CAPE TOWN. The capital of Cape Colony and the second seaport of British South Africa (Map: Cape Colony, D 9). It is situated on Table Bay, on a slope of Table Mountain, in latitude Voh.
33° 50' S. and longitude IS' 28' E. It is well built with tine streets and squares and all the imprevements of a modern city, including electric lighting. The public buildings as well as the private residences are in modern European style, and the entire aspect of the place, with the exception of the heterogeneous crowds in the streets, is essentially European. The climate is comparatively moderate and healthful, and the water-supply excellent. There are a cathedral, churches of different denominations, a synagogue, and several mosques. The houses of Parliament, the buildings of the Supreme Court, and the banks are among the chief secular edifices. Cape Town has several colleges and an examining university, a South African Museum, a library, and an observatory, besides a number of schools for elementary and secondary education. The har bor has beeu improved by a breakwater of gigan tic proportions and is divided into several parts, of which the inner harbor is sufficiently deep for the heaviest vessels. The entrance to the harbor
is defended by a castle which is the headquarters of t-he military forces of the colony. The com merce of Cape Town is exceeded only by that of Port Elizabeth. The capital is connected by rail way lines with all the important centres in the interior.
Cape Towit is the seat of a Catholic and an Anglican bishop, and of a number of consular representatives, including one from the United States. The population, numbering about 84,000 (including suburbs), is extremely heterogeneous, including negroes, Katlirs, Hottentots, and Euro peans, largely of Dutch descent, who constitute over 50 per cent. of the total population of the town proper. Cape Town was founded in 1652 by the Dutch, in whose possession it remained until 1506, when it was taken possession of by England.