| 1488 |
|
Bartholomeu Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope. |
| 1497 |
|
Vasco da Gama puts foot on South African soil for the first time. |
| 1513 |
|
Hout Bay's first name, "Porto fragoso" (bay of hanging cliffs), appears on a map. |
| 1607 |
|
The 'Consent' was becalmed at the entrance to Hout Bay and landed an exploratory party. |
| 1614 |
|
An English sailor records having taken wood from the forest of Hout Bay for repairs to his ship. |
| 1652 |
|
Jan van Riebeek lands at the Cape and gave Hout Bay its present name. On November 22, 1652 Van Riebeek wrote in his journal about t'Houtbaaitjen. |
| 1662 |
|
The Boscheuwel road was extended from Kirstenbosch in a rough track over Constantia Nek to Hout Bay. |
| 1668 |
|
The first permit to cut and saw wood in Hout Bay Forest was granted. |
| 1672 |
|
War broke out between Holland and France. |
| 1677 |
|
The first agreement to rent land for farming purposes was signed. |
|
|
The first freeburgher farmers arrived in Hout Bay and were granted as much land as they could work. They were to plant grain and collect woods as payment for the hire of the land. |
| 1681 |
|
Two farms were established – Ruyteplaats and Kronendal. |
| 1777 |
|
The first building at Kronendal was built by Jacobus Lourens Bierman. It was enlarged to its present form in 1800. |
| 1781 |
|
The French built three forts at Hout Bay. These were part of a line of forts known as the 'French Lines' to protect the Cape from falling into the hands of the English. The West Fort at the harbour dates from this time. |
| 1793 |
|
The South Battery Boetselaar and the North Battery Zoutman in Simon's Town are built. |
| 1795 |
|
First British occupation by Rear-Adm Sir Keith Elphinstone and Maj-Gen James Craig. |
| 1803 |
|
The Cape returned to the Batavian Republic by the British. |
| 1806 |
|
The second British occupation. |
| 1834 |
|
Abolition of slavery. Royal Navy active in crushing the slave trade and the repatriation of slaves. |
| In the latter half of the 1800s, the farms Moddergat, Nooitgedacht, Oakhurst and Uitkyk were established. |
| Early farmers who settled in Hout Bay undertook fishing as well; fishing from small boats and using the method of 'trekking' with nets from the beach. In the early 1800s, the first economic exploitation of fish began when dried snoek was exported to Mauritius in exchange for yellow sugar and other essential commodites. |
| 1871 |
|
Jacob Trautman, a German immigrant, bought land in Hout Bay. |
| 1880 |
|
Crisp Arnold set up fishing sheds and started curing snoek for export to Mauritius.
A company was formed to exploits the deposits of manganese in Hout Bay. |
| 1882 |
|
Jacob Trautman II built Oak Villa, now a national monument followd by Uitkyk (1888), and Hillside (1890). |
| 1891 |
|
The first police station and post office opened in Hout Bay. |
| 1895 |
|
Walter Gurney built the first church. It still stands today and is known as St Peter the Fisherman. The first school in Hout Bay was started by Walter Gurney. |
| At the turn of the 1900s the floor of the Bay was described as being a red blanket of crayfish (lobsters). |
| 1901 |
|
The magnificent house of Fine View was built by Fritz Jacot, a Frenchman. |
| 1904 |
|
The Hout Bay Canning Company was formed and set up in the hulk of an old barque, R Morrow. For almost 10 years the factory operated successfully. exporting canned crayfish overseas and providing work for local inhabitants. |
| 1909 |
|
Successful manganese mining in Hout Bay recorded with shipments to Belgium. The ship Maori ran aground at 'Oude Schip' in fog. |
| 1911 |
|
Manganese mining ceased during the year. Reminders of the activities are the ruins of the manganese ore jetty and the old mine workings up on the mountain. |
| 1914 |
|
An explosion on board the R Morrow put an end to the canning industry for a short while. Seven people were killed including the owner, Lucien Plessis. After repairs the company continued until 1947 when it was abosrbed into the South African Sea Products company. |
| 1921 |
|
The Hout Bay Golf Club was formed. In 1948 the Golf Course land was sold for development. The Club and its social activities remained and it became a 'nomadic' club for many years. |
| 1922 |
|
Chapmans Peak Drive was opened to the public. It has been built using convict labour and had taken seven years to build at a cost of £20,000. |
| 1930s |
|
The fishing industry expanded exponentially when fish became a popular item on menus and improving facilities for transporting fish inland were created. The Trautman family improved their fishing boats and built more sheds on the beach for processing fish. They owned Trans Africa Fisheries. The Trautman brothers introduced the valuable frozen rock lobster tail export business. The Dorman family, who had originally bought land in the late 1800s for farming purposes, becames more involved in the fishing industry. Duikersklip and Chapmans Peak Fisheries were two companies owned by the Dormans. |
| 1937 |
|
The South breakwater was built. The post-war fisihing boom saw new companies and canning factories spreading everywhere. |
| 1947 |
|
South African Sea Products opened a new factory for the freezing and canning of rock lobster. |
| 1952 |
|
After many years of deliberation with the Cape Town City Council, piped water eventually arrived at Hout Bay. Up till then water had either been taken from the river or from boreholes. |
| 1968 |
|
The North Breakwater was added. |
| 1984 |
|
Mariner's Wharf, South Africa's first seafood & maritime-themed emporium developed by Stanley Dorman, was opened and proved a resounding success. |
| 1987 |
|
On May 23, the citizens of Hout Bay declared themselves a republic. This was a tourist awareness and attraction ploy which helped put Hout Bay on the map. |
| 1991 |
|
Government allocated the site of Imizamo Yethu to meet the needs of the Hout Bay squatter community. |
| 1994 |
|
First free democratic elections. Nelson Mandela was elected president. |
| 1996 |
|
The Masijidul Bahrayn mosque near the harbour was completed. |
| 2003 |
|
Chapmans Peak Drive was re-opened as a toll road on December 21, after considerable repairs had been undertaken. |
