Unesco declared Robben Island in the Western Cape a World Heritage Site in 1999. It is an island in Table Bay some 12 kilometres offshore from Cape Town, is a pivotal beacon in the history of South Africa. The island is only 30m above sea level. It's name comes from the Dutch word meaning “seal”.

Robben Island has been used as prison and a place where people were isolated, banished and exiled to for nearly 400 years. It was also used as a post office. Batolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer, discovered the island in 1488 when he anchored his ship in Table Bay. From the 1400's Portuguese sailors and British and Dutch traders and colonialists used Robben Island as a prison and an outpost.

Picture A: Robben Island from the air with Table Mountain in the background.
(Source: http://www.exil-club.de/html/30_projekte/32_projekte_02/biografien/mandela/rilluft.jpg)

When Jan van Riebeeck arrived at the Cape in 1652 he had to settle a station where ships that were travelling from Europe to the East Indies could get fresh food and water. Some of the people who stopped at the Cape were afraid to come to shore and were dropped off on Robben Island. There were plenty of fresh water and seals, tortoises and penguins for hunting. Due to the fact that many people stopped at the island it became a major point for mail exchange. Letters from outgoing ships would be left under an inscribed stone. These letters would then be collected and delivered by a ship on its way home.

In the 1600's the Dutch government sent kings, princes and religious leaders from the East Indies to Robben Island as prisoners because they did not agree with the Dutch rule in their country. Initially the Dutch settlers at the Cape had used the island as grazing for cattle and sheep, but they soon realised its value as a prison. At first only convicted criminals were sent to the prison island, but this was extended to political prisoners.

When Britain took over the Cape in the 1700's they also used the island as a prison. They sent army deserters, murderers, thieves and political prisoners there. In the 1800's a whaling station was established on Robben Island. It became apparent that this arrangement offered convicts an easy escape from custody and the station closed down in 1820.

Attempts to use the island as a mental asylum began in 1812. In 1843, John Montagu, the Colonial Secretary of the Cape, put a plan forward to use Robben Island as a kind of colony for lepers, mentally ill people, people with other diseases and poor people. His plan was approved in 1845. Sick people didn't get any treatment and had to look after each other. It was easy to be classified as mentally ill in those days and the homeless, alcoholics, people who were to sick or old to work and prostitutes with sexually transmitted diseases were sent to the island. The conditions were so appalling that the clergy and medical staff at the Cape made constant complaints. Improvements were made over time, but the island's leprosy hospital was only closed down in 1931.

In January 1865 a lighthouse was commissioned for Robben Island. John Scott Tucker, a Colonial Engineer, designed the circular structure. It was built from local materials and stood 18m high. In 1875 Robben Island had a population of 552. By 1891 this had risen to 702, and in 1904 1 460 people lived on the island.

In the 1900's Robben Island changed again and all the lepers were sent to hospitals in the Cape. It was used for storing guns and other military reasons before World War II and the government built roads, a power station, a new water supply and houses. In 1961 it turned into a prison again. During apartheid many black people were kept on Robben Island as political prisoners. Former President Nelson Mandela was kept there. The prison was known all over the world for its harsh conditions and when the political prisoners of the apartheid government were released Robben Island became a symbol of the strength of the human spirit.

Robben Island was declared a World Heritage Site because the buildings on the island are a reminder of its sad history and because the same buildings also show the power of the human spirit, freedom and the victory of democracy over oppression.

Robben Island Museum website | link