Qualla: Robben Island

Robben Island: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0. From Table Mountain, Robben Island looks deceptively small -- a low, flat patch of land in Table Bay, barely rising above the water. At its highest point, Minto Hill reaches just 30 meters, crowned by a lighthouse. There are no cliffs, no dramatic topography, nothing to suggest that this particular 4.5-kilometer stretch of island has absorbed more human suffering and political significance per square meter than almost any other piece of ground on the African continent. Europeans first sighted it in 1488 when Bartolomeu Dias reached Table Bay. Within two centuries, it had become a prison. It would remain one, on and off, for over 300 years.

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Image: Moheen Reeyad | CC BY-SA 4.0

Robben Island: Prison, Asylum, Colony of the Sick

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Portuguese, British, and Dutch all used Robben Island as a place to put people they wanted out of sight. In 1658, Autshumato became its first political prisoner -- a Khoi leader accused of reclaiming livestock that European settlers had taken from his people. Later that centu...

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Image: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan | CC BY-SA 2.0

Robben Island: Military Outpost to Apartheid Prison

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Berkowitz from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0. In 1936, the South African Defence Force took control, building new roads, a power station, and housing. The island briefly became a military installation, part of the coastal defenses during the Second World War. But from 1961, it returned to its oldest purpose. The apartheid go...

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Image: David Berkowitz from New York, NY, USA | CC BY 2.0

Robben Island: Penguins and Shipwrecks

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Aart Rietveld, CC BY-SA 4.0. Robben Island's other residents have no interest in its political history. An African penguin colony, roughly 2,000 strong, has established itself on the island's shores. The waters around the island are treacherous -- several shipwrecks dot the coastline, including the Chanson d...

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Image: Aart Rietveld | CC BY-SA 4.0

Robben Island: Visiting the Island

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Moheen Reeyad, CC BY-SA 4.0. Today, Robben Island is a museum and UNESCO World Heritage Site, accessible by ferry from the Nelson Mandela Gateway at the V&A Waterfront. The crossing takes about 30 minutes across Table Bay -- on rough days, it is a reminder of just how isolated the prisoners were. Visits are ...

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Image: Moheen Reeyad | CC BY-SA 4.0