Editing Table Mountain (section)

==History==
[[File:Hodges cape-good-hope.jpg|thumb|Table Mountain from [[James Cook|Capt. Cook]]'s ship [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']] by [[William Hodges]] (1772)]]
[[File:De Villiers reservoir.jpg|thumb|De Villiers reservoir, just to the left as the Bridle Path reaches the top of the Back Table]]

Prehistoric inhabitation of the district is well attested (see for example the article on [[Fish Hoek]]). About 2000 years ago the [[Khoe-Kwadi|Khoe]]-speaking peoples migrated towards the Cape Peninsula from the north. This countryside was before that occupied by nomadic [[Tuu languages|!Ui]] speakers (who were foragers). The [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]] influx brought herds of cattle and sheep into the region, which then formed part of a larger grazing land that was seasonally rotated. It was the !Uriǁʼaekua ("Highclansmen", often written in Dutch as ''Goringhaiqua'') who were the dominant local people when the Europeans first sailed into Table Bay. This clan is said to be the ancestral population of the !Ora nations of today (so-called "Korana" people).

These original inhabitants of the area so-called "[[Khoikhoi|Khoekhoen]]", called Table Mountain Huriǂ'oaxa – "ocean-emerging (mountain)".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/place_names_of/|title=Place Names of Pre-colonial Origin and their Use Today|publisher=The Archival Platform|first=Bradley|last=van Sitters|date=2 August 2012|access-date=8 January 2020|archive-date=4 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904175826/http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/place_names_of|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=peJBAAAAYAAJ&q=Table+Mountain|title=Hottentot (Khoekhoen) Place Names|first1=Gabriel Stefanus|last1=Nienaber|first2=PE|last2=Raper|publisher=Onomastic Research Centre, Human Sciences Research Council|date=1983|isbn=9780409104219}}</ref>

[[António de Saldanha]] was the first European to land in Table Bay. He climbed the mighty mountain in 1503 and named it '''Taboa do Cabo''' (''Table of the Cape'', in his native [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]). The great cross that the Portuguese navigator carved into the rock of Lion's Head is still traceable.

In 1796, during the [[History of South Africa#British at the Cape|British occupation of the Cape]], [[James Henry Craig|Major-General Sir James Craig]] ordered three [[blockhouse]]s to be built on Table Mountain: the King's blockhouse, Duke of York blockhouse (''later renamed Queen's blockhouse'') and the Prince of Wales blockhouse. Two of these are in ruins today, but the King's blockhouse is still in good condition.<ref name="fsg">{{cite web|url=http://www.fsgfort.com/DB/F034/04/Text.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711045554/http://www.fsgfort.com/DB/F034/04/Text.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-11 |title=The First British Occupation (1795–1803) |publisher=The [[Fortress Study Group]] |access-date=2009-02-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.capeofgoodhope.org/test/kings.htm |title=Kings Block House |publisher=Cape of Good Hope Living Heritage |access-date=2009-02-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118173345/http://www.capeofgoodhope.org/test/kings.htm |archive-date=18 November 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=THE BATTLE OF BLAAUWBERG – 200 YEARS AGO|journal=Military History Journal|publisher=The South African Military History Society|volume=13|issue=4|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol134ws.html|access-date=2016-06-03|archive-date=2 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302090344/http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol134ws.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and easily accessible from the [[Rhodes Memorial]].

Between 1896 and 1907, five dams, the Woodhead, Hely-Hutchinson, De Villiers, Alexandria and Victoria reservoirs, were opened on the Back Table to supply Cape Town's water needs. A ropeway ascending from [[Camps Bay]] via Kasteelspoort ravine was used to ferry materials and manpower (the anchor points at the old top station can still be seen). There is a well-preserved steam locomotive from this period housed in the [[Waterworks Museum (Cape Town)|Waterworks Museum]] at the top of the mountain near the Hely-Hutchinson dam. It had been used to haul materials for the dam across the flat top of the mountain. Cape Town's water requirements have since far outpaced the capacity of the dams and they are no longer an important part of the water supply.

Arguments for a national park on the Cape Peninsula, centred on Table Mountain, began in earnest in the mid-1930s. Following a big fire in 1986, the ''Cape Times'' started a 'save the mountain' campaign, and in 1989 the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE) area was established. However, environmental management was still bedeviled by the fragmented nature of land ownership on the Peninsula. Following another big fire in 1991, Attorney General Frank Kahn was appointed to reach consensus on a plan for rationalizing management of the CPPNE. In 1995, Prof. Brian Huntley recommended that SANParks be appointed to manage the CPPNE, with an agreement signed in April 1998 to transfer around 39,500 acres to SANParks. On 29 May 1998, then-president Nelson Mandela proclaimed the Cape Peninsula National Park. The park was later renamed to the [[Table Mountain National Park]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Burning Table Mountain: an environmental history of the Cape Peninsula|last=Pooley|first=Simon|publisher=Palgrave / UCT Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-349-49059-2|location=London / Cape Town|pages=135–161}}</ref>

Fires are common on the mountain. The [[2006 Table Mountain fire|most recent major fires]] include those of January 2006, which burned large amounts of vegetation and resulted in the death of a tourist (a charge of arson and culpable homicide was laid against a British man who was suspected of starting the blaze), and March 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/importance-of-fire-to-fynbos-1828492|title=Independent Online|last=Pooley|first=Simon|date=6 March 2015|access-date=10 January 2017|via=Google|archive-date=11 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111003417/http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/importance-of-fire-to-fynbos-1828492|url-status=live}}</ref> There was a [[2021 Table Mountain fire|major fire in April 2021]] that affected the [[Rhodes Memorial]] and the [[University of Cape Town]].<ref name="bbcnews_18apr21">{{cite news |title=Table Mountain fire 'burns out of control' in Cape Town |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56793317 |access-date=18 April 2021 |publisher=BBC News |date=18 April 2021 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418153049/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56793317 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In November 2011, Table Mountain was named one of the [[New7Wonders of Nature]].<ref name="new7wonders.com">{{cite web| url=http://www.new7wonders.com/| title=The Provisional New 7 Wonders of Nature| publisher=new7wonders.com| access-date=2011-11-11| archive-date=25 May 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200525102950/https://new7wonders.com/| url-status=live}}</ref>