Editing Robben Island (section)

==History==
{{main|Robben Island (prison)}}
Located at the entrance to [[Table Bay]], 11&nbsp;km from Cape Town, this island was 'discovered' by [[Bartolomeu Dias]] in 1488. For many years, it was used by [[Portuguese navigators]], and later by English and Dutch sailors, as a refueling station.  Its current name means "seal island", in Dutch.

In 1654, the settlers of the [[Dutch Cape Colony]] placed all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island. The men built a large shed and a shelter. The isolation offered better protection for the livestock against wild animals than on the mainland. The settlers also collected seal skins and boiled oil to supply the needs of the settlement.<ref name=HisSA>History of South Africa, 1486 - 1691, G.M Theal, London 1888.</ref>

Since the end of the 17th century, Robben Island has been used for the incarceration of chiefly [[political prisoner]]s. The Dutch settlers were the first to use Robben Island as a prison. The island's first prisoner was probably [[Autshumato]] in the mid-17th century. Among its early permanent inhabitants were political leaders imprisoned from other [[Dutch Empire|Dutch colonies]], including the [[Dutch East Indies]]. These included the two surviving Malagasy leaders, named in Dutch East India Company records as Massavana and Koesaaij, of the [[Meermin slave mutiny|mutiny of Malagasy slaves on the slave ship ''Meermin'']]. They had been sold to the [[Dutch East India Company]] in [[Madagascar]] to be enslaved in the Cape Colony. Massavana died three years later, but Koesaaij survived at Robben Island for another 20 years. <ref>{{cite web|title=Slave Ship Mutiny : The untold Story|url=https://www.heritagetimes.in/slave-ship-mutiny|date=4 December 2018|archive-url= |publisher=Heritage Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Mutiny on the Meermin|url=https://nechamabrodie.com/2018/02/21/the-mutiny-on-the-meermin/|date=21 February 2018|archive-url= |publisher=Nechama Brodie}}</ref>

After the British [[Royal Navy]] captured several Dutch [[East Indiamen]] at the [[Battle of Saldanha Bay (1781)|battle of Saldanha Bay]] in the [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]] in 1781, a boat rowed out to meet the British warships. On board were the "kings of [[Ternate]] and [[Tidore]], and the princes of the respective families". The Dutch had long held them on "Isle Robin", but then had moved them to Saldanha Bay.<ref>''The New Annual Register, Or General Repository of History ...,'' (October 1781), Vol. 2, p.90</ref>

In 1806, [[Whaling in Scotland|Scottish whaler]] John Murray opened a whaling station at a sheltered bay on the north-eastern shore of the island, which became known as Murray's Bay. It was adjacent to the site of the present-day Murray's Bay [[Harbor|Harbour]], which was constructed in 1939–40.<ref>{{cite book|last=Peires|first=Jeffrey B.|title=The Dead Will Arise: Nongqawuse and the Great Xhosa Cattle Killing Movement of 1856–7|year=1989|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253205247|page=301|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xrey5fkzMkwC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Deacon, Harriet|title=The Island: A History of Robben Island, 1488–1990|year=1996|publisher=New Africa Books|isbn=9780864862990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z8k4sN5GSpYC|pages=4–5}}</ref>

After a failed uprising at [[Grahamstown]] in 1819, the fifth of the [[Xhosa Wars]], the British colonial government sentenced African leader [[Makanda Nxele]] to life imprisonment on the island.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Mission; or Scenes in Africa|author=Frederick Marryat|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21555|access-date=10 October 2008|publisher=Nick Hodson|location=London}}</ref> He drowned on the shores of [[Table Bay]] after escaping the prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/SSAXhosa.html |title=Christianity in Africa South of the Sahara: 19th Century Xhosa Christianity |access-date=10 October 2008 |publisher=Bethel University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514173342/http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/AfricanChristianity/SSAXhosa.html |archive-date=14 May 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/makana.html|title=Makana|publisher=[[African National Congress]]|access-date=10 October 2008|year=1979|author=Edwin Diale |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080602210240/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/makana.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2 June 2008}}</ref>

The island was also used as a [[leper colony]] and animal [[quarantine]] station.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14426|title=London to Ladysmith via Pretoria|author=Winston Churchill|year=1900|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co.|location=London|access-date=10 October 2008|author-link=Winston Churchill}}</ref> Starting in 1845, lepers from the ''Hemel-en-Aarde'' (heaven and earth) leper colony near [[Caledon, Western Cape|Caledon]] were moved to Robben Island when ''Hemel-en-Aarde'' was found unsuitable. Initially, people were relocated on a voluntary basis, and the lepers were free to leave the island if they so wished.<ref name="newman-194">{{cite book|last=Newman|first=George|title=Prize essays on leprosy|publisher=London: The Society|year=1895|page=[https://archive.org/details/prizeessaysonlep00news/page/194 194]|url=https://archive.org/details/prizeessaysonlep00news}}</ref> In April 1891, the cornerstones for 11 new buildings to house lepers were laid. After passage of the [[Leprosy Repression Act]] in May 1892, admission was no longer voluntary, and the movement of the lepers was restricted. Doctors and scientists did not understand the disease and thought that isolation was the only way to prevent other people from contracting it. Prior to 1892, an average of about 25 lepers a year were admitted to Robben Island, but in 1892 that number rose to 338, and a further 250 were admitted in 1893.<ref name="newman-194"/>

During the [[World War II|Second World War]], the island was fortified. [[BL 9.2 inch gun Mk IX–X|BL 9.2-inch guns]] and 6-inch guns were installed as part of the defences for [[Cape Town]].

[[File:Robben island from table mountain.jpg|thumb|left|Robben Island as viewed from [[Table Mountain]] towards [[Saldanha Bay]]]]
In 1948 the National Party came to power and instituted a formal program of [[apartheid]]. Over time, black Africans and allies began to organize against this policy. From 1961, Robben Island was used by the South African government as a prison for political prisoners and convicted criminals. 

In 1969, the ''Moturu Kramat,'' now a sacred site for [[Muslim]] [[pilgrimage]] on Robben Island, was built to commemorate [[Sayed Abdurahman Moturu]], the [[Prince of Madura]]. Moturu, one of Cape Town's first [[imam]]s, had been exiled in the mid-1740s to the island. He died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.

In 1982, former inmate [[Indres Naidoo]] published his book ''Island in Chains'', the first account prison life on the island.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1982-03-22|title=Black's book about South Africa's political prison published (1982)|pages=3|work=Times-Advocate|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50560707/blacks-book-about-south-africas/|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref>

The maximum security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later.<ref name="museum">[http://www.robben-island.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33&Itemid=62 Chronology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215011620/http://www.robben-island.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33&Itemid=62 |date=15 February 2010 }}, Robben Island Museum website, retrieved 8 June 2013</ref>

Since the [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|end of apartheid]], the island has become a popular tourist destination. It is managed by Robben Island Museum (RIM), which operates the site as a [[living museum]]. In 1999, the island was declared a [[World Heritage Site]] for its importance to South Africa's political history and development of a democratic society. Every year, thousands of visitors take the ferry from the [[Victoria & Alfred Waterfront]] in Cape Town for tours of the island and its former prison. Many of the guides are former prisoners. All land on the island is owned by the nation of South Africa, with the exception of the island church. Administratively, Robben Island is a suburb of the [[City of Cape Town]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/OpenDataPortal/DatasetDetail?DatasetName=Official%20planning%20suburbs|title=Official planning suburbs |access-date=17 March 2019}}</ref> It is open all year around, weather permitting.