History of Cape Town

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1658360—    
17313,157+3.02%
183620,000+1.77%
187545,000+2.10%
189167,000+2.52%
1901171,000+9.82%
1950618,000+2.66%
1955705,000+2.67%
1960803,000+2.64%
1965945,000+3.31%
19701,114,000+3.35%
19751,339,000+3.75%
19801,609,000+3.74%
19851,933,000+3.74%
19902,296,000+3.50%
19962,565,018+1.86%
20012,892,243+2.43%
20073,497,097+3.22%
20113,740,025+1.69%
20164,005,016+1.38%
Note: Census figures (1996–2011) cover figures after 1994 reflect the greater Cape Town metropolitan municipality reflecting post-1994 reforms. Sources: 1658–1904,[1] 1950–1990,[2]

1996,[3] 2001, and 2011 Census;[4]

2007,[5] 2016 Census estimates.[6]

Area known today as Cape Town has no written history before it was first mentioned by Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias in 1488. The German anthropologist Theophilus Hahn recorded that the original name of the area was '||Hui !Gais' – a toponym in the indigenous Khoi language meaning "where clouds gather."[7]

  1. ^ Worden, Nigel; van Hyningen, Elizabeth; Bickford-Smith, Vivian (1998). Cape Town: The Making of a City. Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa: David Philip Publishers. p. 212. ISBN 0-86486-435-3.
  2. ^ "Population estimates for Cape Town, South Africa, 1950–2015". Mongabay.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Census 96 : Community Profile". City of Cape Town. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  4. ^ "City of Cape Town – 2011 Census – Cape Town" (PDF). City of Cape Town. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  5. ^ Small, Karen (December 2008). "Demographic and Socio-economic Trends for Cape Town: 1996 to 2007" (PDF). City of Cape Town. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Provincial profile: Western Cape Community Survey 2016" (PDF).
  7. ^ Hahn, T. Tsuni-IIGoam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi, Trübner's Oriental Series, 1881