Robbeneyland

Cape Town , Falsby Bay (above) and Canteen with Robben Island (right), view from space, February 1995.

The name translates from Dutch as “seal island”; Once upon a time, seals were abundant in the surrounding waters. The island has an approximately circular shape ( rather: an oval shape with the main axis in the NE-SW direction ) about two kilometers across, an area of ​​5 km². As a result of centuries-old erosion, the surface of the island is almost flat and rises only a few meters above sea level.

The island is arid, only a rare shrub grows on it, there are no fresh water sources. This for centuries made it difficult to use as a prison. In the first half of the 20th century, artesian wells were tried to be drilled on it, but over time, seawater began to seep into the groundwater, and the wells became useless. In 1965, a conduit from Cape Town was laid along the seabed.

When the Dutch arrived on the island 400 years ago, the only animals that inhabited it were seals and birds. In 1960, the keeper of the island settled on it several antelopes from among the usual inhabitants of the dunes on the coast, and giant (or elephant ) turtles, which are completely uncharacteristic for these places. The turtles apparently came from the Galapagos or Seychelles and before that they lived more than 150 years in the Cape Town Zoo. It is not known whether these animals live on the island now.

Robben Island was first inhabited back in the Stone Age, when sea levels were much lower and the island connected to the mainland. At the end of the last glaciation, melting glaciers led to a rise in sea level, and the area around the island was flooded by the ocean. The island was a common place for ships to go around Africa in the 16th and early 17th centuries. After the first attempts at settlement, the island was turned into a Dutch, and then into an English penal servitude prison. Already among the first inhabitants of the island were exiled political leaders from the Dutch colonies, such as Indonesia .

From 1846 to 1931, a leper colony colony operated on the island; the insane and considered as such were referred here. In 1864, a lighthouse was installed.

During the Second World War, the island was fortified , and from the mid-1960s to 1991 it was a state prison of maximum security. The vast majority of prisoners were black political prisoners. From 1964 to 1982 ^[2] in this prison, under the number 46664 , Nelson Mandela was detained, later on - the first black president of South Africa . Other prominent prisoners of the Robben prison include apartheid fighters such as Walter Sisulu , Govan Mbeki , Robert Sobukwe . The prison maintained a brutal regime, and civilians, including fishermen, were strictly prohibited from accessing the island. The last political prisoner left the island in 1991. The island continued to be used as a medium-security prison until 1996.

In 1997, the island was turned into an open-air museum and declared a national monument. The island is currently a popular holiday destination; In 1999, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List . From Cape Town, the island can be reached by ferry, which operates all year round, if weather permits.

Robben Island has always been a great danger to shipping . The ocean surf is continuously beating on its shores, and any ship stranded near the island is immediately broken by waves. In the waters around the island many ships found their end; the treasures that some of them transported have not yet been found.

• World Heritage Robben Island
• Museum of Robben Island