Robben Island

UNESCO-listed prison island off Cape Town where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years.

Country:South Africa

Language:English

Published:2025-11-08

Audience:Travellers, students of history

Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, around 7 km from the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. From the 17th century through the late 20th century it was used as a prison and place of banishment. During apartheid it held political prisoners including Nelson Mandela, who spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment there. Robben Island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. Today the island is a museum and ferries run daily from the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town; many of the tour guides are former political prisoners.

Keywords

Robben Island

Cape Town

Mandela

apartheid

UNESCO

Source & licence

Source: Wikipedia

URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robben_Island

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

Wikipedia article. CC BY-SA 4.0 attribution required.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for general information. Health, legal, financial and government-service items should be verified with a qualified professional or the official authority before action. AfricanGPT does not represent itself as a substitute for licensed advice.

More in Tourism

Cape Coast Castle: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Cape Coast Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Ghana and a major memorial of the transatlantic slave trade.

Mole National Park: Ghana's largest wildlife refuge

Mole National Park is Ghana's largest wildlife park, known for elephants and walking safaris.

Aburi Botanical Gardens

Public botanical gardens established in 1890 in the Akwapim Hills, around 30 km north of Accra, popular as a cool-climate day trip.