowed out to meet the British warships. On board
were the "kings of Ternate and Tidore, and the princes of the respective families".
The Dutch had long held them on "Isle Robin", but then had moved them to
Saldanha Bay.[6]

In 1806 the Scottish whaler John Murray opened a whaling station at a sheltered
bay on the north-eastern shore of the island which became known as Murray's Bay,
adjacent to the site of the present-day harbour named Murray's Bay Harbour which
was constructed in 1939–40.[7][8]

After a failed uprising at Grahamstown in 1819, the fifth of the Xhosa Wars, the
British colonial government sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life
imprisonment on the island.[9] He drowned on the shores of Table Bay after
escaping the prison.[10][11]

The island was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station.[12]
Starting in 1845 lepers from the Hemel-en-Aarde (heaven and earth) leper colony
near Caledon were moved to Robben Island when Hemel-en-Aarde was found
unsuitable as a leper colony. Initially this was done on a voluntary basis and the
lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished.[13] In April 1891 the
cornerstones for 11 new buildings to house lepers were laid. After the introduction
of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892 admission was no longer voluntary
and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Prior to 1892 an average of about
25 lepers a year were admitted to Robben Island, but in 1892 that number rose to
338, and in 1893 a further 250 were admitted.[13]

During the Second World War the island was fortified and BL 9.2-inch guns and 6-
inch guns were installed as part of the defences for Cape Town.

From 1961, Robben Island was used by the South African government as a prison
for political prisoners and convicted criminals. In 1969 the Moturu Kramat, which
is now a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island, was built to
commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. Moturu, who
was one of Cape Town's first imams, was exiled to the island in the mid-1740s. He
died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine
before leaving the island.

The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium
security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later.[14]
With the end of apartheid, the island has become a popular destination with global
tourists. It is managed by Robben Island Museum (RIM); which operates the site
as a living museum. In 1999 the island was declared a World Heritage Site. Every
year thousands of visitors take the ferry from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in
Cape Town for tours of the island and its former prison. Many of the guides are
former prisoners. All land on the island is owned by the country of South Africa
with the exception of the island church. It is open all year around, weather
permitting.

Access to the island

Robben Island is accessible to visitors through tours that depart from Cape Town's
waterfront. Tours depart three times a day and take about 3.5 hours, consisting of a
ferry trip to and from the island, and a tour of the various historical sites on the
island that form part of the Robben Island Museum. These include the island
graveyard, the disused lime quarry, Robert Sobukwe’s house, the Bluestone
quarry, the army and navy bunkers, and the maximum security prison including
Nelson Mandela’s cell.[15]

Maritime hazard

Dutch map of the island, from 1731.

Seagoing vessels must take great care navigating near Robben Island and nearby
Whale Rock (it does not break the surface) as they pose a danger to shipping.[16]
A prevailing rough Atlantic swell surrounds the offshore reefs and the island's
jagged coastline. Stricken vessels driven onto rocks are quickly broken up by the
powerful surf. There are a total of 31 known vessels that have been wrecked
around the island.[17]
In 1990, a marine archaeology team from the University of Cape Town began
Operation "Sea Eagle". It was an underwater survey that scanned 9 square nautical
miles (31 km2; 12 sq mi) of seabed around Robben Island. The task was made
particularly difficult by the strong currents and high waves that make sailing in
these waters treacherous. Nevertheless, the group managed to find 24 vessels that
had sunk around Robben Island. Most wrecks were found in waters less than 10
metres (33 ft) deep. The team concluded that poor weather, darkness and fog were
the cause of the sinkings.[17]

Maritime wrecks around Robben Island and its surrounding waters include the 17th
century Dutch East Indiaman ships, the Yeanger van Horne (1611), the
Shaapejacht (1660), and the Dageraad (1694). Later 19th century wrecks include
several British brigs including the Gondolier (1836) and the American clipper,
A.H. Stevens (1866). In 1901 the mail steamer SS Tantallon Castle struck rocks off
Robben Island in dense fog shortly after leaving Cape Town. After distress
cannons were fired from the island, nearby vessels rushed to the rescue. All 120
passengers and crew were taken off the ship before it was broken apart in the
relentless swell. A further 17 ships have been wrecked in the 20th century,
including British, Spanish, Norwegian and Taiwanese vessels.

