Two other former inmates of Robben Island, in addition to Mandela, have been elected to the presidency since the late-1990s: Kgalema Motlanthe (2008–2009)[3] and Jacob Zuma (2009–2018).

[4][5] Located at the entrance to Table Bay, 11 km from Cape Town, this island, was discovered by Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 and, for many years, it was used by Portuguese navigators, later by English and Dutch as a refueling station.

In 1654, the settlers of the Dutch Cape Colony placed all of their ewes and a few rams on Robben Island, and the men built a large shed and a shelter.

[10][11] After a failed uprising at Grahamstown in 1819, the fifth of the Xhosa Wars, the British colonial government sentenced African leader Makanda Nxele to life imprisonment on the island.

After passage of the Leprosy Repression Act in May 1892, admission was no longer voluntary, and the movement of the lepers was restricted.

In 1999, the island was declared a World Heritage Site for its importance to South Africa's political history and development of a democratic society.

Every year, thousands of visitors take the ferry from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town for tours of the island and its former prison.

[21] Seagoing vessels must take great care navigating near Robben Island and nearby Whale Rock (it does not break the surface) as these pose a danger to shipping.

[22] A prevailing rough Atlantic swell surrounds the offshore reefs and the island's jagged coastline.

[23] In 1990, a marine archaeology team from the University of Cape Town began Operation "Sea Eagle".

[23] Maritime wrecks around Robben Island and its surrounding waters include the 17th-century Dutch East Indiaman ships, the Yeanger van Horne (1611), the Shaapejacht (1660), and the Dageraad (1694).

In 1901 the mail steamer SS Tantallon Castle struck rocks off Robben Island in dense fog shortly after leaving Cape Town.

Due to the maritime danger of Robben Island and its near waters, Jan van Riebeeck, the first Dutch colonial administrator in Cape Town in the 1650s, ordered that huge bonfires were to be lit at night on top of Fire Hill, the highest point on the island (now Minto Hill).

[24] The cylindrical masonry tower, which has an attached lightkeeper's house at its base, is 18 metres (59 ft) high with a lantern gallery at the top.

When the Dutch arrived in the area in 1652, the only large animals on the island were seals and birds, principally penguins.

In 1654, the settlers released rabbits on the island to provide a ready source of meat for passing ships.

Its causes are still largely unclear and likely to vary between colonies, but at Robben Island are probably related to a diminishing of the food supply (sardines and anchovies) through competition by fisheries.

Around 1958, Lieutenant Peter Klerck, a South African Navy officer serving on the island, introduced various animals.

[30] In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included Robben Island in the list of African cultural sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4 °C.,[31] and is no longer considered very likely.