Author: Harriet Deaco
Publisher: David Philip, Publisher
Keywords: island, history, series, literature, robben, mayibuye
Number of Pages: 256
Published: 1995-12-31
List price: unknow
ISBN-10: 0864862997
ISBN-13: 9780864862990

Robben Island is a low-lying outcrop of rock and sand guarding the entrance to South Africa’s Table Bay. Although it is just a few kilometres long and a barely swimmable distance from Cape Town, it may well be the most significant historical site in South Africa today. Paradoxically it symbolises both the repressiveness of the apartheid state and the strength of those who opposed it. While interpretations of the island’s history have focused mainly on its role as political prison and on the well-known prisoners held there, such as Nelson Mandela, the island has been put to many and