Robben Island / SamePassage

Robben Island, Afrikaans Robbeneiland, island in Table Bay, Western Cape province, South Africa. It is 5 miles (8 km) west of the mainland and 6 miles (10 km) north of Cape Town and has an approximate area of 5 square miles (13 square km). Its name is the Dutch word for “seals,” once plentiful in the surrounding waters. The island was a common stopping point for passing ships in the 16th and early 17th centuries. After early efforts at settlement, it was made a Dutch and then a British penal colony. The island housed a leper colony from 1846 to 1931, and those judged insane were also sent there. A lighthouse was installed in 1864. Fortifications were erected during World War II, and from the mid-1960s to 1991 Robben Island served as South Africa’s maximum-security prison. Most inmates, including Nelson Mandela, were black men incarcerated for political offenses. The last of these prisoners were released in 1991. The island continued to serve as a medium-security prison for criminal offenders until 1996. In 1997 it was turned into a museum and declared a national monument, and in 1999 it received designation as a World Heritage site.

Dr Esther Latunde Odeku

Ellen Eglin

Fabián Jesús Colón López

Mason v. Smith

Jerry Rawlings

Charles Stewart

Carlos Moore

Soul on Ice

Rosalind Cash

Dr. Paul B. Cornely

Moses Gunn

Howard Lamar Fuller

B.D. Marlowe Plantation

Art Dorrington

Dr. Juliano Moreira

Dr. Dolores C. Shockley

Audrey Smedley

Philip Jordan

Timuel D. Black Jr

Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche

Robben Island

Related posts