var q thecapeofgoodhopeObviously space will not allow us to delve into the rich, difficult history of this worldfamous building. Save to say that the story of his Castle is a story of our. Todays World Census Report The Most Income Equality in Cape of Good Hope. World Census boffins calculated the difference in incomes between the richest and poorest. Vasco da Gama. Help support New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa. Dutch and British Coastal Fortifications at the Cape of Good Hope 1. The Cape Peninsula is surrounded by oceans on three sides and has three natural harbours Table Bay and Hout Bay on the Atlantic coast and False Bay on the Indian Ocean. Table Bay was used as a major anchoring place by European seafarers since well before Jan van Riebeeck, administrator in the service of the Dutch East India Company also known as the VOC founded the Cape settlement in 1. As it was found that heavy winter storms caused much damage to shipping in the open roadstead of Table Bay, in 1. Simons Bay in False Bay was declared the winter anchoring place for the VOC fleet. Other shipping followed suit. Hout Bay was not suitable as it could contain only about six East Indiamen, trading ships of a certain size suitable for the long run to the East Indies and the spice island in the China Sea. In addition the wind blows into Hout Bay throughout the year Fig. From the beginning the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope needed in the minds of the colonizers some form of protection from internal and external enemy forces. During the pre colonial period the Table Bay valley and its environs was probably inhabited by San hunter gathering communities, which were replaced by Khoi pastoralists some two thousand years ago. The Khoi migrated over a set route during the seasons. During the early 1. Goringhaiqua people claimed grazing rights over the whole Cape Peninsula, but shared it with the Gorachoqua and the stockless Goringhaicona Bottaro, J. It came therefore as a shock when in 1. Dutch established a foothold in Table Bay, erected a basic four square fort with four hornworks, and some years later proceeded to grant freehold farms to freeburghers along the Liesbeeck River valley. The first fort Fort De Goede Hoop. Two days after van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay to establish a provisioning station for the VOC ships a gathering of the first Council of Policy  decided to begin immediately with the erection of a fort, to be known as Fort De Goede Hoop to house the garrison and government offices. Its location near the beach and a freshwater stream seemed ideal.   The remains of this first fort are a couple of centimeters below the tarmac at the western end of the Grand Parade in central Cape Town Fig. The Fort De Goede Hoop was basically an enclosed square, surrounded by earthen ramparts with some clay walling, and on each corner a rectangular bastion, the basic star shape of the Old Dutch fortifications system. The courtyard contained a series of wooden or wattle and daub one storey buildings barracks, stores and workshops with a brick building, de Kat, at the back of the courtyard, the commanders residence. To the seafront, an enclosed hornwork contained the hospital, storage space and latrines, at the rear earthen walls enclosed a cattle pen. The rough and ready building materials consisting of sods, sand, boulders and clay, were found in the vicinity. The whole was surrounded by a moat. However, the walls and ramparts collapsed periodically in the heavy winter rains. The work was conducted by employing the local garrison and Company slaves, as well as soldiers and sailors from passing ships, the local Khoi were unwilling to labour under the foreign intruders. In 1. 66. 6 the foundation stone of a more permanent building, the Castle was laid and some twelve years later the whole garrison moved to their new quarters. he first company officials introduced slaves of East Indian and African descent into the country. They were owned by the Dutch East India Company and individuals. Early European Fortifications along the Liesbeeck River. By the late 1. 65. Fort De Goede Hoop had expanded, and also included free burgher farms along the Liesbeeck River to the east of the fort and Table Mountain, cutting off the local Khoi from their traditional grazing areas. The land along the lower reaches of the Liesbeeck River to the mouth of the Salt River consisted of barren, rocky soil with sparse vegetation. Van Riebeeck declared this too VOC grazing lands and consequently instructed Kaptains Autschomao and Gogosa of the Goringhaiqua not to establish their kraals in the vicinity of the Liesbeeck and Salt Rivers Sleigh, D. The Khoi reaction to the dispossession of their lands was to disrupt farming, and in 1. A line of manned forts was erected on the eastern side of the Liesbeeck River amongst the farms and connected by a log fence Fig. These simple earth and timber fortifications works redoubts stretched from Fort Dynhoop in Table Bay in an arc towards, what is now, Kirstenbosch gardens. In addition, a wild almond hedge was planted to prevent the indigenous cattle of the Khoi Khoi to graze on Company land. None of these redoubts has survived the expansion of the town, only a short fragment of the wild almond hedge is said to be extant in the Kirstenbosch gardens. The Castle of Good Hope. Instructions concerning the building of a new fort to replace the existing one came in 1. It had become evident that the new settlement needed some form of protection and defense from external, mainly European enemy forces. In accordance with its priorities the Company often sent governors with a military background to the Cape. The Castle was built in blue stone and it was said that, viewed from the bay, it loomed huge above the shore like a stone wall out of the earth that thundering cannon cannot destroy Hall, M. Halkett, D., et al. By mid 1. 67. 6 all five bastions were standing and armed with cannon, from 1. These guns covered the anchoring place in Table Bay. The whole was surrounded by a moat, watered by the Plattekloof stream, which discharged itself into the bay at this spot. Over the years buildings were erected inside the pentagon courtyard and a dividing wall De Kat across it. Governor van Der Stel had dwellings, store rooms and barracks built beside this wall including a house for the secunde and fine new governors residence. These buildings were constantly repaired, enlarged and updated according to prevailing fashions. At the end of the Dutch period at the Cape the Castle with its armament and moat still presented such a display of power and solid impregnability that no attempt had ever been made against it. Today the Castle, separated from the shore by a large expanse of reclaimed land, still serves the country as the headquarters of Western Cape Province Command. It is the oldest surviving example of European architecture in South Africa and houses two of the countrys finest museums. The early Table Bay defense works. By the beginning of the 1. Table Bay. Its value as a supply station for VOC ships to and fro from the East Indies increased enormously and additional defense works along the shores of Table Bay were seen as indispensible against foreign maritime powers, such as the British and French. The Castle at it presented itself then was reported as too vulnerable and given a new couvre face battery, named Imhoff Battery, between it and the receding beach. This battery was destroyed when the railway line was extended into central Cape Town. In addition, during the following years several small batteries were erected between the Castle and the Lions rump to the west and a line of small defense works, connected by breastworks of earth and masonry, ran along the shore above the high water line to the east Fig. The Sea Lines ended at Fort Knokke, a substantial star shaped fort, demolished only in 1.