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ROBBEN ISLAND

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 395 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBBEN See also:

ISLAND , an island at the entrance of Table See also:Bay, 7 M. N.N.W. of Cape See also:Town. It is some 4 M. See also:long by 2 broad. At its See also:southern end is a lighthouse with a fixed See also:light visible for 20 M. It got its name (robben, Dutch for See also:seal) from the See also:seals which formerly frequented it, now only occasional visitants. The island when discovered was uninhabited. It is first mentioned by an See also:English See also:seaman named See also:Raymond, who states that in 1591 seals and penguins were there in large See also:numbers. In 1614 ten criminals from See also:London were landed on the island to See also:form a See also:settlement and See also:supply fresh provisions to passing See also:ships. The See also:attempt, which ended in failure, is interesting as the first recorded settlement of English in See also:South See also:Africa. In the 18th See also:century the See also:slate quarries of Robben Island were extensively worked by the Dutch of Cape Town. The island is now noted for its leper See also:asylum and its convict See also:establishment. For many years an asylum for lunatics was also maintained, but in 1904 the lunatics were removed to the mainland.

The See also:

common See also:rabbit, brought from See also:England, abounds, but its introduction to the mainland is prohibited. As See also:early as 1657 criminals were banished to the island by the Dutch authorities at Cape Town; it has also served as the See also:place of detention of several noted Kaffir chiefs. See G. F. Gresley, " The Early See also:History of Robben Island," in The Cape Illustrated See also:Magazine (Oct. 1895).

End of Article: ROBBEN ISLAND

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