The district is particularly well known for its Pearl Mountain or "Paarl Rock". This huge
granite rock consists of three rounded outcrops. Paarl Rock consists of intrusive
igneous rock.
Paarl hosted a match from the
ICC Cricket World Cup 2003. The headquarters of
Ceres Fruit Juices is located in the city, although its namesake and source of much of the fruit,
Ceres Valley, lies around one hour's drive to the northeast.
Paarl gained additional international attention when, on 11 February 1990,
Nelson Mandela walked, with live international television coverage, out of Victor Verster Correctional Centre (now known as
Drakenstein Correctional Centre) in Paarl ending his 27 years of imprisonment, and beginning a course to South Africa's
post-apartheid era and, notably, to multi-racial elections.
[4] Mandela spent three years in prison here living in a private house within the walls. Today, a bronze statue of Mandela stands outside the prison.
Paarl is the seat of the
Drakenstein Local Municipality; although not part of the Cape Town metropolitan area, it falls within its economic catchment. Paarl is unusual among South African place-names, in being pronounced differently in English than in Afrikaans; likewise unusual about the town's name is Afrikaners customary attachment to it, saying not
in Paarl, but rather
in die Paarl, or
in die Pêrel (literally, "in the Paarl").
Paarl (; Afrikaans:
[ˈpɑːrl̩]; derived from
Parel, meaning "pearl" in Dutch
[3]) is a town with 285574 inhabitants in the
Western Cape province of
South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and
European settlement in the Republic of
South Africa (after
Cape Town and
Stellenbosch) and the largest town in the
Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the
Mbekweni township, it is now a
de facto urban unit with
Wellington. It is situated about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of
Cape Town in the
Western Cape Province and is known for its scenic environment and
viticulture and fruit-growing heritage.
[citation needed]About paarl
The area that is now known as Paarl was first and is still inhabited by the Khoikhoi. The Peninsular Khoikhoi people and the Cocoqua people live in this area divided by the Berg River Valley. The Cocoqua were cattle-herding people and among the richest of the Khoi tribes. They had between 16,000 and 18,000 members and originally called Paarl Mountain, "!hom ǃnāb/s" which means Tortoise Mountain .
The Dutch East India Company, under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck, established meat-trading relationships with the Khoikhoi people on the Table Bay coastline. In 1657, in search of new trading relationships inland, Abraham Gabemma saw a giant granite rock glistening in the sun after a rainstorm and named it "de Diamondt en de Peerlberg" (Diamond and Pearl Mountain), from which Paarl is derived. Gabemma (often also spelt Gabbema) was the Fiscal (public treasurer) for the settlement on the shores of Table Bay. The "diamonds" disappeared from the name, and it became known simply as Pearl Rock or Pearl Mountain.
In 1687, Governor Simon van der Stel gave the title to the first colonial farms in the area to "free burghers". The following year, the French Huguenots arrived in the Western Cape and began to settle on farms in the area. The fertile soil and the Mediterranean-like climate of this region provided perfect conditions for farming. The settlers planted orchards, vegetable gardens and, above all, vineyards. Thus began Paarl's long and continuing history as a major wine- and fruit-producing area of South Africa.
In 1875 a congregation was formed out of a desire to be educated in their mother tongue. This was the result of a Reverend GWA van der Lingen idea who tried to motivate and convince people of his principles. The congregation would raise funds and begin construction of a church that would later be known as the "Toring Kerk" (Tower Church). Construction finished in 1905. The church contains materials imported from London and Egypt.
The arrival of the European settlers brought on a conflict with the Khoikhoi people, as land and water resources began to be contested and the Khoi traditions of communal land use came in conflict with the settler's concept of private property. The Khoi peoples were defeated in local war and were further decimated by European diseases. The population scattered inland toward the Orange River or became labourers on settler farms.