Robben Island (Afrikaans: Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a few metres above sea level, as a result of an ancient erosion event. The island is composed of Precambrian metamorphic rocks belonging to the Malmesbury Group. It is of particular note that it was here that Nobel Laureate and former Presidents of South Africa Nelson Mandela and Kgalema Motlanthe, alongside many other political prisoners, spent 27 years imprisoned during the apartheid era. Among those political prisoners was current President of South Africa Jacob Zuma who was imprisoned there for ten years.
Read more about Robben Island: History, Maritime Peril, Animal Life, List of Former Prisoners Held At Robben Island, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the word island:
“I candidly confess that I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Florida, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)