Cape of Good Hope

views updated Jun 27 2018

Cape of Good Hope. Cape Town was captured by the British from the Dutch in 1795 and formally ceded in 1814. Strained relations between British immigrants and the Dutch settlers (Boers) over slavery and religion led to the Boers' Great Trek in 1835 to re-establish their own territories. The Cape became a crown colony in 1853. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) on Boer land renewed the struggle for political control in southern Africa, leading finally to the Boer war (1899–1902). In 1910 the Cape became a province of the Union of South Africa along with the Boer republics of Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State.

Richard A. Smith

Cape of Good Hope

views updated May 29 2018

Cape of Good Hope ★★½ 2004 (PG-13)

A Cape Town animal rescue shelter is the link for numerous characters and their stories. Kate (Brown) runs the shelter and is the object of attraction for a shy vet (Visser). She befriends young Thabo (Masilo), whose widowed mother, Lindiwe (Moshesh), is being pressured to marry an elderly, wealthy minister, but refugee Jean Claude (Ebouaney), who works at the shelter, loves her. Mean-while, Kate's friend and co-worker Sharifa (Adams) is having marital trouble. Director Bamford doesn't ignore poverty and racism in a post-apartheid South Africa but his focus remains on how this group deals with ordinary, everyday life. 107m/C DVD . US Eriq Ebouaney, Nthati Moshesh, David Isaacs, Nick Boraine, Debbie Brown, Morne Visser, Quanita Adams, Kamo Masilo; D: Mark Bamford; W: Mark Bamford, Suzanne Kay; C: Larry Fong; M: J.B. Eckl.

Cape of Good Hope

views updated Jun 08 2018

Cape of Good Hope Peninsula, 50km (30mi) s of Cape Town, South Africa. The first European to sail around it was Bartholomeu Diaz in 1488. The Cape sea route between India and Europe was established by Vasco da Gama in 1497–99.

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