Franschhoek (;

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gr ...

for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'') is a small town in the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and one of the oldest towns in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Formerly known as Oliphants hoek (as there were vast groups of elephants roaming the valley). It is situated about 75 kilometres from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

a 45 minute drive away. The whole area including townships such as Groendal and suburbs such as

Wemmershoek Wemmershoek is a settlement in Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is boun ...

has a population of slightly over 20,000 people while the town proper, known as Hugenote, has a population of around 1,000. Since 2000, it has been incorporated into Stellenbosch Municipality. Mentioned in

Time (magazine) ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published Weekly newspaper, weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New ...

top 50 places in the world to visit for 2022.

History

Franschhoek's original inhabitants are the Khoisan peoples. They are now mostly extinct, but their descendants continue to live in the area as mixed race (Khoisan and French/Dutch) people. In 1685, the French King, Louis XIV, banned Protestantism in France. Hundreds of French Huguenots were forced to flee their country. In 1688, almost 300 French Huguenots arrived at the Cape of Good Hope by ship and they were given the Franschhoek Valley to settle. The French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

refugees populated the valley establishing farms and businesses bringing with them their French culture and experience in agriculture. The name of the area soon changed to ''le Coin Français'' ("the French Corner"), and later to Franschhoek (Dutch for "French Corner"), with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, Champagne, La Cotte, Cabrière, La Provence, Bourgogne, La Terra de Luc and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original Cape Dutch farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

. Many of the surnames in the area are of French origin, e.g. Du Toit, Marais, Du Plessis, Malan, Malherbe, and Joubert. The French settlers tried fiercely to hold onto their language, but were forced over generations by the Dutch and British colonialists through schooling to integrate into local society. This heritage is shown today by the Huguenot Monument which stands at the end of the town. The nearby Huguenot Memorial Museum adjacent to the monument explores the history of the French Huguenots who settled in the Cape, and especially in the Franschhoek Valley. On exhibition are the various tools they used to make wine, clothes they wore, and interpretation of their culture and goals. The

Cape Dutch architecture Cape Dutch architecture is an architectural style found mostly in the Western Cape of South Africa, but modern examples of the style have also been exported as far afield as Western Australia and New Zealand, typically on wine estates. The sty ...

in much of the village is unspoiled, as restrictions have been placed on the extent of renovations and new construction in order to preserve the spirit of the original French settlers to the area. In 1904, a 28km branch line was built between Paarl and Franschhoek to serve as an alternative to ox-drawn carts for farmers wanting to get their produce to market.

Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s operated along the route until

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s took over in the 1970s and then, in the 1990s, as the need for rail transport decreased, service along the railway line was discontinued. The branch line was reinstated in 2012 by a private operator and now sees service as the Franschhoek Wine Tram, a tourism project utilizing newly constructed double-decker trams modeled after the Blackpool Corporation Tramways Double Deck Balcony Tramcar of circa 1923 to transport tourists between wine estates in the area.

Recent developments

Once a sleepy country retreat, the originally French settled village and region began experiencing a boom in the 1990s, and property prices increased. The ideal summer weather, snowy peaks in winter and proximity to

have turned Franschhoek (le coin Français) into one of South Africa's most sought after residential addresses. The construction of the new English-medium private Bridge House School outside the village has also attracted many urban dwellers to the village. Franschhoek is notable for having some of the top restaurants in the country within its borders. This fact, together with the strong wine culture, and pristine natural and architectural beauty has made Franschhoek into what many describe as the "food and wine capital" of South Africa. This village hosted one of the top 50 restaurants in the world 'The Tasting Room', according to the "S.Pellegrino world's 50 best restaurants"-ranking and a famous Belgian Pâtisserie for Belgian pralines. The town hosts a number of notable restaurants and wineries such as Le Quartier Français and Haute Cabrière. The attributes of the village have turned Franschhoek into a popular tourist destination, with dozens of bed & breakfasts and small cottages available for accommodation. The shopping experience in Franschhoek is known to be very interesting with several independent boutiques, menswear shops and quality homeware stores. The art galleries are plentiful and excellent. Franschhoek's weekend Bastille Festival has been celebrated every July since 1994, the year of the first South African general election with universal adult suffrage marking the end of the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era.

Gallery

File:Franschhoek (South Africa).jpg, Franschhoek October 2015 File:Dutch Reformed Church, Franschhoek (South Africa).jpg,

Dutch Reformed Church, Franschhoek The Dutch Reformed Church is a Dutch Reformed church in Franschhoek, South Africa. The church was built in 1847 and is situated on the main road running through the town. This valley, tightly hemmed in by mountains, is named after the French Hugu ...

File:FranschhoekWC-pass.jpg, Franschhoek and Berg River Valley from Franschhoek Pass File:Franschhoek 2022 21.jpg, alt= File:Franschhoek 2022 22.jpg, alt= File:Franschhoek 2022 12.jpg, alt= File:Franschhoek 2022 07.jpg, alt=

Notable residents

* Pieter Daniel Rossouw (1845 – 1896), pastor and Afrikaans language writer. * Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl (1887 – 1948), South African electrical engineer and industrialist. * George Daneel (1904 – 2004), South African rugby player. * Cecile Cilliers (1933–2018), Afrikaans freelance journalist and writer. * Vito Roberto Palazzolo (1947), Italian businessman and alleged mafia member. *

Mark Solms Mark Solms (born 17 July 1961) is a South African psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist, who is known for his discovery of the brain mechanisms of dreaming and his use of psychoanalytic methods in contemporary neuroscience. He holds the Chair ...

(1961), South African psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist. * Margot Janse (1969), chef. * Reuben Riffel (1974), South African celebrity chef, restaurateur and media personality.

References

{{Authority control Wine regions of South Africa Huguenot history in South Africa French-South African culture Populated places in the Stellenbosch Local Municipality Populated places established in 1688 1688 establishments in the Dutch Empire Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company

History

Recent developments

Gallery

Notable residents

See also

References