Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad; [ˈkɑːpstat], Xhosa: iKapa) is the oldest and second largest city in South Africa, after Johannesburg, and also the seat of the Parliament of South Africa.
Colloquially named the Mother City, it is the largest city of the Western Cape province and forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. The Parliament of South Africa is situated in Cape Town. The other two capitals are located in Gauteng (in Pretoria, the executive capital, where the Presidency is based) and in the Free State (in Bloemfontein, the judicial capital, where the Supreme Court of Appeal is located). The city is known for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for landmarks such as Table Mountain and Cape Point. Cape Town is home to 66% of the Western Cape's population. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.In 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both The New York Times and The Daily Telegraph. Cape Town has also been a host city for both the 1995 Rugby World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup, and annually hosts the Africa leg of the World Rugby 7s.Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town, as the oldest urban area in the Western Cape, it was developed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a supply station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India, and the Far East. Jan van Riebeeck's arrival on 6 April 1652 established the VOC Cape Colony, the first permanent European settlement in South Africa. Cape Town outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa.


The earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. In the late 1500s, settlers from the Netherlands established a settlement at Table Bay (Dutch: Tafelbaai) on the shores of Table Bay. The settlement was first named "Contra-Cape" or "the Counter Coast", but was later renamed Cape Town (Afrikaans: Kaapstad). It is thought that Dutch sailors either called it de Kaap ("the Cape") after a landmark or they named it after Jan van Riebeeck's hometown of Kapelle; however both theories have been contested.

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