Robben Island was used between the 17th and 20th centuries as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups and a military base. Its buildings saw the victory of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism.
During the early days of white settlement at the Cape, Robben Island, prisoners who were brought here, were mainly rebellious Khoikhoi.
From 1836 to 1931 the island was used as a leper colony and in the 20th political prisoners under apartheid were kept here. Notable amongst these were Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Robert Sobukwe.
During the time that the island was a prison, security was very tight and it was off limits to all civilians. Before about 1980 there was not one citizen in 10,000 in Cape Town who had set foot on the island. It is not generally known that the use of the island as a prison was greatly inhibited for centuries by a lack of fresh water. The island is arid, with low scrubby vegetation and has no watercourses. Boreholes were drilled in the first half of the 20th century but in due course the fragile water table was invaded by sea water and the bores became useless. Sometime after 1965 a pipeline was laid on the bottom of the ocean from Cape Town. In the end, many of the prisoners were moved from the island to the mainland.
Political prisoners of the anti-apartheid movement were kept here together with tough criminals. The most prominent inmate was Nelson Mandela, who later became the first President of the new democratic South Africa. Mandela spent 27 years of his life in a tiny cell of 5 square meters.
The living conditions here were extremely bad. Prisoners had to labor in the quarry, were not dressed sufficiently and had to sleep on a thin straw matt on the stone floor. Through strikes and protests, in 1971 the prisoners achieved the implementation of more humane conditions and were also allowed to study.
Robben Island is now a national memorial and a museum. The fast sailboat ferries leave every day hourly from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the Waterfront's Clock Tower. The boat trip takes about 30 minutes and the guided tour of the island about two hours. A former inmate acts as tour guide around the prison. There is a bus one can take to the lime quarry, where the prisoners had to labor in the blinding sun without protection.
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