Robben Island lighthouse

Robben Island Lighthouse

Due to the maritime danger that Robben Island presents to shipping, Jan van
Riebeeck, the first Dutch colonial administrator in Cape Town in the 1650s,
ordered that huge bonfires were to be lit at night on top of Fire Hill, the highest
point on the island (now Minto Hill). These were to warn VOC ships approaching
the island.
In 1865 Robben Island lighthouse was completed on Minto Hill.[18] The
cylindrical masonry tower, which has an attached lightkeepers house at its base, is
18 metres (59 ft) high with a lantern gallery at the top. In 1938 the lamp was
converted to electricity. The lighthouse utilises a flashing lantern instead of a
revolving lamp; it shines for a duration of 5 seconds every seven seconds. The
46,000 candela beam flashes white light away from Table Bay. It is visible up to
24 nautical miles (28 mi; 44 km).[19] A secondary red light acts as a navigation
aid for vessels sailing south southeast.

Wildlife and conservation

View of Table Bay from Robben Island coast

Robben island coast with a view of Table Mountain, 2015

African or Blackfoot penguin on Robben Island, 2015

African sacred ibis on Robben Island, 2015

When the Dutch arrived in the area in 1652, the only large animals on the island
were seals and birds, principally penguins. In 1654, the settlers released rabbits on
the island to provide a ready source of meat for passing ships.[20]

The original colony of African penguins on the island was completely

exterminated by 1800. However the modern day island is once again an important
breeding area for the species after a new colony established itself there in
1983.[21] The colony grew to a size of ~16,000 individuals in 2004, before starting
to decline in size again. As of 2015, this decline has been continuous (to a colony
size of ~3,000 individuals) and mirrors that found at almost all other African
penguin colonies. Its causes are still largely unclear and likely to vary between
colonies, but at Robben Island are probably related to a diminishing of the food
supply (sardines and anchovies) through competition by fisheries.[22] The
penguins are easy to see close up in their natural habitat and are therefore a popular
tourist attraction.

Around 1958, Lieutenant Peter Klerck, a naval officer serving on the island,
introduced various animals. The following extract of an article, written by Michael
Klerck who lived on the island from an early age, describes the fauna life
there:[23]

My father, a naval officer at the time, with the sanction of Doctor Hey, director of
Nature Conservation, turned an area into a nature reserve. A 'Noah's Ark' berthed
in the harbour sometime in 1958. They stocked the island with tortoise, duck,
geese, buck (which included Springbok, Eland, Steenbok, Bontebok and Fallow
Deer), Ostrich and a few Wildebeest which did not last long. All except the fallow
deer are indigenous to the Cape. Many animals are still there[24] including three
species of tortoise—the most recently discovered in 1998—two Parrot Beaked
specimens that have remained undetected until now. The leopard or mountain
tortoises might have suspected the past terror; perhaps they had no intention of
being a part of a future infamy, but they often attempted the swim back to the
mainland (they are the only species in the world that can swim). Boats would lift
them out of the sea in Table Bay and return them to us. None of the original 12
shipped over remain, and in 1995, four more were introduced—they seem to have
more easily accepted their home as they are still residents. One resident brought
across a large leopard tortoise discovered in a friend's garden in Newlands, Cape
Town. He lived in our garden and grew big enough to climb over the wall and
roam the island much like the sheep in Van Riebeeck's time. As children we were
able to ride his great frame comfortably, as did some grown men. The buck and
ostriches seemed equally happy and the ducks and Egyptian Geese were assigned a
home in the old quarry, which had, some three hundred years before, supplied the
dressed stone for the foundations of the Castle; at the time of my residence it
bristled with fish. Recent reports in Cape Town newspapers show that a lack of
upkeep, a lack of culling, and the proliferation of rabbits on the island has led to
the total devastation of the wildlife; there remains today almost none of the animals
my father brought over all those years ago; the rabbits themselves have laid the
island waste, stripping it of almost all ground vegetation. It looks almost like a
desert. A reporter from the broadcasting corporation told me recently that they
found the carcass of the last Bontebok.

There may be 25,000 rabbits on the island. Humans are hunting and culling the
rabbits to reduce their number.[25]