Africa Photo Blog

By: Louise de Waal

Apr 22 2011

Tags: Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, South Africa

Category: Cityscapes

The Bo-Kaap,  an historic area of Cape Town that became home to many Muslims and freed slaves after the abolition of slavery, is today mainly known for its colourful houses, steep cobbled streets and the muezzin’s calls to prayer. This row of houses is probably one of the most photographed features in the whole of Cape Town and for a good reason.

The earliest development of the Bo-Kaap area, which became known as Waalendorp, was undertaken by Jan de Waal in the 1760s. The house that today incorporates the Bo-Kaap museum building is the only one built by him that retains its original form. It dates back to 1768.

Although it has over the centuries been home to people of various origins and religions, the area is closely associated with the Muslim community of the Cape. The ancestors of the majority of the Muslims in the Cape arrived from 1658 onwards as slaves, political exiles and convicts from East Africa and South East Asia (India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka).

The history of the Bo-Kaap also reflects the political processes in South Africa under the Apartheid years. The area was declared an exclusive residential areas for Cape Muslims under the Group Areas Act of 1950 and people of other religions and ethnicity were forced to leave.

At the same time, the neighbourhood is atypical, as it is one of the few neighbourhoods with a predominantly working class population that continued to exist near a city centre. In the mid-20th Century, most working class people in South Africa were moved to the periphery of the cities under the Slum Clearance Act and neighbourhood improvement programmes.