Franschhoek (;

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'', French: ''Le Coin Français'') 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 inhabi ...

and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It was formerly known as Oliphants hoek (as there were vast groups of elephants roaming the valley). It is situated about from

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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

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Municipality. In 2022, Franschhoek was mentioned in ''Time'' magazine as one of the top 50 places in the world to visit.

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, King

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

banned

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in France. Hundreds of French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

were forced to flee their country. In 1688, almost 300 French Huguenots arrived at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

by ship and were given the Franschhoek Valley to settle. The French Huguenot 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 they had left behind in France. 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. 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, the clothes they wore, and interpretation of their culture and goals. The Cape Dutch architecture 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 branch line was built between

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

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, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s operated along the route until

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

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 Tramway's Double Deck Balcony Tramcar of circa 1923 to transport tourists between wine estates in the area.

Recent developments

Once a quiet 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 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: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era.

International relations

Franschhoek is a twin town or sister city of: *

Dilbeek Dilbeek () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant, in the Flemish region of Belgium. The municipality comprises the villages of Dilbeek proper, Groot-Bijgaarden, Itterbeek (with Sint-A ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Gallery

File:Franschhoek (South Africa).jpg, Franschhoek October 2015 File:Dutch Reformed Church, Franschhoek (South Africa).jpg, Dutch Reformed Church, Franschhoek 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 (1961), South African psychoanalyst and neuropsychologist. * Margot Janse (1969), chef. * Reuben Riffel (1974), South African celebrity chef, restaurateur and media personality.

References