| Visit the island where Nelson Mandela (Madiba) was | | | | the mentally disturbed; French Vichy prisoners of |
| imprisoned for 27 years for his beliefs. | | | | war; and most recently, political opponents of the |
| Robben Island is known the world over as a place of | | | | apartheid regime in South African and Namibia. |
| banishment exile, isolation and imprisonment. For | | | | Robben Island's Most Famous Prisoner: |
| nearly 400 years, colonial and apartheid rulers | | | | During the apartheid years Robben Island became |
| banished those they regarded as political | | | | internationally known for its institutional brutality. |
| troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of | | | | Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of |
| society to this 575-hectare rocky outcrop in Table | | | | a century in prison for their beliefs. Yet people such |
| Bay. | | | | as Nelson Mandela emerged to lead South Africa to |
| The Island's unwilling inhabitants included; slaves; | | | | democracy, with a message of tolerance, |
| political and religious leaders who opposed Dutch | | | | reconciliation and hope. |
| colonialism in East Asia; troublesome local Khoikhoi and | | | | Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded in turning |
| African leaders who resisted British expansion in | | | | a prison "hell-hole" into a symbol of freedom and |
| South Africa; Leprosy sufferers and other sick and | | | | personal liberation. |