The History of Kommetjie & the Cape

First traces of human settlement on the Cape Peninsula — the San (Bushmen) leave rock paintings and shell middens along the coast.

The Khoikhoi (Hottentots) settle in the region, bringing cattle farming and giving the Cape of Good Hope its Khoikhoi name: ǃUriǁʼaes.

Bartolomeu Dias becomes the first European to round the Cape — he names it Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). King John II renames it more optimistically: Cabo da Boa Esperança.

Jan van Riebeeck establishes a supply station for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) at the Cape — the beginning of European settlement in South Africa.

Simon van der Stel establishes Groot Constantia — the first wine estate at the Cape and today the oldest producing wine estate in the Southern Hemisphere.

The British occupy the Cape for the first time — a tug-of-war between British and Dutch follows until the British take definitive control in 1806.

Kommetjie emerges as a small fishing village. The name comes from Afrikaans 'kommetjie' (small bowl) — named after the natural rock pool (tidal pool) at the lighthouse.

The Slangkop Lighthouse is commissioned — at 33 metres the tallest cast-iron lighthouse in South Africa. It still stands today and is a landmark of Kommetjie.

During World War II, coastal batteries are built on the Cape Peninsula to protect the sea route around the Cape. Remnants of the bunkers are still visible near Kommetjie today.

The Apartheid era fundamentally changes South Africa. At the Cape, communities like District Six are forcibly removed. Nelson Mandela spends 18 years on Robben Island, visible from Table Mountain.

Nelson Mandela becomes the first democratically elected President of South Africa. The Rainbow Nation is born.

Table Mountain National Park is established — it encompasses the entire Cape Peninsula from Signal Hill to Cape Point, including the fynbos vegetation around Kommetjie.

The Cape Floristic Region (which includes the fynbos vegetation around Kommetjie) becomes a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site — one of the most species-rich plant kingdoms on earth.

Kommetjie is a quiet, nature-connected coastal village — popular with surfers, artists and families who seek closeness to nature and the vastness of Long Beach. Villa Austral is at 13 Gannet Close.