Cape Flats

Province

The Cape Flats (short The Flats; Afrikaans: Kaapse The Vlakte; German about: flat country on the Cape ) is a densely populated area in Cape Town in South Africa's Western Cape province. From the 1950s residential areas for black South Africans and Coloureds were created on the then uninhabited area, who had been driven from the center of the city.

Geography

The Cape Flats is a flat, sandy area south-east of Cape Town center. The sand is aeolian and originates from the seabed. The Cape Flats lie on the land bridge between the Cape Peninsula and the rest of the African continent. In the south of False Bay, Cape Flats. To the north, the boundary is unclear. Occasionally other Cape Town be expected housing estates for coloreds and black South Africans to the Cape Flats, Langa and Nyanga about the north. However, in the narrower sense as the area covers only the southern half of the land bridge. To the west of the area, the terrain rises to the mountainous heights of the Cape Peninsula, to the east it rises slowly to the mountain ranges in the Cape Winelands region. The area has a Mediterranean climate. In the Cape Flats over a million people live.

History

As of 1827, the area was planted with neophytes to assess the sand, the more difficult the way from Cape Town in the interior. Among them were mainly Australian species such as willow leaf Wattle (Acacia saligna ). The plantings were held until after 1875 and resulted in a marked reduction in the Sand flight. But there was a biological invasion by the newly introduced plants.

Until about 1950, the area was almost uninhabited except for the coastal strip. Between the acacia lived antelopes. The South African Army used the area as a training ground. From the 1950s, the Cape Flats were built in rapid succession. The apartheid government created there dwellings for non-white South Africans who were not allowed in the Cape Town city center, such as in District Six, live longer, according to the provisions of the Group Areas Act adopted in 1950. Thus, the townships of Gugulethu and Crossroads, the early 1980s also Khayelitsha were built for black South Africans in the Cape Flats. Many blacks, especially Xhosa, lived illegally in the settlements, because they actually had to live in the remote Bantustans. Known townships of Coloureds were Manenberg and Mitchell 's Plain. The living conditions were mostly poor. Due to the forced relocations, the crime rate rose dramatically.

With the end of apartheid, racial segregation was abolished. Nevertheless, since then has been no appreciable mixing in the settlements of the Cape Flats. The population is declining, due to rural exodus to continue, especially from the Eastern Cape.

Culture

The Cape Flats play a role in the cultural development of South Africa. The jazz piece man mountain of Abdullah Ibrahim and Basil Coetzee, named after the township Manenberg, was an anthem of the oppressed South Africans. The Cape Flats are a center of the South African hip-hop.

Religions in the Cape Flats are varied. This includes a large Muslim community.

Traffic

Through the Cape Flats lead the N2 in a northwest-southeast direction, the M7 in north-south direction and the R300, the Cape Flats Freeway, transverse to the N2.

A line of Metrorail Cape Town called Cape Flats Line and connects the west of the Cape Flats to the city center and the Cape Peninsula. The east of the Cape Flats is connected via the Bonteheuwel Line.

The Cape Town International Airport is located in the north of the Cape Flats.

Others

In the Cape Flats existence since 1978, the nature reserve of Cape Flats Nature Reserve, which is managed by the University of the Western Cape.

Personalities

• Tony Schilder (1937-2010), jazz musician, lived for a time in the Cape Flats
• Trevor Manuel ( b. 1956 ), politician, grew up in the Cape Flats
• Hilton Schilder ( born 1959 ), jazz musician, born in Lotus River, Cape Flats