Table Bay (

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

: ''Tafelbaai'') is a natural bay on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

overlooked by

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

(founded 1652 by Van Riebeeck) and is at the northern end of the

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula ( af, 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 ...

, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped

Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

History

Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this region in 1486. The bay, although famous for centuries as a haven for ships, is actually a rather poor natural harbour and is exposed to storm waves from the northwest. Many sailing ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 17th and 18th centuries were driven ashore by winter storms. The Dutch colonists nevertheless persisted with their efforts on the shores of Table Bay, because good natural harbours along this coastline are almost non-existent. The best of them,

Saldanha Bay Saldanha Bay ( af, Saldanhabaai) is a natural harbour on the south-western coast of South Africa. The town that developed on the northern shore of the bay, also called Saldanha, was incorporated with five other towns into the Saldanha Bay Local ...

, lacked fresh water.

Simon's Bay Simon's Town ( af, Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern si ...

was well protected from westerly winter storms and swells, but more exposed to summer southeasterliy storms and difficult to access overland from Cape Town.

Hout Bay Hout Bay ( af, Houtbaai, meaning "Wood Bay") is a harbour town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of Cape Town. The name "Hout Bay" can ...

was small and exposed to the prevailing southwesterly swell. Eventually a harbour was built in Table Bay by a process of land reclamation and was protected from storm waves by

breakwaters A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges. Part of a coastal management system, breakwaters are installed to minimize erosion, and to protect anchorages, h ...

. The older part of this development is called the Victoria Dock; the newer part, the Duncan Dock.

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, is in this bay. The bay's beaches were oiled following an accident involving the Dutch tanker Sliedrecht in November 1953. The vessel moved offshore to pump out 1,000 tonnes of oil that had been fouled with seawater after the initial impact.

Image gallery

File:Aernout Smit Table Bay, 1683 William Fehr Collection Cape Town.jpg,

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

ships off Table Bay in the 17th century File:Pieter van der Aa Cape of Good Hope.jpg, Looking over sailing ships in Table Bay in 1727 with

in the background File:Cape Town & Table Bay 1882.jpg, Map of Table Bay (1882) File:IMRAY(1884) p0707 TABLE BAY.jpg, Map of the Docks and Infrastructure (1884) File:Capetown table false bay.jpg, Cape Town from space, looking south over

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...

with

Hangklip Point Pringle Bay ( af, Pringlebaai) is a small, affluent coastal village in the Overberg region of the Western Cape, in South Africa. It is situated at the foot of Hangklip, on the opposite side of False Bay from Cape Point. The town and surrounds are p ...

(top left),

Cape Point Cape Point ( af, Kaappunt) is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in South Af ...

(top right) and Table Bay south and east of the clearly visible, circular

, February 1995. File:Satellite image of Cape peninsula.jpg, Synthetic perspective with 2× exaggerated elevation, from satellite elevation and image data. Looking east over

and

(behind) with

(front left),

(centre front) and

(front right). File:Ship Defense at Anchor in Table Bay.jpg, Sketch of Cape Town from the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

Ship Defense, en route from the Downs to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, anchored in Table Bay on January 24, 1739.

References

{{Authority control Bays of South Africa Maritime history of South Africa

History

Image gallery

See also

References