Cape Town

City Introduction

Cape Town is the second largest city in South Africa, and also part of the Cape Town Metropolis. Cape Town is famous for its beautiful natural landscape and wharf, and its well-known landmarks include Table Mountain honored as "God's Dining Table", and Cape Hope as the intersection between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated in the strip in the north end of Cape of Good Hope, and is contiguous to Table Bay of the Atlantic Ocean. Established in 1652, it was originally the service station of the East India Company, and the earliest base built by the Western European colonists in Southern Africa. So it was named “Mother City", and served as the base for the Holland and UK colonists to expand in Africa for a long time. Now it is a legislative department. The second busiest airport of Africa is in Cape Town: Cape Town International Airport. This airport is one of the major ways of transportation for travelers to visit South Africa.

History and Culture

Cape Town was initially developed around the wharf, and gradually became the first long-term base for the Europeans in Sub-Saharan Africa. Later, the Europeans built their first military base-- Castle of Good Hope. Before the building of Johannesburg and the discovery of a large amount of gold and diamond in Transvaal, Cape Town was the largest city in Southern Africa. Jazz, wines and the historical buildings of the Netherlands in Cape Town have infused many culture elements in the tourism industry of this city. Since it was dominated by the Netherlands and the UK in the past, the architecture in Cape Town has a very distinct European continental style. In addition to some Dutch buildings, such as the Wine Museum built in 1685 and the building of the Town Hall as the Baroque architecture, there are many Victorian houses on both sides of Long Street. In addition, Green Market Square in St. Georges Street is the famous flea market, where special artworks from the locals and other African countries, such as Zimbabwe and Kenya are sold. The annual Cape Town Minstrel Carnival (South-African Dutch: Kaapse Klopse) is held on January 2. The teams participating in this carnival are all dressed in special costumes in bright colors, hold colorful umbrellas, or play music in the procession.

Natural Environment

The downtown area of Cape Town is is situated in the north end of Cape Peninsula. The terrain of Table Mountain forms a bowl-like region, which is surrounded by nearly cliffs in right angle, with Devil’s Peak and Lion's Head on both sides. Cape Peninsula has the mountain ridge extending to the Atlantic Ocean, with the Cape of Good Hope as the end.

Climate

Cape Peninsula has the Mediterranean climate, and there are four distinctive seasons. The winter is from May to August, when the cold front comes with a large amount of rainwater from the Atlantic, and the average lowest temperature is only about 7°C. In the winter, there is the most precipitation in the whole city, and the average precipitation is 321mm, accounting for about 60% of the average annual precipitation (average annual precipitation is 515mm), and because of the topographic characteristics, the rainfalls in different regions vary significantly. The summer is from November to February, when there is warm and dry climate, and the highest average temperature is 26°C, and the average rainfall is only 63mm.