Robben Island

Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 kilometres (2 miles) long north–south, and 1.9 km (1+1⁄8 mi) wide, with an area of 5.08 km² (1+31⁄32 sq mi). It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. It was fortified and used as a prison from the late-seventeenth century until 1996, after the end of apartheid.

During the late 20th century, it was used to imprison political prisoners who opposed the postwar apartheid state. Political activist and lawyer Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on the island for 18 of the 27 years of his imprisonment before the fall of apartheid and introduction of full, multi-racial democracy in South Africa. He was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was elected in 1994 as President of South Africa, becoming the country's first black president. He served one term from 1994 to 1999.

Two other former inmates of Robben Island, in addition to Mandela, have been elected to the presidency since the late-1990s: Kgalema Motlanthe (2008–2009) and Jacob Zuma (2009–2018). Other former prisoners have held a variety of political positions in the democracy.

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

History

Located at the entrance to Table Bay, 11 km from Cape Town, this island was 'discovered' by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488. For many years, it was used by Portuguese navigators, and later by English and Dutch sailors, as a refueling station.

In 1654, the settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony placed all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island. The men built a large shed and a shelter. The isolation offered better protection for the livestock against wild animals than on the mainland. The settlers also collected seal skins and boiled oil to supply the needs of the settlement.

Since the end of the 17th century, Robben Island has been used for the incarceration of chiefly political prisoners. The Dutch settlers were the first to use Robben Island as a prison. The island's first prisoner was probably Autshumato in the mid-17th century. Among its early permanent inhabitants were political leaders imprisoned from other Dutch colonies, including the Dutch East Indies. These included the two surviving Malagasy leaders, named in Dutch East India Company records as Massavana and Koesaaij, of the mutiny of Malagasy slaves on the slave ship Meermin. They had been sold to the Dutch East India Company in Madagascar to be enslaved in the Cape Colony. Massavana died three years later, but Koesaaij survived at Robben Island for another 20 years.

After the British Royal Navy captured several Dutch East Indiamen at the battle of Saldanha Bay in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War 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.

In 1806, 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. It was adjacent to the site of the present-day Murray's Bay Harbour, which was constructed in 1939–40.

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. He drowned on the shores of Table Bay after escaping the prison.

The island was also used as a leper colony and animal quarantine station. 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. Initially, people were relocated on a voluntary basis, and the lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished. In April 1891, the cornerstones for 11 new buildings to house lepers were laid. After passage of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892, admission was no longer voluntary, and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Doctors and scientists did not understand the disease and thought that isolation was the only way to prevent other people from contracting it. 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 a further 250 were admitted in 1893.

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

In 1948 the National Party came to power and instituted a formal program of apartheid. Over time, black Africans and allies began to organize against this policy. 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, now a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island, was built to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. Moturu, one of Cape Town's first imams, had been exiled in the mid-1740s to the island. He died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.

In 1982, former inmate Indres Naidoo published his book Island in Chains, the first account prison life on the island.

The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium security prison for criminal prisoners was closed in 1996. In 1997 it was converted into a museum and designated a national monument. In 1999 it was recognized as a World Heritage Site.

After the end of apartheid, the island become a popular tourist destination. It is managed by Robben Island Museum (RIM), which operates the site as a living museum. 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 nation of South Africa, with the exception of the island church. Administratively, Robben Island is a suburb of the City of Cape Town. It is open all year around, weather permitting.

As a tourist attraction in South Africa's national consciousness, today Robben Island is often regarded as "a symbol of oppression" by many black South Africans.