Photos of Western Cape, South Africa’s southernmost province, South Africa

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Western Cape, South Africa’s southernmost province

Created in 1994 from the southwestern part of the large Cape Province, Western Cape stretches about 500 kilometres along the western Atlantic coast and around 400 kilometres along the Indian Ocean on the south coast. Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point of the African continent. Cape Town, 64 kilometres north of Cape of Good Hope, is the capital of Western Cape Province.

Olifants River near Klawer
 
Olifants River near Clanwilliam
 
Olifants River near Clanwilliam
 
View to Robben Island
 
View across Table Bay
 
Suikerbrood rock
 
Cape Point
 
Lighthouse, Cape Point
 
Cape of Good Hope
 
View, Cape of Good Hope
 
St. George's Street, Simon's Town
 
Naval Base Simon's Town
 
Coast at Chapmans Peak
 
Camps Bay, Twelve Apostles
 
View of Cape Town
 
View of Table Mountain
 
View of Klein-Koeëlbaai
 
Cape Coloured children
 
Cape Coloured children
 
Cape Coloured children
 
Cape Agulhas
 
Rocky coast, Cape Agulhas
 
Tidal pool, Cape Agulhas
 
Coloured boy, Swellendam
 
Cape Dutch architecture
 
Cape Dutch architecture
 
Street in Riversdale
 
Boy in Riversdale
 
Aloes along the road
 
Arriving in Mossel Bay
 
Pine Lake Marina
 
Coast at Plettenberg Bay
 
Location, Beaufort West
 
Road near Kruidfontein
 
View to Laingsburg
 
View to De Doorns
 

It is a very diverse region. In the interior are the semi-arid Great Karoo and Little Karoo, a place with summer heat and winter frosts, while the 200-kilometre Garden Route leading east from Mossel Bay along the coast has lush and diverse vegetation, with many beaches, estuaries and lakes. The province is well known for its wine production and vineyards. It is the site of Stellenbosch University, the oldest university in South Africa. There are many examples of Cape Dutch architecture, a traditional Afrikaner architectural style, like in Swellendam.

Around 50% of the population have Afrikaans as their first language due to the early Dutch settlement of the Cape. Liaisons between the various peoples living there gave rise to a new, distinct ethnic group: the Cape Coloureds. Nowadays, 49% of the people of the Western Cape describe themselves as “Coloured” and 17% as “White”. Black African people live mainly in the province’s east; their first language, spoken by 25% of the population, is isiXhosa.